Platypus Reclayed Review

There’s something just satisfying about shmups or bullet hell shooters; for as stressful as they can seem, I love that feeling of getting in the zone, ducking and weaving in and out of danger, and trying to survive until the end of the levels. I’d not heard of Platypus before now, being released in 2004 and using claymation to make its art style stand out, but this Reclayed version has made a fan of me. It’s simple to play, but man, it also takes no prisoners in its challenge. 

As it ever was in a side scrolling shmup, we control a little ship going from left to right blasting the ever loving hell out of anything and everything that moves towards us, all the while dodging a plethora of incoming fire, enemy ships, and general all round chaos. Out of the gate Platypus Reclayed takes no prisoners, and it took me longer than I’d care to admit to clear the first stage of the first level, let alone all five stages. 

We get a choice of three ships, each with differing stats. I initially opted for what turned out to be the hardest one for its strong fire power but brittle frame and slow movement speed. The middle of the three is a bit more balanced, while the beginner ship comes with weaker attacks but two damage-absorbing shields by default (the only one of the three to do so). I would heartily recommend this ship for all players to start with, as even with this extra buffer there’s still a very good chance of almost immediate death when starting the game.

Enemy ships come in all shapes and sizes, and in numbers. It’s not uncommon to have almost a dozen or so on screen at once, all firing bullets and blocking much of the screen’s safe spaces. Some fire directly forward, others in an arc, and others still annoyingly accurately directly at our ship wherever it is. Then come the bigger guys, who often do multiple of these at once. Yeah, they got me over and over. 

We have a very small window of invulnerability when respawning, but that very small is very small. I lost count of the lives I lost in quick succession because I respawned and didn’t move in time. If anything, this is one aspect of Platypus Reclayed that felt a bit off to me, the chaos on screen making it all too easy to be killed multiple times in a row without warning. A slightly longer window, or even clearing some enemies around us might have made it a tad easier to reset after a death, but it could also be that my reactions aren’t what they used to be…

Power-ups spawn in as we play and range from rapid fire modes, to rockets, flamethrowers, and more. These act as a shield when collected, though we can only collect one at a time, and it’s lost as soon as we’re hit. They are also on a timer, meaning we only get the rockets for example for about 20 seconds before we’re back to our peashooter weapon. If power-ups were dropping frequently this might not have been as big of a hurdle, but I did find multiple times that I’d be up against a hard boss or ship with a powerful weapon, only for it to disappear mid-fight and leave me trying to finish it off with the basic attack. Having them as shields that disappear when hit is fine, but the time limit felt a bit too stingy especially later on.

When we’re flowing though, Platypus Reclayed does feel great fun to play. There’s a good balance in enemy patterns that make them feel hectic and yet manageable, and the constant risk/reward of the power-ups, score boosting fruit and other items that need collecting before they fall off the screen provide high score chasers with more than enough to sink their teeth into here. 

The remastered visuals are also still eye-catching, all real clay models scanned into the game. Seeing the hand made explosions and damage to the ships as we attack is very cool indeed, and in the gallery you can see how much effort went into creating even the little trees in the background.

Conclusion

Platypus Reclayed is a tough old cookie, but rewarding and fun to play at the same time.