XG Blast! (DS) Review

Do you like shoot-em-ups? I like shoot-em-ups. XG Blast is a pretty good shoot-em-up. You’ll have to excuse me for making some comparisons to Geometry Wars and the like, because it’s really hard not to. You see, XG Blast is a pretty good game, but it’s little more than a similar take on a genre that has been really popular for the last couple of years, but is starting to wind-down a bit. Is it fun? Of course, and there’s enough new stuff and little changes to the formula that make the game stand out on its own.

You pilot the ship Aknathen. That’s Egyptian for… something. The story isn’t a strong point. You are a space pilot sent to investigate an anomaly, the anomaly goes bad, you get sucked through a wormhole and spat out in hostile enemy territory.

Time to play. You move around 2D arenas with the D-Pad and shoot using the touch screen or buttons. The touch screen is much easier and more accurate. Waves of enemies spawn and you have to blow them up and get points. Who is giving a space pilot points right now? He’s probably really stressed and doesn’t need any distractions.

The game is split up into levels, and each of those split into any amount of arenas. You can play through Discovery to progress through the game, or Survival to try and set some mad records to boast about. The games real joy comes in the different shaped arenas that you pitch fights in. The enemies all react differently; some bounce around madly, picking up speed, some home in when you enter their line of sight, some just float around being stupid. There’s plenty of variations and each wave of different enemies keeps you on your toes. The arenas can be big, small, jagged, smooth, whatever. The game has some real gems in it; you’ll be fighting in a pretty huge weird shaped arena and then you’ll suddenly find yourself in a tiny circle with enemies appearing all around you at point-blank range. You also have a bunch of different weapons, from normal spray, bouncing lasers, wriggly spitting lasers, and more. Each of these can be powered up in a level by collecting more of the same power-up.

XG Blast’s real ace-in-the-hole is, in fact, the XG Blast. It’s your super-weapon, your gravity-and-space-time warping beam and shield that can take out just about anything. Press a shoulder button and you activate it, blasting away everything around you. It has limited use though, and you’ll really need to save it for some of the huge waves the game throws at you. There are certain parts that I can’t see being beaten without it.

The thing is – if you take out a whole big wave really quickly and without taking damage, the game will reward you with a bunch of power-ups and energy. If you keep it up, you can go on a huge XG Blast roll. Maybe it stands for Xtra-Good?

The learning curve is a bit off; on one hand the controls are easily accessible and the presentation simple enough that it won’t confuse new players, but after the first level the whole game gets pretty chaotically hard. Bosses at the end of a level can be scarily tough – sometimes it’s best just to blast them with your whole bar of XG Blast and finish off the shreds.

The fact you have a rechargeable health bar detracts from the sheer craziness of some levels – it’s fair that Geometry Wars’ one hit equals one life system simply wouldn’t work with XG Blast, but it means you won’t have so many heart-pounding, millimetre escape moments.

Presentation is simple and effective; simply outlined arenas are placed on space-dust backgrounds, enemies are basic 3D shapes and easily recognisable from one another, and the light-show of lasers and explosions is pleasing. The top screen displays your health bar and XG Blast energy bar on its sides with a simple but detailed map in the middle. The game really excels in quickly and effectively showing you all the information you might need. It wouldn’t be hard to play the game only looking at the map. The music and sound effects are good enough for a DS game. Varied techno-space-beats (I’m sure that is what they’re called!) provide the backing for your interstellar adventure, and all your lasers make pretty lasery sounds.

XG Blast is good. It’s not great, and I don’t think it really tries to be. It provides a good alternative to the current staple of shoot-em-ups, Geometry Wars. The XG Blast itself is enough to separate it from that game and adds enough depth to keep you going. If you’ve good gaming reflexes you shouldn’t have much trouble making it through.

If not, get some practice in on classic Asteroids first. Any frustration from getting repeatedly destroyed by a boss is somewhat lessened by branching arena progression, at least guaranteeing a different experience for the second or third time through. It looks nice enough, sounds nice enough and plays nice enough. If you like this sort of thing or just want a decent fun and challenging DS game, give it a shot.

Graphics 6.0

Not amazing, but good enough for what theyre trying to do. XG Blast excels at conveying important info to the player.

Gameplay 8.0

Its good fun. It wont seem so fresh if you have played other modern shoot-em-ups, but it changes the formula enough to still stand out. Some clever level and enemy design.

Sound 6.0

Once again, not amazing, but it does its job. Meets the standards of the modern genre.

Tilt 8.0

Challenging and of a good length. No doubt youll be replaying parts of it, if only because you got blown up the first time. Branching arenas make it worth playing through earlier levels again. It features multi-card competitive and co-op play.

Value 8.0

I like it. Ive never been a huge fan of the genre but the pick-up-and-play challenge here is appreciated. Its not new, but its a good take on the genre.