Andro Dunos II is modelled after old school arcade shooters, with fast, frenetic gameplay and a lot of action going on all the time. I’ve always been more of a fan of the vertical style of shooter, but I’ve enjoyed my time with this these past few weeks, and if you’re into the genre you’ll find quite a lot to like here – though if this is your first dip into the scrolling shooter genre you might find the challenge quite intense.
DEVS give us plenty of tools to use to survive, but man, is it challenging. The screen is constantly full of enemies, bullets, and visual effects that can make it quite hard to get a grip on the action. I have found that oftentimes the bullets can get obscured due to this, causing quite a few deaths that cameo out of nowhere. That’s in addition to the sheer speed and slow of play, which is quite high and fast, meaning we really need to be on the ball in order to clear the stages.
Each of these are fairly short, but feel longer thanks to that difficulty. Capped with a hellacious boss that all easily fill the screen with bullets as well as their sheer mass, they are a blast to play and learn. The visuals scroll to the right constantly but also veer up and down as obstacles hurtle at us around the already numerous enemies. Once cleared, we can restart a game from any level we choose, which is a nice touch as it’s going to be very difficult to get through the full lot in one go.
In order to fight back, we’re granted several modes of fire that can be switched between on the fly and can also be upgraded individually via pick-ups from defeated enemies. As with the attacks, it can be hard to see these within the chaos, but they are key to success. As each levels up we get wider, more powerful shots to use, from arcing lasers to extra homing missiles, and more. Getting destroyed knocks our currently equipped weapon back a level though, which isn’t ideal as this then puts us in a more awkward position to defend ourselves.
We also have a super attack that buffs up our current weapon for a limited time, operated on a cool down timer. The weapon also resets to level one for a small window after using this. I do like this idea, but at the same time it’s already enough to try and juggle the action, movement, and weapon wheel as it is, without this extra hindrance on top. There’s also too much of a delay on swapping to a charged up weapon after using this super attack, meaning I found myself stuck with the weak sauce gun in moments that I felt I should be able to be better equipped.
As I say, I’ve enjoyed playing Andro Dunos II, but I haven’t quite found my rhythm with it like I tend to so with shooters like this. Between all the weapons and fast action, I was often simply fighting with my controller to move and survive than actively engage in the on-screen action. It does look great though, with some excellent sprite work full of colour and style. Again, sometimes it’s a little over done and busy mind, with enemies approaching one way in the background before entering the our plane of attack from the other. Some of the hazardous scenery is also hard to spot, with a few areas killing me without much warning.
Conclusion
For those who like a bit of fast, hectic scrolling shooter action, Andro Dunos II II is worth a look. Some lovely, detailed visuals help sell the madness, while the abilities on offer to the player are good, if a bit cumbersome to get to grips with. It’s not my favourite example of the genre then, but still a fun evening or two to be had for those interested.
This game was reviewed based on Xbox S|X review code, using an Xbox S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.
