Enemy Mind

Great concept for a SHMUP! The stages and enemy patterns are a little lackluster, but the ship switching mechanic is more than interesting and fun enough to make up for it. Unfortunately I've been experiencing many crashes, especially around the end of level 4. Just saw the release date was 2014 so I guess they probably won't be patching those...

For a person who doesn't play shoot 'em ups, this game is not a great entry point. The hit boxes on your ship's bullets are small plus somewhat slow, and dodging the enemy bullets after getting a shot in is difficult. Additionally, not enough lives are given, or the ships need more health other than two hits.

If you're into shoot 'em ups, this game would probably be interesting, but if you're new or unfamiliar to the genre, this game is not a great entry point.

Mechanic for jumping from ship to ship is a lot of fun. It's been a few years since I played last and I decided to jump back in. There's achievements now... something to try for I suppose :D

Interesting concept but ultimately kind of annoying in practice, low ammo ships require frequent ship swapping

great shmup with a fun central mechanic (continuously taking over and swapping through enemy ships) and some surprisingly engaging lore.

I love this game! As someone not too familiar with shmups. it's pretty tough, but it gets easier with friends. It gets a little chaotic, too, but you can manage it with good communication and by dividing up the roles well.
A couple of bugs are present, mainly one that gets you stuck going in one direction, the difficulty with transitioning between controller and keyboard, and one infinitely scrolling cutscene, but they show up pretty rarely and don't really ruin the overall experience. (There's also one on level 7 where an enemy that leaves trails disappears.)
The controller support is nice, the presentation is good (some lovely pixel art in here), and the main mechanic- taking over ships- is a pretty fun twist to build the game around. It means that some ships can be very situational or temporary, yet you can jump to them for a bit and jump back. It also means gameplay is more spontaneous- if you're fast, you can make a lot of situations easier by jumping between ships at the right times. It really makes you feel powerful and your options feel limitless, yet it still finds ways to put you in difficult situations.
Because of how tough it is and how long it took me, it was a little difficult to keep up with the story, but it's a cool setting, and the way it feeds you information as you progress and finish levels with different ships is pretty interesting.
This might be one of my favorite games if the bugs were fixed and I could go back to rewatch cutscenes. Definitely recommend!

Horizontal space shooter. Decent controls. Arcade style gameplay with an Interesting ship capture mechanic. Nice presentation, retro graphics and okay audio. Some hitbox and balance issues.

Listed on the Shoot 'em up Database

I really admire this game for it's conceptual design and think it has some great potential. If you can pick this game up for a couple dollars, than it's definitely worth the price. However, the game is far from perfect and seems to be lacking a lot of attention in the testing side of things. During my twenty hours of play, I've encountered a few different game breaking glitches, intrusive audio bugs, and a bug that prevented any kind of user input mid-level, causing a restart. I also think this game struggles a lot in communicating a lot of it's design elements to the player. I found it difficult to get a good understanding of the systems within the game, such as the extra-life system, which left me feeling very confused for the entirety of the levels wondering what mistakes I can afford, and where I can afford them. At times the difficulty felt super easy, at others it felt incredibly hard and unforgiving. I think this game could really benefit from an appropriate difficulty curve that allows both skilled players to challenge themselves, and more casual players to afford more mistakes, because from what I can gather from the first 6 levels, nearly every mistake is harshly punished with repetition and tediousness.

So, would I recommend this game? Yes for sure, I think there's a lot of value in this game as a whole.
But does this game also require some major fixes and design changes? Also yes.

This is a fun retro-style side-scrolling shooter game that adds a great new innovation to the classic genre. In this game you transfer between enemy ships as you commandeer them for your own use. You'll get a chance to use a large variety of different ships in this game and it's fun to see what each of their characteristics are. The ships have limited ammunition so you will need to take over new ships relatively frequently. This provides a fast-paced action experience that will keep you engaged throughout. The art style is very appealing with its charming retro visuals. The music is really good too and suits the gameplay quite well. I highly recommend this game.

Enemy Mind is a classic side-scrolling shoot 'em up with a clever yet simple gimmick that will force you to constantly swap your ship with those of enemies roster. An excellent idea combined with a nice 8-bit art style and a great chiptune soundtrack by Rainbow Kitten. Highly recommended gem !

Dificult but great game! Enemy Mind is like a faster paced refined BlazeOn allowing you to take over enemy ships. Unlike BlazeOnthough this game forces you to swap out as you only get a limited amount of ammo. This was an excellent decision by the dev and keeps you always on your toes and you get a feel for all of the ships by the end of the game.

I've never seen the ability to flip your ship so that was a cool feature even if it wasnt in the original released version. The levels are barren from any sort of typical Shmup obsticals but the dev manages to keep things interesting the whole way with all sorts of different challenging enemies and patterns. Would really be interested in a full sequel for this one, to build on the core maybe allowing each ship to have a secondary.

Beat it with co-op, and the extras are very funny or brutal (prototype ver). The game gives you many fair checkpoints (waves) and rewards skillful play with multipliers to build up extra lives. Even if you are playing alone, you can level select without needing to unlock it so it significantly reduces the time needing to master each stage for those who aren't as hardcore.

Enemy Mind is a classic wave-survival 2D space shooter with one twist: you can exchange your ship for an enemy ship. Ships are really unique and come in a variety of attack style/pattern, health, ammo count, maneuverability, and more. As waves become more challenging and the variety of viable strategies decreases, success comes from examining the weak points and attack patterns present in the enemy formation to select an effective tool.

Don't expect to go through a lengthy tutorial or have to memorize strategic details: All ships are stolen from enemies, so the details of each option are made known by showing how enemies behave rather than through a lengthy explanation. All you need to know is how to shoot and switch ships, from there it's intuitive.

It's clear to me they arranged waves purposefully, certainly in later levels. They are set up so that players are rewarded for finding the right ship and can plan ahead after screwing up the first time, while allowing for a degree of wiggle room in terms of viability. One example: a wave containing a ship that shoots up and down effectively was followed by two horizontal formations at the top and bottom of the screen which could only shoot ahead. Again, planning ahead and seeing the right ship makes things much easier to carry out.

The game's unique mechanic makes it way different from other 2D space shooters because your skill is in adapting to unique but simple battle formations in addition to the usual dexterity and execution.

I found it stimulating and fun. 10.99 seems appropriate and less seems like a good deal if what I've said sounds cool.

I bought this game in Summer Sale 2017 and here is my review:
Im going to start with the biggest drawback:

Hardware / Tech
Im trying to run this game in 2560*1440 and its not supporting that resolution. There are a ton of reports about it but as far as im concerned the DEVs didnt state its not working nor did they provide a fix or workaround. So, i can assure the best you can do is 1920*1080.
With that resolution, the same does have some minor slowdowns (on my machine) in certain areas.
Im using a Xbox 1 wireless controler with stock MS wifi connector and its working alright.
All in all, i give this game a 06/10 when it comes to the tech because basicly i feel like selling a game that is 2 years old ? but doesnt support high end resolution is a major letdown.
In addition, i encountered a fatal bug. When i tried to control an enemy ship, my vessel went out of bounds (= the game was stuck in a loop and i was sliding along the ground, without and screen transisitions happening, ever).
I feel like this really sucks and i hope i dont lose another 30 minutes again.

Saving:
The game is divided into 8 big levels which are split into like 5 segments each, with a boss at the end. You cant save, but when you finish a level (LEVEL), you can start at that point in the future. There are checkpoints at the start of each SEGMENT. This is fine with me.

Graphics:
The game uses a very retro pixel art. While being kinda minimalistic, its a very great art style and fits the game good. Animations are decent. Also there is paralax scrolling when it comes to background and stuff (which are also pixel art and awesome). Personally, i like the visuals A LOT and im happy we dont have some crappy 2d renders but instead minimalistic, yet beautiful pixel art.
08/10

Gameplay:
The game is a shoot em up along the lines of Gradius and R-Type. There is no shop-system like in Raptor or Tyrian.
The game also plays left/right and not bottom/up.it has a very nice spin though in that instead of having different weaposn available, you are free to take control of any enemy ship you can see, permanently. So, instead of having one ship with 20 different guns, you basicly have 20 ships with one gun each, though they arent freely available (obviously they need to be on screen to take control of them). I find this really cool and it also offers a ton of strategic options because these ships move and attack differently. In addition, they have different Health.
You will be constantly change ships, because each ship only has a limited amount of Ammo. It feels good in that regard.
08/10

Music:
Like most Indis with retro (pixel) graphics, it also uses retro 16 bit (?) music. I think the mudis fits the game greatly.
08/10

Story:
Without spoilering, this game has a decent story. Depending on which ship control when finishing a level, you will get different "part" of the full story being told (3 factions, 3 stories which make sense when interwined).
Personally, i feel like the story could be expanded upon. Getting 2 or 3 sentences for each level feels like its being cut short.
7/10


Overall concensus:
All things considered i give this game a 7.2/10 and this is mostly because the whole resolution thingy is a major issue for me. I wish it would be fixed. Also, i think this game and the whole (mind control) thingy has a TON of potential. I kinda wish the Devs would expand the game either via an addon or a second part.
Without the tech hickups (and assuming there are no more out-of-bounds-bugs) i can fully suggest this game to anyone that likes shoot em ups and (easy) bullet hell games.
Its CURRENTLY down 80 % and i think its even a really solid buy for the full price.
IF the resolution-switching of windows doesnt bother you OR you run 1920 ether way.

Pros:
+ The level of quailty and polish in this title, despite its graphical style, is astounding
+ The pixel graphics fit the game, as its an almsot perfect callback to the arcades.
+ Gameplay is fluid and tight. Each wave is a new challenge to surmount, and in later levels strategies can be formed to defeat each wave.
+ For a shoot'em-up style game, the story is exceptional. The story-telling in the game is both clever and well-written.
+ You can shoot the credits
+ The Aratus, the opposing force to the humans, are more interesting aliens than those in other games
+ Bosses were creative. They weren't just bullet sponges, and the mind-control mechanic is realy put to the test in these fights. There were all rewarding to defeat
+ For once, points were something I acutally cared about. I felt amazing to see those numbers go up.

Cons:
- The difficulty spike of the last level was unwarranted; the levels leading up to it should've matched this difficulty slope
- There was inexplicable fps drops at seemingly random* moments, despite my computer being more than capable of running the game

* "Random" meaing completely unpredictable. Happened about 3 times in 10 hours of play (No general interval of time between them)

Final thoughts:

A must-buy if on sale. Even if it isn't, I'd say its worth the $10 anyway. Gameplay is innovative in the best kind of way. It honestly just makes sense, rather than being some weird gimmick. Art syle is fantastic, even with its low resolution. Game is polished and has a level of quality other companies seem to forget when they go for a 16-bit art style.

[table]
[tr]
[th]Category[/th]
[th]Score (x/10)[/th]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Presentation[/td]
[td]9[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Gameplay[/td]
[td]10[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Narrative[/td]
[td]8[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Overall[/td]
[td]9.3[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

This is a fun game that is unique.

You possess enemy ships and attack the enemy with them. You can possess one ship at a time and change ships with a button press.

Each ship has a limited amount of weapons and damage it can take before being destroyed. If the ship you're possessing gets destroyed, you have to start the area over again.

The game progressively gets harder and has ways to prevent you from possessing ships. Sometimes you have to possess other objects like rocks, but you have to be careful not to go offscreen or you'll have to restart the section.

You have each ship's basic weapon and the button to switch to another ship.

I don't think its worth $10, but I gladly paid $1 for it during the summer sale. I have 1.5 hours into the game.

If its on a sale, consider getting it if you want a unique and challenging shooter.

Enemy Mind is an interesting take on the arcade style space shooter games like Galaga. In most arcade style space shoot-'em ups, you'll pilot your ship through a level, all the while collecting powerups or weapons that may make your craft stronger. In Enemy Mind, your ship has the ability to take over and "transfer consciousnesses" into any other enemy ship. Each craft also has a limited ammo supply, so you'll usually want to expend your entire ammo clip before transferring over to another ship. This creates a gameplay style where the optimal strategy is also the most fun one: blow all your ammo trying to kill everything on the screen, transfer to another ship, rinse and repeat

The playstyles and designs of the enemy ships are varied and interesting enough to make it exciting each time you encounter a new type of enemy craft. It makes the player want to take it over immediately and experiment around with how much armor the craft has and how its weapon systems work. Some craft are agile with fast firing, low damage weapons. Some craft are slower with huge area of effect damage style explosions. Some craft are themselves weapons and are designed to be torpedoed into other craft to drill through their hulls. There's also an accompanying story that is played after each stage in the single player campaign, but I almost entirely ignored it. It was doled out in little text lines one at a time and it seemed mostly forgettable and inconsequential.

Summary
Enemy Mind isn't a revolutionary arcade style shooter, but it's a lot of fun. If you like games like Galaga, you'll have a good time with Enemy Mind. Navigating the bullet hell that the enemies throw at you while throwing back a bullet storm of your own while simultaneously possessing and experimenting with new craft and different playstyles felt really good. The boss battles are challenging and unique. There's also a couch co-op multiplayer mode, but I unfortunately haven't gotten a chance to check it out yet. This seems like the kind of game that would be fun to screw around in for a little while with another friend. I wouldn't go out of your way to buy it immediately, but it's worth a look if you find it discounted on a Steam sale or something like that

For more game reviews, check out http://whatisjamesplaying.blogspot.com/

I can't really recommend the game as is, but I'm under the impression that the problem I'm having will be corrected in the future. Time of writing is July 7th 2014, if there have been any patches since then, this review might not be accurate.

So this game is not bad, let's be clear: I simply am not recommending it as a bullet hell/retro shooter enthusiast for the current price. The system seems unpolished: The bounding box, timing, and rules for what bullets collide with what object just don't have the professional intuitive shine that say, Deathsmiles has. I know I'm comparing a company team to an indie developer, but that doesn't make the problems any less noticeable. Other problems: enemy ships can do things you cannot when you possess them (most egregiously: turning around and shooting the other way), and the teleporting beam trajectory could be better (as is it's rather awkward; also it has a charge up time which has absolutely no user feedback).

But this game has a story focus! Pretty rare for this type of game. If the gameplay is just average, how is the story? I'd like to know, too. Thoughout the game you get snippets of story, and it creates a very interesting experience... but I personally think the novelty of the gameplay has an expiration far shorter than the time it would require to go through the game twice (to collect all the snippets of story). However, I never actually finished this game, so I don't know how the story concludes. The difficulty for the entire game is, despite the problems named above, quite easy. Dying is infrequent for those experienced with this genre, and there are no difficulty settings to adjust. The boss fights, once you figure out how to win, are also not hard at all. Then you get to the end of the second to last wave and find that it is near impossible. Brick wall. Not many players will proceed past this point.

I might have kept trying if I could actually get to that segment again quickly. But since it's at the end of the wave, you need to replay the entire wave first. Takes about 5 minutes, and it's patronizingly easy the entire time. Imagine taking a math test and every time you made a mistake on a really hard problem, before trying again you are forced to first to solve 50 basic addition problems (2+3=?). I've poured quite a bit of time in this last wave alone, and I can no longer justify repeating the patronizingly-easy-5-minutes-snooze-fest even one more time just to retry a 10 second difficult segment.

Despite my rant, I'd say those who love this genre should pick it up next sale. But even if I didn't have any trouble completing it, I still feel that this game is a one-and-done deal; you'll play it, you might enjoy it, but once you uninstall it you probably won't be revisiting it.

edit- a word

Well-polished side-scrolling shooter with great music and solid 32-bit graphics. Clever abuse of the swap system is heavily rewarded, and the story is dynamically revealed depending on what faction you 'side' with.

Also the baller synthsized voice for the title screen / game over / stage clear gives it a real classic feel.

Overall, it's a damn fine shooter. The mechanics are unlike any I'd ever seen, it actually has a running (and apparently mutable) story, and it doesn't rely on being a bullet hell to be challenging.

The sound is great when it comes to having an old-school sound without sounding too... beepy-boopy.

The music adds quite well to the atmosphere to boot!

Enemy Mind is a call back to 80's style gameplay with modern upgrades that fixes the problems that older games had. It will frustrate you to no end with the learning curve with each level and wave, but that's where the fun of the game is. Its not so difficult that new players will struggle, but its definitely difficult enough to challenge most players.

The main mechanic, jumping from ship to ship, is awesome. I did not expect it to work as well as it does in this game. I highly recommend it for its excellent use of this simple element.