It’s pretty rare in real life that you’ll get the much coveted opportunity to fire spinning razors at octopi. For that reason alone, Monster Shooter: Lost Levels is a cephalopod-slaughtering treat.
Not only that, but the game is a near masterclass in 2D twin stick shootery that’s crammed with mad cap character design, gory gunplay, and a twisted storyline involving the kidnap of a dribbly cat.
AbductionIt's a simple plot. When chunk hero Dum Dum's beloved feline is abducted by space octopi, he gives chase in his rocket – bent on getting revenge and his kitty back.
There are three different, distinctly designed, planets to battle across – from a cratered moon to the hi-tech inside of the alien’s UFO – and a generous 60 missions spread across the trio.
With pin-sharp 2D backgrounds and characters, not to mention lashings of blood spattering the scenery with every kill, Monster Shooter is a definite looker.
The controls are also pleasingly flexible, with the option to have fixed or movable virtual sticks and an auto-aim function for more casual players. We found they could get sticky when the action got particularly heated in later stages, but the bad guys are weak enough opposition to fend off even when you’re temporarily glued to the spot.
A selection of in-game perks regularly pop up that make you faster, tougher, increase your fire rate, or just make more blood slosh about, so you’ve nearly always got an edge on opponents.
Monster dashWhile the basic eight-legged alien are useless except in larger numbers swarming around you, new enemies are drip-fed as you progress through the campaign.
Some have protective snail-like shells and a roll attack, and there are large brutes that soak up bullets like space sponges. They add some variety, but none of the attacks is particularly devastating to seasoned shooter fans.
The difficulty is generally pitched too low and, while there's a range of more powerful weaponry to unlock using cash collected in-game (from Dead Space-esque razor blasters to an electric Shocker), levelling up the rocket launcher to max power turned me into an unstoppable killing machine.
Where Monster Shooter slips up is in the repetition. The landscapes might change, but the combat stays in the same gear with only a separate Survival mode (with OpenFeint leaderboard support) providing a much-needed dose of variety.
It’s still a blast to play and crammed with action - we just wish there was a little more variety to the non-stop slaughter.
Monster Shooter: Lost Levels
A polished twin-stick shooter with bags of cartoony charm that just needs a little more variety to keep you blasting in longer bursts
Paul Devlin
A newspaper reporter turned games journo, Paul's first ever console was an original white Game Boy (still in working order, albeit with a yellowing tinge and 30 second battery life). Now he writes about Android with a style positively dripping in Honeycomb, stuffed with Gingerbread and coated with Froyo