Liquid Space Dimension

Arcade with cool music and colorful stages that don’t last long. The game is quite retro. You play Sid, a space warrior who is fighting alone against the space tyrant. During what is supposed to be the final battle, Sid finds that the tyrant is virtually unbeatable and possesses enormous abilities capable of opening portals to other dimensions. When Sid is dragged through one and lands in an unknown world, he is greeted by a god who provides him with a new weapon to aid him in his struggle. The story is barebones. The prologue, which also serves as a tutorial, is where you’ll get most of what you need to know. The main mode is actually pure arcade where you have a limited number of lives to get through seven stages in a linear order. There are only few bits of story in those stages and in the ending. You take control of a fighter called Space Drifter. It plays like a standard action game. You can fly around, fire the main laser, and do a couple of acrobatic moves. The fighter will fire a burst when the laser button is held down for a second or two. The downside is that burst has a very short range. The other move is simply space drifting. It’s not as exciting as it sounds because it’s just a fancy mechanic to let you make faster turns. However, it also allows you to turn back, hover on the spot and take out enemies behind you. More advanced moves will have to be mastered in order to play the game efficiently. The roll is great while flying through narrow spaces, and it can advance into a barrel roll when you press the roll button twice. This is a crucial move because it is linked to two special weapons. When you charge the laser and perform a barrel roll, you will either activate a precision laser beam that goes far and kills most targets with a single shot, or a swarm of torpedoes that will fly towards marked targets. The fire mode is determined by the barrel roll direction and fires only when you release the fire button. A stage is typically divided into two sections. One is comparable to a rail shooter in that you fly forward on a predetermined course. You can still perform all of the movements, but you can't turn back. The second section is a free flight zone or an arena where you must complete a predetermined objective, such as destroy 10 enemy fighters. You can fly however you want in this zone, but you can’t leave the area. The game is quite short. Although each stage is unique and features low-poly graphics that add a certain charm, they don't stay long. It's also very simple because there are no prerequisites to meet in order to pass a stage. There is a score system, but it is optional. Points are earned by collecting gold icons and destroying enemies, and it drops to zero when you are hit. There are no extras unlocked after beating the game and no achievements.

Nice, stylized, and pretty fun. Short experience, but I felt like I got my moneys worth and with the fun I got from it. Those who really enjoy On-Rails Shooter games, might enjoy this one. It goes from mostly On-Rails to Open Flight in several spots. There is some replay value if one really likes to replay levels to get a higher score and grade.