WE ARE DOOMED

We Are Doomed brings us a new kind of experience in the twin-stick genre; Set to a vibrant world of colorful visuals and featuring close-quarters action through use of the very powerful but short beam, playful elements that make this a great change of pace from the general crowd of twin-stick shooters we're so used to seeing. The abstract nature and risk taken in going against the general space shooter themes of this genre attracted me to We Are Doomed at first glance, I was too curious not to try. It ended up the gameplay lives up to it's distinct appearance with the use of some genuinely engaging design choices in enemy placements and their behaviors. Not only do you have the standard little baddies swarming around to get you but well placed lines of patrolling foes along walls to keep you from coasting on the sides, as well as stationary turret enemies that shoot lightning quick bullets for you to maneuver around as you dash to safety. The tougher, almost mid-boss like enemies start to appear the deeper into the game's 30 waves you get, keeping you on your toes throughout your short but sweet frenetic blast of lazerbeaming action. The fact that your beam is so short makes the game feel as intense as it does and gives an almost strategic approach to each situation, since you'll have to get up unnervingly close to foes without getting swarmed or caught in their crossfire. It's a much more forgiving shooter than most are used to overall, but it manages to keep the challenge fresh and interesting with the addition of increasingly harder and smarter enemies every ten waves, evolving progressively with the enchanting melody you hear throughout. During your hyperactive brawl for supremacy you'll be scrambling to collect the glowing power-up cubes used to power your Superbeam, which is a bit like a bomb/ultimate weapon. It takes awhile to build up but it decimates anything in your path within seconds and feels pretty damn satisfying. The Superbeam is your key to a successful run and even more vital to achieving a higher-score (the core of these sort of games). Forgetting to grab each power-up and building it's meter is the surest way to being overtaken in the most hectic of situations, when you'll need it most. It's a game that, on the outside, is sweet and simple. It's the perfect title for quick play sessions, but breaking away from it will be a hard task as you are sucked into the need to surpass each previous score and make it further into it's 30 waves or tackle the leaderboards with Endless mode. The game is fun and accessible enough for all levels of play but will hook the most dedicated of score-chasers. tldr; We Are Doomed is an easily recommendable twin-stick shooter for those looking for a game that tries something new while retaining the solid and precise action of it's predecessors, it is exactly the unique new perspective we need to keep the genre fresh and interesting.

Every indie gamer should do themselves a favor and take about a month and really explore the twin-stick shmups out there. Just really get in there and experience all the different mechanics and nuances. On my particular walk-a-bout, at some point I ran into [i]WE ARE DOOMED[/i]. Now this is the kind of title that most would probably pass up as being too 'arcadey' or abstract, but as with most quality games - [i]the devil is in the details[/i]. [b]This is the sort of title that is a sight-for-sore-eyes after you've traversed an ocean of ho-hum titles that do little-to-nothing to differentiate themselves from the pack.[/b] Will you log hours of quality time? Nope. Is there a story and tons of things to learn and explore? Not really. [i]Is it fun? [b]Yes.[/b][/i]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlLNRBpRi4U The pleasant thing about genre is that the skills required by individual works readily transfer from one title to the next. This is the case for all media, not just video games; for example, rock and pop fans unexperienced with a type of music like rap or metal might find it unapproachable because they don't understand how to listen to it. Familiarity is comfortable; we feel good when we exercise abilities that have already passed beyond the struggle of early development. But every so often you encounter a title that discards your assumptions about how its genre is defined—and what skills it requires. If you become good at one twin-stick shooter, you've become good at them all. This is certainly not to say that all of these games are the same! On the contrary, they are distinguished by features like combo scoring, life systems, slow-motion and bomb mechanics, enemy behavior, power-ups, play modes, and so on; yet at bottom they are all about staying as far away as possible from whatever you are shooting at. After all, if enemies kill by touch while your weapon has unlimited range, then distance is advantage. That's why WE ARE DOOMED stands out from other twin-sticks; it takes away your advantage. A few very simple design elements work together to create an intimate, risky arcade game whose danger must always be managed from a close range. The weapon here is a short laser beam rather than the typical stream of bullets extending across the entire arena. Obviously, the inability to kill things from a comfortable distance changes the fundamental dynamic of a game like this, but what's really clever about the laser's range is the way in which the game keeps you on the offensive. See, you might think that you could overcome the range problem by establishing a safe corner for yourself and playing a defensive game, perhaps poking out now and then to gradually expand your territory. Well, nice try, but threats spawn more quickly than you can possibly eliminate them, even if you destroy enemies with perfect efficiency. There is only one recourse: the Superbeam, an ability which extends your laser and cuts through enemies instantaneously. WE ARE DOOMED revolves entirely around management of the Superbeam; without periodically making use of its screen-clearing range and power, the player will doubtless be overwhelmed. The game's rhythm, then, emerges from the claustrophobia of high-density enemy build-up and the climactic relief of a nick-of-time Superbeam activation that effectively resets the board. But the trouble is that the Superbeam is charged by picking up cubes called trinkets, and these depreciate over time and eventually disappear altogether. Therefore, in order to constantly build meter for the Superbeam and ensure long-term survival, the player must adopt bold, aggressive tactics, swimming straight through thick packs of enemies in order to grab trinkets as quickly as possible, and the short range of the basic beam forces you to carve your path on the fly. As a result of this clever synergy, the core experience of WE ARE DOOMED is one of constant, exhilarating tension. No other twin-stick plays quite like it. Bright, colorful enemy design and retro, chunky effects help to keep the action readable even at its most chaotic while pairing well with the soundtrack's warm, airy synthpop. The sounds of trinkets spawning in and being collected are pleasingly light and musical over the steady thrum of your laser. Actually, the aural mood is surprisingly mellow and relaxing overall despite the splashy visuals. It's a welcome direction that keeps the player focused rather than frantic. And that's a valuable mindset when the slightest distraction can be fatal. As in other twin-sticks, the entire point here is to push yourself to get better and better runs with higher and higher scores—that may sound repetitious, but the need to get close to enemies prevents the boredom of unthreatening early waves that sometimes haunts similar games. In its elegant new take on the genre, WE ARE DOOMED isn't just a refreshing alternative to other twin-stick arcade shooters—it's a better one.

WeAreDoomed is great. It's a really thoughtful and well considered twin stick shooter that understands a lot of what makes many other games great and uses it well to its advantage. There's parts of a lot of games in here from Geometry Wars to the psychedelic classic Spheres Of Chaos all wrapped up in a big laser, big explosion arena shooter that lets you load up and drop into the zone in seconds. Mind, it helps that the music is incredible too.

Relative to the game, this review will be short and sweet, as there really is not much content in this game. There are only 2 game modes available, Waves and Endless, both are pretty much the same. Only difference between them is that the Waves game play is linear and the enemies spawn in the same waves everytime you play. Where as, Endless mode works like GW2: Retro Evolved, where the enemies randomly spawn and you have to survive. Of course in both modes, each wave adds new hazards, different and more enemies to increase the dificulty and does it generously! The linear way that Waves mode was designed may sound like it might be easy because of the redundancy but to put it in perspective I'm currently ranking 23 on the leaderboards and I have yet to pass wave 17... Whats my point? There are only 22 other players that have gotten past the 17th wave and this game is brutally hard! The graphics are just okay (what you see on the store page is pretty much it) and the twin stick shooter style of game play is nothing new. So why should you get this? Well, the audio. WAD is a musically driven twin stick arena shooter. But not like Beat Hazard where music drives the game, in WAD the game play drives the music, kind of like Everyday Shooter. Essentially, you are the musician and besides being the instrument of destruction your weapon is also a synth arp and choir instrument of sounds and the pitch is effected by the distance between you and the enemies. Then by destorying the enemies generates a beat. This in addition to some great sound effects layered over a droney ambient track really creates an atmosphere. IMO, the audio really does make up for what the game lacks. The musical drive part of WAD is not as well done as games like Everyday Shooter but this one certainly has better game play. Unfortunately, you only get one track with WAD, which makes any long sessions difficult to attempt. This game is recommended in smaller doses as it's a decent filler game to pick up again play every once in a while. [i]Who definately should pick this up?[/i] Highly recommended for audiophiles, masochistic gamers who love brutally difficult games, and twin stick enthusiasts. [i]The bottom line:[/i] [code] The replayability killing lack of content makes the asking MSRP of $10 USD hard to swallow... [u]If you're going to pick this one up, [b]pick it up on sale![/b][/u] [/code]

I love this game! Don't be put off by the average review score from other platforms. Main complaints are from lack of variety game modes that only include endless mode and 30 wave stages. I don't think this is worth the full price but wait for sale. You can get Geometry Wars Retro Evolved for half the price but I do recommend We Are Doomed. I love the graphics, art style and gameplay. Your laser weapon is limited in distance and that makes it more challenging. You also get a secondary weapon by collecting enough cubes (Trinkets) to enable your superbeam weapon. The enemies don't go down easily with one shot kill and depending on which enemies it takes more hit points to kill. I recommend this for all Twin Stick Shooters fans.

The mission statement of Vertex Pop is to use satisfying procedurally generated imagery in a quick to learn, hard to master play-style. This is absolutely accomplished here. Controls: since I have this on the PC I tried with both the 360-style controller via USB and the keyboard/mouse, and I enjoy them both for different reasons. Everything is tight and responsive, and at no point are you frustrated by it. Visuals: Like VertexPop's earlier entry Orbit1, the visuals are simple and stunning at the same time. Since they're procedurally generated, not only are they performant, they flow very seamlessly along with the motion of the gameplay itself in a very aesthetically pleasing and informative way. My only gripe is that sometimes the pulsing backdrop obscures some of the potentially dangerous enemies. This feels intentional, but it was the only time I got frustrated. Audio: This is by far my favorite part. Though it's not necessarily a fully dynamic music system since it uses a static soundtrack, the sound effects synchronize with the music in a very satisfying way, and you feel very much like everything is coming together in an awesome way that transcends the scoring portion of the game. Overall: Well worth the price of admission, this game will keep you company when you're bored with AAA titles, and you'll find yourself coming back to it when you're trying to engage your subconscious between work tasks. Almost as effective as a walk in the park!

I absolutely LOVE this game. It's not a particularly great game - but I can't put it down. Great gameplay loop, always trying to get further without dying to retain a higher multiplier for the next superbeam. minimalist, highly polished graphics and simplistic enemy designs remind me of Atari 2600 shooters like Beamrider. Love it!

If you're a fan of indie games, twin-stick shooters, music-based games and colors, you should buy this! Get it on sale, it's $0.99 right now. There's nothing fancy about this twin-stick shooter, but it's very solid for the genre. The skill in this game is a "super beam", which you collect the little cubes for your power-up to turn your normal beam into a super large beam with RMB or Space Bar. Shooting the enemies generates the music in the game, kind of similar to Everyday Shooter or Rez, but there's only one song as far as I can tell =( Controls are tight and responsive. I don't think it's really worth $9.99, but it's totally worth it for a buck or two. I tend to keep a few twin-stick shooters installed on my PC, and this will be one of those, along with Waves and Waves2. Now if only Every Extend Extra would come out on PC.....

How did this game not get more attention!? It's amazing! Fast-paced, challenging, colorful and styllish - this is a really well made dual stick ( or mouse and keyboard) shooter. On-par with ( if not better than ) Geomtery wars.