Game Reviews

Shadow Bug Rush review - It's Shadow Bug but endless

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iOS
| Shadow Bug Rush
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Shadow Bug Rush review - It's Shadow Bug but endless
|
iOS
| Shadow Bug Rush

Shadow Bug Rush is an endless version of the quite frankly lovely slashy platformer. It's got all of the bits that made Shadow Bug so much fun, and a few extra chunks to keep less dedicated players more engaged.

The game works pretty well without the level structure, and high score chasing is de rigeur in mobile circles now, so it makes sense to see the game released with a twist like this.

It might not be to everyone's tastes, but it's a good gateway into the full game, and an interesting diversion if you've already smashed through everything the version with an end has to offer.

Shadow of less-dor

The game controls in the same way as its predecessor. Tap on the left of the screen and you move left, tap on the right and you'll move right. Tap on an enemy and you'll leap towards it, swords slashing.

This is your main mode of travel, tapping on bad guys and darting between them, swooping through obstacles as you go. And it's still a lot of fun.

This being an endless game there are constraints. Dawdle too long and a massive churning growl of circular saws will appear from the side of the screen and cut you to shreds. Which isn't ideal.

You need to think on your feet, reacting quickly when the level changes shape. Finding the next bad guy to cut to keep your run going is pretty exhilarating, and there's a violent poetry to your movement when you're doing well.

There are the usual array of spikes, spinning things, and other obstacles to try and content with. There's glowy stuff to collect and while there isn't the sense of progress you get in a game with levels, you'll still want to push on.

In all honesty it's just nice to see an endless anything doing things a bit differently. And if Shadow Bug Rush had come out before its big brother it'd almost certainly be getting a bigger score at the bottom of this review.

The endless addition here works remarkably well, and it's likely to open the experience up to a much wider audience, which is no bad thing.

But you're going to have to be a die hard Shadow Bug fan to pick this up if you've already played the original. It's a lot of fun, but it doesn't quite fizz and pop with the same venom and energy as its predecessor.

Bugging me out man

That's not to say that Shadow Bug Rush is a bad game, far from it in fact, and if you're looking for a quick-blast arcade experience with more than a few twists up its sleeve then it's well worth picking up.

But if you want the full Shadow Bug experience, then it's worth checking out the original first. It's that much more focused, that much more interesting, and that much more entertaining.

Shadow Bug Rush review - It's Shadow Bug but endless

A neat endless twist on the Shadow Bug template, but it's worth checking out the original first
Score
Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.