The Last Archwing

[table][th] Review by [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/34633003-Gaming-Masterpieces/] Gaming Masterpieces [/url] - The greatest games of all time on Steam. [/th][/table] Is this shmups a masterpiece? No, it is just an appropriately priced little shmups with average gameplay (little enemy variety and the pilots always fly the same routes), BUT has some well made boss-battles and an especially good story that explains why and how only one combat ship fights the whole enemy fleet. The story is told between and during the levels and is fully voiced. Your enemies have something to say (before you kill them), and you have support from an AI which talks to you. The AI is actually billions of light years away but connected to your ship via a terminal that you rescued from destruction. It now helps you to improve your ship, while you pay its enormous data transfer bill between it and its terminal. The AI is really annoying sometimes, but funny as well and it definitly is something different compared to all those shmups that actually try to be serious. And the upgrades it sells you really help to stand a chance against all those enemy ships. Works fine with ultrawide screen resolution and controller. [u][b] Conclusion:[/b][/u] Be the last defender of Earth in this little shmups with funny story.

Overall, I am loving this game so far! The gameplay is addictive and the story is very fun to experience. I highly recommend it! Gameplay --------- I played on Normal difficulty and the game gets pretty challenging after the first several levels. However I would describe it as "deliciously difficult". The game gets challenging, but doesn't feel "unfair". Each time I died I felt like it was because I had personally made a bad choice. You are also given all the tools necessary to overcome the obstacles. It requires precise use of the barrel roll and screen clear bomb to be able to make it all the way to the boss. I love how the game requires you to make very strategic decisions about how you manage your resources. You have a meter that fills up as you pick up the goodies that the enemies drop, and your abilities use up the meter: the barrel roll gives you a short temporary invincibility (consuming one charge of your meter), but the screen clear bomb, while powerful, completely drains your meter so it's crucial that you make the right choices at the right times. I really appreciate that the game requires so much thought on the player's part, it's not just a mindless shooter. I personally love that each boss is given his own unique personality, it makes it very rewarding to finally make it to the boss just to hear what they have to say, haha. Some bosses have a giant cannon that can take you out in one hit, so the boss fights can get really intense as some of the bosses have normal enemies flying in as you're trying to deal with them, so you absolutely cannot take your eye off that cannon. Some bosses also change their firing patterns as they take damage, which keeps the fights fresh. The gameplay is really addictive. As soon as you die, you can immediately try again and with the upgrade system, no death is in vain. Even if you're struggling with a level, as long as you keep attempting it you'll be naturally getting better, as well as banking up credits to be able to use to upgrade your ship. It looks like it would take a long time to actually max everything out so you won't be hitting a wall anytime soon. I also like that it forces you to think about your build, will you focus on offense, defense, having an awesome screen clear - or just balance all of them? I've always enjoyed glass cannon builds so I personally went heavy into upgrading damage, which seemed to work out pretty well. Story --------- The first thing that comes to mind is "Star Trek meets DBZ", haha. The story is pretty campy overall, but seems self-aware which makes the story very fun. I love whenever any of the villains are onscreen, they have some great dialogue. Each level has a pretty good amount of dialogue, which fortunately only plays once so you don't see the same thing over and over. I really liked how the intro cutscene flows directly into the first level, and how the first level is full of great story elements. The whole first part of the game is set up to make you feel like you're a part of something big, namely an entire fleet trying to make it back to earth as quickly as possible. Throughout the first level, your friends are calling out for help as all the other ships are getting destroyed. By the time you make it to the end of the level, you are literally the only one left - and the smack talk from the main bad guy is honestly pretty great in this part. It really makes you feel like you're all alone now, as opposed to most other games in this genre which generally just start off the game with a vague premise that you're the last one. The second level then builds you back up as you meet an ancient supercomputer that helps you out and powers up your ship. The introduction to the computer is pretty hilarious actually, I really enjoy his character, he's voiced like some old British dude.

I really enjoyed playing this game. It had a fun story with different interesting characters with witty dialogue. I liked that cute bug character who thought that his ship was very effective because it kept spinning and spinning yet it made him sick. The gameplay was fun too. There were a lot of different boss fights and space ships that always made me think of the best strategy to win. I enjoyed collecting these green and red capsules that made my ship stronger and enabled me to use the Super Death Wave. It was very satisfying to see all the enemy ships being blown to pieces with the Super Death Wave. I'd like to note that I especially loved the level where you meet Hamut (I believe that was his name): the combination of his evil German accent and trance music during the gameplay created a very atmospheric experience.

Pretty fun shmup! While the powerups in game are somewhat low level, you can upgrade your ship permanently by using earned credits from destroyed enemies which is cool. The story is campy but serviceable. Fully voiced too. If you're not really into story in your shmups like me though you can easily skip it. It would be cool if there was a separate arcade mode which would remove all the chatter entirely (besides maybe at the beginning to get olyou started and at the end after you beat the game), but it's no big deal. Only other thing I would like added is to be able to revisit previous levels after completing the game to grab some achievements, credits and upgrades. Life bars on bosses would be welcome too. Dev is also really responsive to feedback and generously added a patch which makes upgrades much better so you feel better suited for the later levels and achievements too. There's also a hardcore mode added in which is great as well. Looking forward to more from this dev. Great work!

The Last Archwing nails game balance. It's frustrating enough to keep you interested, but not in a way that's discouraging. The variety of enemies is just right. The pacing is on par with the best of 2D side scrolling and vertical scrolling games. It's nostalgic in a way that brings back the classic game feel, but because of the story, music, graphics (specifically lighting) and voice acting, the game is firmly placed into the modern era of games. A shout out to the barrel roll game mechanic for being easy to use but hard to master. Smashing multiple enemies with one roll is immensely satisfying. Deciding between using barrel roll and Death Wave adds a layer of depth that is compelling. The music choice for the different levels and opening sequence is superb. I'm pleasantly surprised by how much I am enjoying this game.

This game has a gripping intro sequence and hilarious, well-acted dialogue throughout the whole game. The difficulty level on Normal mode is perfect. It starts out quite easy as you are learning the game, and quickly ramps up around level 5. The upgrade system allows you to continue to repeat levels and buffing your ship to compensate for lack of skill. The final few stages are extremely challenging and really test the skill you have developed along the way. There is a variety of enemies that require you to learn their patterns and develop strategies to defeat them. The development team is efficient is addressing any problems with the game that you identify if you just email them, so if you encounter any problems, make sure to email them. Overall this is a great vertical shooter and you should definitely check it out, especially if you are a fan of the genre!!!

The Last Archwing is an arcade-like 3D rendered 2D top down vertical scrolling bullet hell/shoot 'em up. Gameplay consists of extremely derivative top down shooting baddies and avoiding bullets. The tired, obsolete gameplay is accompanied by a pointless, badly written story narrative and mediocre hand drawn character art. There's no options to change the resolution for the game or customise the graphics settings. There's no way for gamers to ensure this is running at the native resolution of their displays... there's no guarantee this game will look right on any PC as a result of this hamfisted design decision. There's no way for gamers to try improve the low quality graphics. The controls can't be customised, which will be an annoyance for many, but it can also render the game unplayable for differently-abled gamers. It's nice that 3D rendered models were used instead of lazy 2D pixel "art"... but it's 2022. Galaga was out in 1981. 41 years of advancement in video games should not be delivering derivative products that are arguably inferior to the games they're ripping off. The Last Archwing is unrealistically priced at $5 USD, but it's not worth it given the defects and shortcomings with the product, especially considering the sheer number of completely free, much higher quality games on Steam.

A cozy little shumps full of the usual bullets and shootie - but some real cool boss battles. An interesting and fully voiced story to guide your spaceship journey, quite entertaining. https://youtu.be/PrzqIeejD-w

The last Archwing reminded me of the traditional plane/helicopter shooting games I used to play in the pizza parlor as a kid. The more up to date graphics and controls were nice and enjoyed the variety of funny characters. My 5 year old son was able to beat the game on casual and enjoyed the humor as well.

Playing through the game, and these characters have hilariously awesome personalities. And better still, the mechanics are really tight. It feels oh so satisfying to smash through another ship with your barrel roll. Oh, and the difficulty curve is right up my alley. I hate games where it feels like you're on autopilot (pun maybe intended?). Anyway, this is not that. You actually have to use the range of abilities on your ship to get through level. Definitely worth the price of admission.