Popcorn Rocket

A humorous plot and gags are hidden under a generic and oftentimes unfair shoot-em'up. The story is loaded with food puns and is really amusing. It involves an evil guy and his empire's desire to control space. However, a solitary ship and its squadron stand in their way. Best of all, everything comes with professional-sounding voiceovers. Despite the fact that the squad has four members, you only get to control one single ship. The gameplay is straightforward and adds nothing new. You have a basic attack, a secondary attack, and a bomb. I recommend that you enable rapid fire in the options because smashing the button for every single attack does not sound like fun. While the bomb is extremely rare and should only be used in extreme circumstances, the secondary attack can save your skin many times if used correctly. One drawback is that the ship's speed is very slow, which makes evading bullets difficult. The secondary attack launches a single kernel that sticks to an enemy but does not cause damage. The trick is to defeat this the same enemy, which sets off a chain reaction that destroys everything nearby. Kernels must be collected first from defeated adversaries, but they appear frequently. The ship does not have any upgrades. All you receive are random popcorn bags flying across the screen, each containing a random weapon, bomb, or shield. Weapons include classics like homing bullets and lasers. A ship can only carry one primary weapon, but you can use it for as long as you exist. There's also a very rare power-up that grants you access to all weapons at once. Because it stays with you until you die, it is possible to make good progress with cautious play. But when you die, the weapons switches to default gun. Enemy design is cool and each stage adds something new, but some have a lethal attack. The most annoying are homing missiles that keep following you for a few seconds before blowing up. It’s cool that each enemy has a different attack pattern, but the game is very hard because it relies on cheap shots. The main issue is that the ship’s slow speed just can’t compete against fast enemy bullets and attack waves. Surprisingly, enemies have a mechanic that can be exploited. The catch is that they only shoot when you are in their path. You can easily take them out if you grab the spread weapon. However, once stages start filling the screen with various enemies, this stops being useful. Unannounced attacks are also a problem. Indestructible items, for example, can occasionally show up in patterns. However, because your ship moves slowly, it's difficult to avoid them unless you know they're approaching. This also happens during boss fights, particularly the second one, as it randomly starts drawing you closer and firing in your direction while you're being dragged in. And there are many similar situations. Although checkpoints allow you to continue at any time, I still believe the whole experience is unfair. Boss fights are boring. Although with interesting design and two stages, most of them have the same attack patterns. What makes them really painful is the absence of power-ups. If you die or continue, you're stuck with the basic gun during the entire fight. Because bosses tend to move all over the screen, these battles take way too long. The game offers a few hours of fun, but I can only recommend it to hardcore fans of the genre. Since there are no upgrades or rewards, everyone else will hit a wall and won't be able to continue.

Pop-corny story, but difficult gameplay. If you're looking for a casual shoot-em-up, this is not it. I write this having just defeated the second boss. My only real complaint with this game is that you lose all the kernels and nova bombs you collect when you die. I look forward to completing the game and eventually writing a more complete review.

I voiced a character in this game, 10/10

A cute and fun retro-style shooter. Decent fun. sizable story. worth the price of entry.