Nex Machina

Pushes up aviator sunglasses over a wicked grin “I think you mean SEX MACHINA.” My back hurts and my hands are shaking. Nex Machina, a very “me” coded title by the way, was an ordeal. I had a single memory of playing this game back in 2019, I didn’t make it very far honestly. I maybe put in like twenty minutes of casual effort then became too miffed when the hell in “bullet hell” proved to be too much for my 22 year old patience. It withered in my backlog for six years until I decided to make a “backlog” challenge, where I go through games I never formally finished, ones that I kept my eye on years later. Nex Machina made the cut. Back then, “Housemarque” meant nothing to me. But when I launched the game and the big bold “Housemarque” logo showed up, I instantly thought “Oh. Oh no.” I’ve actually been fiending to get into Returnal and the upcoming Saros, so I thought this would be a good introduction to both of those games. The “introduction” hit like a boxing glove to the jaw. Nex Machina, as mentioned, is a twin stick bullet hell. You’re moving, you’re shooting, you’re collecting power ups and dashing. Gameplay is simple in concept and extremely difficult to master. I actually had to tone down the difficulty from experienced to rookie just to get through the fourth world’s final boss. It’s tough, dying consecutively is a major punishment as you drop a power up if you die, then completely lose that power up if you don’t grab it in time, or die again, oh, and you'll drop another power up if you die. So you’re expected to get through the rest of the world trying to get your powers back in time for the boss level. I’m fine with all of this, by the way, my time with rogue-likes actually helped here as the game is adjacent to the rogue-like genre. There’s a lot of trial and error, you die in one hit, unless you pick up a shield, and the game is constantly introducing new enemies for you to fight, so it never gets too samey. From beginning to end, this game will keep you on your toes. Alongside that very engaging gameplay, you get the typical bright neon colors of the cyberpunk genre, and visual clarity here is only decent. I can tell when the enemies shoot something at me, you know, the most important thing about the bullet hell genre, being able to see the bullets. Other than that though, it can get messy and chaotic very quickly, and not in a way that feels conducive to your gameplay experience. But that’s what you’re here to do, shoot and survive. The story is nearly non-existent, there isn’t even any flavor text or background world-building going on here. You’re freeing humanity by collecting humans who are being eaten by the machines, sure. Once you’re done with the story, you can try it again on harder difficulties, or get into the arcade. Doing the arcade will net you points to lightly customize your character with and unlock more levels to play, plus it adds to the replay value through the classic act of beating your personal record. The music though? Come onnnnnn babyyyyyy. I’m genuinely shocked that this wasn’t done by Carpenter Brut or Makeup and Vanity Kit, the composers of this game; Ari Pulkkinen, Tuomas Nikkinen, and Harry Krueger managed to capture the essence of the cyberpunk genre while still making it their own. Overall, I’m glad I came back to this game and gave it a fair shot, and I love the way the bullet hell made me feel, but I just felt that something was lacking. Maybe the fact that there’s no story outside of two cutscenes? I completed the story mode, messed around a little in the arcade, and felt my motivation to continue playing evaporate in real time. Maybe it’s my lack of familiarity with the genre, maybe I just need story or story elements to keep going ala roguelikes. I saw most of what the game had to offer in under two hours, and enjoyed that brief time with it. If anything, I’m glad I played this before I started Returnal. It’s a 2 out 5 for me, but I’ll still give it a thumbs up because it’s a decent product, just one that I can’t really latch on to.

The game is broken, forces HDR on with no way to disable or adjust it resulting in the game looking very dark on my monitor, apparently it's been an issue since launch. Stay the hell away from developers that just abandon their games.

Oh man, this is Housemarque classic, I started this, after I got to play Returnal (another Housemarque G.O.A.T). Super fast-paced and addictive. Now I gotta wait for SAROS

the best twin stick shooter out there

Retro-throwback gameplay meets modern-day displays and difficulty in this one. A must for twin-stick shooting fans.

One of the best twin stick shooters. Its an arcade style game. You wanna beat it without losing a life. There is an arcade mode, single world mode for practice and some extra one of mission modes where you can score chase. The shooting feels great. Movement feels great. Music is great. Game length is great. Its a fairly simple game but it knows what it is and hits all the right notes.

Questo gioco può causare: - attacchi epilettici - crisi isteriche - tic all'occhio sinistro - miopia e astigmatismo - lacrimazione oculare - turpiloquio di tipo religioso - crisi mistiche - sudorazione violenta - scariche di diarrea - caduta dei testicoli - depressione - scatti d'ira Molto carino. Giocato una volta per un'ora e disinstallato. Reinstallato dopo 2-3 anni. Giocato per un'ora e disinstallato. Consigliato a chi ama i bullet hell. E le visite dall'andrologo.