RANDOMAX

The latest Astro Port game to date has little connection to the wider (and tonally all over the place) universe of their games: the characters are supported by Argo Express, the liaison being a former pilot of [b]Vulvehicles[/b] who looks the same 40 years after the latter game because she's from a long-living alien race. That's all. Now not just the selectable characters are [i]moe[/i], but the enemies too; the interactions between them are really cringy, and there's also a fair dose of fanservice, defeated Avil is a fine view but I recall when they didn't need things like that. The Roguelike tag is misleading, as there is no real player progression: it's just that the order of the levels, the weapons and upgrades found at Argo stations, and the bosses are randomized in each run, but the levels themselves are always the same. The fun lies in playing again and again to see as many weapons as possible, with some being quite peculiar, like bees and party balloons, and a rare weapon that is Meglilo's teleport. Several bosses are locked behind higher difficulty levels. Staying on the top part of the screen, over a blue line, makes all bonuses fly towards the player. It's a nice risk-and-reward mechanic, and if upgrades are found, it's worth concentrating on the ones that lower the line. Visually, it's pretty much like the previous game [b]Vulvehicles[/b], some less detail in favor of a more colorful style. Elements recycled from previous games are really few, though, giving further merit to the job with pixel art. The soundtrack is quite catchy. A run in [b]Randomax[/b] lasts about 20 minutes, the game is clearly made for quick sessions to perfect the next run, with some luck to get good weapons of course. It can get quite confusing at times, and while fun it's certainly not as tightly designed as the Astro Saga's finest entries, a partial consequence of its semi-randomized nature; that also reflects on the bosses, there are over three dozens but none compares to the ones fought in [b]Mechblaze[/b] or [b]Zangeki Warp[/b]. Once again the skill ceiling has been leveled quite lower than in the past (and I say that as a player with little skill), with some challenge starting to appear only at Hard level. For the second time in a row, Astro Port has released a nice game worth playing but not at the level of the best of their catalogue, leaving me also dubious about their latest use of [i]moe[/i] elements that add nothing at best and are outright irritating at worst. Looking back at the whole dozen of Astro Saga games (fourteen if you count two never released on Steam), however, it's hard not to appreciate the variety of their releases, never resting on laurels, always experimenting within the 2D shooting genre, never releasing a truly bad game, making them one of the most productive and yet consistent indie developers around. A few less excellent entries can be forgiven, while hoping for many more games in the years to come.