This is a twin stick shooter game, meaning you move by using one joypad and shoot in any direction with the other.  Kind of like arcade classics like Robotron or Smash TV.  In fact, the game’s graphics even kind of remind me of Robotron.  Pilot your spacecraft through corridors and shoot anything that moves, and that’s all you need to know!  Up to five can play at the same time in this downloadable game for Switch, PC, and even the Wii U for some reason (reviewed on Switch here).

The main Campaign mode is the story.  You pick from a variety of spaceships and choose two different power-ups to take with you.  Then you explore corridors and rooms and shoot all the bad guys.  Activate power-ups like multi-directional shots and shields by pressing the trigger button.  Using these power-ups takes energy, and you can get more by defeating enemies and shooting rocks on the walls.  You can also dash to get out of the way.  Every so often, you’ll find a save room where you can warp to previous areas, save your progress, equip unlocked power-ups, and even spend money to upgrade them so they last longer.  There are also elemental pickups you can collect that’ll have various effects on the enemy.  Up to five can play at the same time here, which is cool.   The only problem I had with this mode was the story wasn’t really necessary or interesting.  And having to sift through text boxes to progress in the middle of the game really interrupted the flow.  Luckily the other two modes are less involved.  You can battle other players in Versus, and in Onslaught, you work together or alone to defeat waves of enemies that keep on coming until you die.   You can unlock new maps for these modes as well.  And that’s pretty much it.  If you like twin stick shooters and classic arcade style gameplay, this one fits the bill fairly well.

Kid Factor:

Aperion Cyberstorm is rated E-10 with an ESRB descriptor of Fantasy Violence.  You shoot spaceships that explode when defeated, and that’s about as violent as it gets.  No worse than any classic arcade game.  There are several modes of difficulty so players of most skill levels can enjoy it, and the whole family can join in.  Reading skill is helpful for the text, but not necessary just to play.

Tags: Game Reviews