shoot em up

I keep wondering if a visual novel’s truly going to bowl me over. I don’t really like it as a storytelling medium and there’s always the pervy underbelly that makes me want to steer clear. Kamikaze Lassplanes, at the very least, injects traditional shoot-em-up gameplay into a story about women […]

Kamikaze Lassplanes – PS5 Review

April 28, 2026 in PS5 / Reviews tagged anime / empire / inky dreams / kamikaze lassplanes / narrative choices / romance / shoot em up / transformers / visual novel / war by Mike

It is very strange to a Limited Run Games developed title on sale. I know they do dabble in game preservation but I’ve mostly seen them as a publisher rather than being more hands on. MARVEL MaXimum Collection is a diverse packaging of some 90’s classics and a couple of […]

MARVEL MaXimum Collection – PS5 Review

April 6, 2026 in PS5 / Reviews tagged 2d platforming / captain america / carnage / limited run games / marvel maximum collection / maximum carnage / retro collection / separation anxiety / shoot em up / side-scrolling beat 'em up / Spider-Man / superheroes / supervillains / venom / x-men arcade by Mike

Platypus Reclayed is a horizontally-scrolling shoot ’em from UK-based studio Claymatic Games. Why all the references to clay already? Well, this game, itself a remake of the 2002 PC shoot ’em up Platypus, sports a rather unique look. Everything in the game has been modelled in clay, captured and animated. It’s […]

Platypus Reclayed – PS5 Review

October 23, 2025 in PS5 / Reviews tagged claymation / horizontally-scrolling / platypus / reclayed / shoot em up by Richie

Earthion is a 16-bit style horizontally-scrolling shoot ’em up and it comes to us from Japan’s own Ancient Corp, a studio that has a history of, let’s say, unusual games that goes back to 1991. Founded by Yūzō Koshiro, the legendary video game composer behind soundtracks for games like Streets of […]

Earthion – PS5 Review

September 18, 2025 in PS5 tagged earthion / genesis / horizontally-scrolling / Mega Drive / shoot em up by Richie

Irem Collection Volume 3 is a collection of three arcade shoot ’em ups from Irem, the classic coin-op company. And this one offers up three arcade-perfect ports, as well as a Turbografix/PC Engine one, and they’re all shoot ’em ups, which is a running theme for these collections so far. As […]

Irem Collection Volume 3 – PS5 Review

July 9, 2025 in PS5 / Reviews tagged arcade / compilation / irem collection volume 3 / shoot em up by Richie

Steredenn: Binary Stars is a horizontally-scrolling shoot ’em up from Pixelnest Studio, a two-person team based in France. It follows on from 2015’s original Steredenn but rather than being a whole new game, this is more of an enhanced version of the original. On the face of it, this is a pretty […]

Steredenn: Binary Stars – PS5 Review

April 23, 2025 in PS5 tagged horizontally-scrolling / pixelnest studio / shoot em up / steredenn binary stars by Richie

Shootvaders: The Beginning is, as the title suggests, a variation on the one-screen shoot ’em up style most obviously associated with games like Space Invaders and it comes to us by way of Thailand’s own 7 Raven Studios. Released in 2023, this one was a bit of a surprise when it showed […]

Shootvaders: The Beginning – PS4 Review

February 27, 2025 in PS4 tagged retro / shoot em up / shootvaders / space invaders by Richie

X-Out (pronounced ‘Cross Out’ apparently) Resurfaced is a remaster of an old horizontally-scrolling shoot ’em up which originally began life on the Commodore 64 before being ported to better computers such as the ZX Spectrum and the Amiga. Indeed, it is the Amiga version that seems to be the source for […]

X-Out Resurfaced – PS5 Review

February 21, 2025 in PS5 tagged remake / retro / shoot em up / x-out by Richie

MACROSS – Shooting Insight – is a shoot ’em up based on the popular Japanese anime franchise, Macross (AKA Robotech in the West) and it’s been developed by Kaminari Games (otherwise known for Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid Burst Forth!! Chorogon*Breath just in case you didn’t realise they were from Japan). There’s a […]

MACROSS Shooting Insight – PS5 Review

February 10, 2025 in PS5 tagged anime / insight / macross / shoot em up / shooting by Richie

Super XYX is a vertically-scrolling shoot ’em up that comes from indie dev Team Grybanser Fox and is published by eastasiasoft, as so many modern indie shoot ’em ups are. And it feels very much in keeping with a lot of other eastasiasoft shooters, even if this is the first partnership […]

Super XYX – PS5 Review

October 23, 2024 in PS5 tagged arcade / eastasiasoft / shoot em up / super xyx / vertically scrolling by Richie

Cosmic Paradox: Noire is a shoot ’em up from solo dev Aldo Slavic that appears to be the first in a series of games based around a storyline of two dimensions colliding and splintering time. Details are scant at the moment though but at least we’ve got this game to be […]

Cosmic Paradox: Noire – PS5 Review

September 26, 2024 in PS5 / Reviews tagged auto slavic / cosmic paradox / noire / shoot em up by Richie

Valfaris: Mecha Therion is the latest effort from Texan studio Steel Mantis and it follows on from their work with the heavy metal inspired Slain and Valfaris, the former being a hack and slasher while the latter was a run and gunners. Both of which had an emphasis on chunky pixels, blood, […]

Valfaris: Mecha Therion – PS5 Review

August 26, 2024 in PS5 tagged mecha / ps1 / retro / shoot em up / steel mantis / therion / Valfaris by Richie