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You would think that a genre as old as the twin-stick shooter would be done with, but I am finding developers are able to bring something to the genre that exhilarates the fun that can be had with one of the most standard ways to shoot up enemies. This...
If you're unfamiliar with Housemarque, then maybe it's because you've played one of their eye-searing shooters that was so intense that it wiped the whole experience from your memory, Men in Black style. Or maybe you just haven't heard of them. Who can...
That’s meaningful, as Nex Machina was created in cooperation with Eugene Jarvis, one of the designers of that early classic game. Nex Machina is far deeper than first impressions might suggest, and can offer many hours of searing challenge, presuming you’re willing to face a little eye strain. Blinking is not encouraged.
Nex Machina manages to tribute arcade games of the past such as Robotron and Smash TV without relying on nostalgia alone, offering a deep experience that doesn't require sub-systems to please players with a strong competitive attitude. As the experience...
Nex Machina is quite simply one of the best games of 2017. It offers simple yet incredibly fun, fast-paced gameplay and it has immense style. Do not sleep on this...
There is a famous story behind the making of Robotron 2084, the seminal 1982 arcade game which provides the clear inspiration for Nex Machina. Designer Eugene Jarvis, the genius behind hit coin-op Defender, broke his wrist in a car accident and found...
Despite the frustrations its upgrade system often caused me, I had a good time navigating Nex Machina's array of twin-stick shooter challenges. The appealing art, energetic soundtrack, and pixel-perfect gamepad controls made me own every failure and...
Limited multiplayer options aside, Nex Machina is a game that confidently meets expectations. It's difficult, intensely satisfying, and packed with enough secrets and lofty secondary objectives to keep you enraptured for hours. It's a classic game at heart, but with refined challenges and exacting mechanics, it feels right at home in the modern era.
Nex Machina is an utterly fantastic arcade twin-stick shooter that doesn’t so much revolutionize the genre as get almost every aspect just right. The shooting feels great, the dash mechanic gives you plenty of flexibility in getting out of tight spots, all the secondary weapons are unique and useful in their own way, and the enemies never stop coming up with new ways to cause trouble.
Throw in local co-op and the sheer voxel-strewn beauty of it all, and 2017 is looking pretty good. Marvellous, even. Follow me on this one: Nex Machina feels like less like a game and more like the happy, diabolical result of a seance. One night, in the dark of a Finnish winter, Housemarque summoned the devil. And the devil was Eugene Jarvis.
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