Laser Disco Defenders is a 2D twin-stick shooter with bullet-hell elements. You play as one of many “disco defenders”, each with their own benefits and disadvantages. You navigate your defender through each stage destroying all of the enemies in order to progress to the next area. You have to dodge enemy fire, as well as your OWN shots which is where a lot of the skill comes into play.
Author: Roger
Steam: Released
Developer: Out Of Bounds
Publisher: Excalibur Games
Release date: 6 Oct, 2016
Genre: Twin Stick Shooter
Type: Single-player
Graphics:
The game is very stylish. It has this sort of cartoon-y disco space-like aesthetic, and it looks really nice. The game has a lot of flashy lighting effects though you are able to differentiate the “laser beams” from the other objects and background effects of the game. This is really important as you need to keep track of where everything is in order to dodge beams, and fire off your own shots correctly. Although the game is very funky, I do feel that sometimes the enemies and stages don’t always match the overall theme of the game, which is supposed to be this disco motif. The title should run fine on any low to mid tier graphics card and CPU, though I don’t know how the game’s performance is affected if hundreds of lasers are flying around on the stage.
Sound:
The game’s OST is quite groovy, which is to be expected from a game involving disco. The soundtrack goes along with the theme of the game very well, and the sound assets are decent. The laser shots and environmental hazards all have very generic sounds though they get the job done.
Mechanics:
The mechanics are very straightforward. You guide your character through each stages using your keyboard keys, aim with the mouse, and fire off a laser with the click of a button. You have to destroy all the enemies within each stage in order to open a portal that sends you off to another location. The levels will get progressively more difficult, and there are a good amount of different enemies and environmental hazards you must look out for.
There is no ammo or limit to the amount of lasers you can fire off, though there are consequences to shooting off too many. Your lasers will not disappear. They bounce off walls and objects until they hit your enemies or your character. The more shots you fire, the more lasers you have to dodge. This is where a lot of skill comes into play as you can angle your shots well enough so that they bounce towards your enemy, and for shots that start hitting the walls, your dodging skills will be tested.
There are various power-ups within the game that; change your firing speed, give you spreading shots, and change your type of shot. Each character has their own stat line, and you can choose which character better suits your play style. Some are faster than others while having only one hit-point, and others can be really slow but also very tank-y. Knowing which character your play-style is more comfortable with can determine how well you progress through the game.
Final Personal Remarks:
The game is a very solid piece of work and I enjoyed the soundtrack a lot. I’m not very good at bullet-hell style games and this one really isn’t any exception. Knowing when to save your bullets so as to not flood your screen is important, though at the same time spamming them makes it easier to destroy your enemies. I found it hard to balance that concept, though it’s because I’m not very good at that sort of thing.
Thanks to the Devs for giving me the opportunity to review the game, as well as anyone who took this review into consideration, I hope it helped.
RATING:
(click on the image to see the rating explanation)
