Hands-on with Assault Android Cactus

When I sat down to play Assault Android Cactus at Eurogamer Expo, my play session was accompanied by a small child who had become very good at the game.

According to Sanatana Mishra - one of just three chaps heading up Assault Android Cactus's development over at Witch Beam - he'd been there pretty much the whole day, and Sanatana simply couldn't pry him off.

After two minutes of playing in co-op with my new small friend, I could see why.

Assault Android Cactus is one of the most hectic, visually dazzling, gameplay-packed twin-stick shooters I've played in a long time.

If you've played any twin-stick shooter, you know what to expect on the most basic level: the left stick controls movement around an arena, the right stick controls the direction you fire, right trigger shoots bullets, and enemies approach from all sides.

Mixing things up are the alternative weapons, launched with a tap of L trigger. I was playing as Holly, whose other attack was a gigantic cannonball that destroyed any enemies foolish enough to stand in its way. Cactus, Lemon, Coral, and the four other characters that will be unlockable all have their own unique attacks.

It's the boss fights that really shine, though.

I took on Production Overlord Embryo in this demo, a hulking robot with heavy artillery and a rapid-firing sci-fi gun.

Though the boss battle followed the template laid down by the arcades - figure out its pattern and look out for any weaknesses to exploit - the truly exciting thing is that it takes Assault Android Cactus's frenetic twin-stick shooting and adds the bullet-dodging of a Cave-esque shmup.

The spreadshot of Embryo's weapon made for intricate patterns of laser fire that we had to weave through skilfully, before returning to lay down the fire, chipping away at its enormous health bar.

When I spoke with Sanatana later on, he confessed that Cave's shmups had indeed been an influence - especially DeathSmiles.

And the similarities with DeathSmiles go deeper than just avoiding bullets: each character has a distinct look and personality, feeling much more like a fleshed out character as than an abstract gameplay element to move about a playfield while avoiding fire.

This personality is enhanced by the fact that Assault Android Cactus looks great, and sounds even better.

The palette is marginally muted neon, the characters are chibi future punks, and the arenas you fight in can dramatically change their look in a matter of moments thanks to a robust lighting system, mechanical dangers that appear out of nowhere, and a battlefield that can itself morph and change at will.

Audio consists of pulsing EDM, cacophonous explosions, and the tick-tick-tick-tick-tick of constant gunfire.

The only question mark that's hanging over his preview is the one of how much of the multiplayer experience from the home console and PC versions will make the leap onto the Vita.

I tackled an early PC build of the game, and Sanatana told me that the form of multiplayer for Assault Android Cactus on Vita is not currently set in stone.

Having another person in the arena with me made the gameplay a lot more dynamic than if I had played by myself, as I could rely on a pal coming to my aid when I was swamped by enemies. If the online multiplayer component isn't there, it'll simply make the Vita version inferior. If multiplayer's not present in any way at all, it'll be a gigantic missed opportunity.

Of course, Assault Android Cactus is months away from launch: there's half a year for Witch Beam to firm up its plans for multiplayer before the game hits Vita and PlayStation 4 (with Cross Buy support) in March 2014.

Keep your eyes on Pocket Gamer for more coverage till then.