Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries, you know the one! Apocalypse
Now. “DUN DUN, DUN DUN DUUUN DUN” if you’ve ever had a remote liking to that
piece, Luftrausers is the Valkyrie personified. That blaze of destructive glory
taking down as many foes with you as you can. You don’t win, come on no one
wins in war, you just do a little better every time!
Developed by Vlambeer and published by Devolver Digital and
available now for PC, Mac, PS3 and Vita. Luftrausers is an arcade-style 2D
dogfighter with a bite. It may look like a simple game from screenshots but
when you get your hands on it you’ll soon realise that there’s more than meets
the eye with the game.
Luftrausers gives you the control of a “Rauser” (Plane) to
kill as many enemies in the sky and sea as you can before you are blown to smithereens
yourself. Luftrauser’s mechanics are what gives the title its longevity. Each Rauser
is composed of three sections. A weapon, a body and an engine. Each combination
of these three attributes will give you a unique “Rauser” to pilot and rain
bloody vengeance on your enemies. These not only add a fun experimental feel to
the title by trying to find a combination that suits you best and even then,
each Rauser will make you adapt your playstyle accordingly. Having a tougher
body and a close range blast for a weapon may make you more melee in nature,
whereas the turbocharged engine with the laser weapon will rely on your agility
and ability to keep out of range of your enemies. It’s what gives Luftrausers a
bit of breathing room as, with say 5 or 6 Rausers, its charm would wear thin
very quickly.
Speaking of its charm, Luftrausers sticks to a
retro-inspired theme, from its audio to its art style and right down to its
simplistic yet intuitive control system it’ll pull you back to your days of
throwing quarters into those big shiny arcade machines and it’s the arcade
style that works best. The art style is very basic yet gives feeling of layered
combat, your Rauser will fly in and out of clouds, arch around incoming bullets
with ease and the frame rate stays at a constant high. The controls are
simplistic, aim your Rauser in the direction you want to fire and let loose. It
has a very nice thrust and stall mechanic, and the physics applied feel proper.
There’s no better feeling than being chased down by a jet, only to cut your
engines, spin quickly in mid-air and let him have it! Speaking of its
arcade-style don’t go into this expecting to be made to feel guilty for blowing
that jet out of the sky, instead, have some combo points! Also, don’t expect to
be survive for more than 10 minutes maximum, unless you’re extremely good. It
might have simplistic controls and have a singular style but this is a game
that will punish you if you’re not too careful.
What will keep you coming back for more is its ability to always
have that “Carrot on the Stick” feel. Each part of your Rauser will give you a
set mission to complete and completing these will provide the experience needed
to level up and unlock more components. You’ll also unlock colour schemes along
the way, giving cosmetic customisation options to the title. These aren’t
exactly a highlight however, some of them feel shoehorned in and after a while
will be completely unplayable. Blue on Purple…No Thanks.
Luftrausers is worthy of your time, no doubt. It’s in its
simplicity that allows the title to flourish. You can pretty much just pick it
up and play without having to worry if you’d set your Y-Axis correctly or that
your wing flaps are titled to the right angle. I’m not saying there’s anything
wrong with games that go into that much depth with flight, however, if you’re
looking for a quick blast through some enemies then Luftrausers will fill that
niche very easily.
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