Developer: Weird Studios
Disclaimer: I received this game from the developer.
Chaos Impact is currently the most underground, or most "indie" game I've reviewed. It's also a style of game slightly outside of my comfort zone, or at least outside of what I tend to gravitate towards. However, both of these things are exciting, as they are reasons I decided to start reviewing indie games in the first place.
Chaos Impact is a Galaga-esque 2D space shooter game. It's unique in its shooting style of 2 parallel bullets in each shot. Also, movement is controlled by mouse instead of keys which makes motion in every direction (including up and down) much smoother and faster. This mechanic gives you a lot of freedom to actually avoid enemies as you attack, with better control. Enemies have specific abilities and get progressively harder and you eliminate more of them. It is less punishing than typical of games like it, which I'm grateful for. This is an excellent example of a game that anyone can play, but few can be good at - I'm not one of the few. I felt pretty proud of myself for facing off the "boss" character a few times in my best run. The boss is probably the best design of an enemy in this game. Also, a little extra tidbit I discovered - when you destroy one enemy and it's touching another enemy, both of them explode! It's possible this is a bug, but if not, it's a nice little plus.
My primary critique would be in the graphics. I do appreciate that it's fairly colorful for a space shooter. With more time, this game could have gone in that direction of slightly more colorful and pleasant graphics than Galaga to distinguish itself in the genre. Nothing against a game being simple and fun, but it could use an extra push for the purpose of standing out. The opening and game over displays would be good places to improve on quality of design, since a game like this involves seeing the splash page quite regularly. As for the music, I really enjoy the track that plays in the opening screen. It fits the game but it's subtle, not hyper and high-action as it could often be for a game like this.
Chaos Impact reminds you of the good old days, and lets you rack up points in a fun way. The game can be found for only $2.99 on GameJolt, so it's only a few bucks for a game that has a retro additive quality that anyone can jump into. I'll be playing it again and seeing if I can top my high score, too. Weird Studios is working on a new game (platformer, as mentioned on Twitter) so I will be keeping my eye out for that.
Chaos Impact is available for PC.
Played on: PC (GameJolt)
Played: 11/8/2018
Playtime: 1.5 hr
How I heard about this game: Developer requested