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Psyvariar Delta (PS4)

Status: Finished playing
I started playing this game on Sunday 26 July, 2020  //  I stopped playing this game on: Sunday 2 August, 2020
Current opinion of this game
No comment, yet.

August 2, 2020 03:41:22 PM
Played the co-op and, as far as I could tell it's still essentially the same game. I know I haven't unlocked/played all the different levels and bosses, but I'm not all that interested or excited to do so. I've been really trying to get through the backlog of games...so, on the shelf this one goes! It's got quite a few cool design things I learned about, but now I'd have to really chase scores and try to get good at it.

August 1, 2020 12:38:23 PM
I played enough to finish it a few times (there are lots of difficulty levels, so I was able to find one that worked for me) tried out different options and, to an extent I still don't really understand how the game works. There are moments when the screen is so full of enemy bullets and things that it's impossible to avoid getting hit. At least to me. As in, visually - I don't see gaps to move your ship through.

I'm pretty sure this is an arcade game port mostly because the play field is 1/3 of my TV screen in a vertical orientation. The rest of the screen (left and right sides of the play field) have a lot of information - some of it might be for hard-score score-chasing players? (e.g. there's a scrolling record of your xp gains)

The game's design is interesting - every time you have a near-miss with an enemy bullet you get a "buzz", and you want your buzz number to go up really high. This is good for your score and also, AFAIK, helps you level up which also helps you dish out more damage. So, you want to really dance close to danger (not play it safe) in order to deal more damage and level up so that the rest of the game is easier.

And, the game is pretty hard - there is just so much stuff going on at the screen at any given moment that I really lose track. I should probably play the 2player mode just to see what that's like. Maybe easier?

Oh, there's another feature I thought was super interesting that I don't think I've seen elsewhere - on the right side of the screen there's a closeup of your ship with a limited viewing area. I think it's to help you dodge bullets easier? At least that was my experience while playing and looking closely at it.

I really wish this game had a "run at slower speed" option like Celeste!


 
kudos for original design to Rodrigo Barria