Picture in your mind developer Housemarque’s distinct brand
of shooter gameplay combined with input from the creator of the classic Robotron
2084, Eugene Jarvis. How crazy would that be? Super crazy, right? Well, good
news, because that’s literally exactly what Nex Machina is. And it is awesome.
Dashing around, saving humans, finding secrets, and blasting away at dozens
upon dozens of enemies in pure twin stick shooting bliss all wrapped in
incredible graphics and sound sums up Nex Machina pretty darn well, I think.
Continue reading our full PS4 review for all of the details.Game Details
- Publisher: Housemarque
- Developer: Housemarque
- ESRB Rating: “T” for Teen
- Genre: Twin Stick Shooter
- Pros: Great presentation; addictive gameplay; tons of secrets
- Cons: Co-op player color
- MSRP: $20
Nex Machina doesn’t have much of a story. You’re just a lone
hero trying to save the last remnants of humanity during a robot apocalypse.
That’s it. You just fly in on your Tron-esque light cycle and start blasting
away and saving humans. Badass.
Gameplay in Nex Machina is pretty straightforward twin stick
shooting where the left stick moves and the right stick shoots, but there are
some extra features that give it more depth. First, you can collect sub weapons
that will let you fire a rocket or sustained laser blast or even use a sword
for close melee combat. These powerful weapons can stem the tide of battle, but
picking up the wrong one, or one you don’t like using, can also make certain
sections of levels harder. Another gameplay feature is the dash ability.
Dashing gives you momentary invincibility to dodge through lasers or crowds of
enemies and can be upgraded to let you dash three times in a row as well as
leave a little explosion behind every time you dash. Learning to combine your
movement abilities plus the weapon types and upgrades is key to survival in Nex
Machina.
Each level is a different shape with a different arrangement
of enemy types to fight through. They also all have humans wandering around
that you need to save as well as secrets such as hidden humans, weapons,
beacons, and more. The first time (or, heck, the tenth time) you play through a
level you likely won’t find all of the secrets. This is a game designed around
earning high scores and replaying it over and over and over, of course, so
taking your time to learn the game and find all of the secrets is part of the
fun.
It also should be noted that Nex Machina is very difficult,
so much so that the developer actually recommends players start on “Easy” so
they can learn the game. This is advice you should follow because this game
will crush you early and often. Overwhelming numbers of enemies come at you in
wave after wave, but there is enough variety thrown into their ranks that means
you constantly have to change tactics and techniques in order to succeed. The
game is just brilliant. Don’t even get me started on later stages and boss
fights that start throwing bullet hell-style walls of bullets to weave through
at you. It is all just incredibly addictive and satisfying and fun.
It only takes roughly an hour to play through Nex Machina’s arcade mode but, as I mentioned, it is full of secrets and very replayable so the length isn’t an issue at all. You can also play through single worlds to practice as well as play an arena mode that tasks you with setting high scores to climb online leaderboards.
The game also has a local co-op mode (local only, no online)
that is at the same time fantastic but also somewhat disappointing. It is
fantastic, obviously, because playing co-op in these sorts of games is awesome
and a ton of fun, and it does work well in Nex Machina. It is disappointing,
however, because the player 2 character is colored red – the same as the
enemies – and with the sheer volume of bullets flying around and things
exploding it is too easy to lose track of your characters. Hopefully this
oversight will be fixed via patch at some point.
Presentation wise, Nex Machina is absolutely spectacular.
The game world is kind of dark but it is brilliantly highlighted by brightly
colored enemies and bullets and explosions and powerups constantly filling the
screen. Even with dozens of enemies onscreen at once the PS4 never falters,
either. It is gorgeous. The sound is fantastic as well with a thumping techno
soundtrack that is perfectly suited to the laser blasting, robot killing, crazy
boss fighting action.
All in all, Nex Machina is a must own title for PS4 owners.
It shows its Robotron 2084 influences proudly but brings the spirit of that
arcade classic game fully into 2017 with smart gameplay updates and
enhancements and awesome modern presentation. Nex Machina is something special
and highly recommended for a purchase.
Disclosure: A review code was provided by the publisher.
