Platform: Xbox One
Genre: Shoot ’em up / twin stick-shooter
Age Rating: E (Everyone)
Xbox LIVE Store Price: $9.99
Game Size: 155.71MB
12 Achievements worth a total 1000G
INTRODUCTION
WE ARE DOOMED is a space based twin stick-shooter (multidirectional shooters with one joystick for movement and one joystick for firing in any direction independent of movement) developed and published by Vertexpop.
The gameplay mechanics are really simple; shooting and killing incoming and increasing enemy waves without a reason; well, who needs one? Get ready for tons of numbers, lasers, enemies and pixelated fireworks filling the whole screen. There is definately some chaotic gameplay going on.
GAME HISTORY
WE ARE DOOMED started when the creator idly doodled a massive laser beam weapon in a notebook. He immediately knew he had to figure out how to turn that into a videogame. Over the course of development, everything from the controls, to the look, to the enemy behaviours changed dramatically, but that initial doodle survived.
GAMEPLAY & GAME MODES
There is no story mode at all, and honestly, I really appreciate that; sometimes I don’t feel like watching ridiculous amounts of cutscenes with a poor argument. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one thinking this way. WE ARE DOOMED goes straight to the point; and that’s its main strength; be prepared to press play and do your best!
At first, it might seem pretty easy to clear waves, but, as you might imagine, it will be eventually getting harder as you progress. Killing enemies (zapping baddies) will reward you with the ultimate baddie killer, the Super Beam (you’ll need to collect “trinkets” to load it), which is the overpowered version of your standard weapon.
Regarding weapons, variety is not a word I could use, since there is only one available weapon you can use; the laser beam and, occasionally, its 2.0 version, the super beam, as I said. This makes the game feel fairly simple; it’s worth mentioning that there are no upgrades/temporary buffs either, which could have added a lot to this game.
There are just two game modes in WE ARE DOOMED;
Wave Mode– Classic game type where you have to survive till the last wave, in this case, you’ll have to make it alive up to wave 30.
Endless Mode– This is simply the wave mode without limit, there is nothing else different, just an endless barrage of baddies.
The only singularity I found in the game is that you have 4 lives instead of just one; this four opportunities will become really handy; there are different enemies attacking in various ways and also there are obstacles with unpredictable movement patterns, providing easy deaths along the way. “Spoiler”: you might end up rage quitting.
VISUALS AND SOUND
The nice 50% 80’s/90’s retro, 50% modern visuals mixture combined with a pretty good soundtrack gets your attention straight away, there is no doubt about it. The best part of this game is its presentation, design, sound section; everything except the gameplay, and it’s a real shame.
Here is a link to buy the game soundtrack: http://robbyduguay.bandcamp.com/album/we-are-doomed-soundtrack-ep
SO MANY COLOURS
PERSONAL OPINION & VERDICT
When a game is really similar to another one, it is practically unavoidable to start comparing them, and without getting into a deeper comparison, I can say Geometry Wars is far a better game. But if you enjoyed Geometry Wars, nothing stops you from enjoying WE ARE DOOMED too.
The problem with this particular game is that it brings nothing new to the table; it’s a generic twin stick shooter, and this type of games aren’t new on the next generation consoles either.
This is the type of game you feel like playing for half an hour or so, depending on your playstyle (how competitive you really are). Seems appropriate for high score hunters, so if you consider yourself one, you need to give it a try.
From my point of view, WE ARE DOOM lacks of an addictive gameply, but I can see what the developers attempted to achieve; maybe they were aiming too high.
There is plenty of room left for improves; and that “room” is probably bigger than the satisfaction this game could ever provide you. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the game is bad, I’m just saying that I’ve seen this before, and there is no surprise element at all; don’t say I haven’t warned you.
What this game needs at all costs is a free content update adding weapons and positive/negative buffs like slow motion or blurry screen; it’s just an example of the ton of things you could add! Hopefully Vertexpop takes this feedback into account; I’ll be happy to update and increase my final score if they do it!
Now, with that being said, I just want to make clear that I did actually enjoy the game a little bit, but I couldn’t stop thinking of ways to improve it, and that kept me generally distracted.
WE ARE DOOMED feels like an open canvas still waiting to be painted.
+Cool soundtrack and visuals
+No Story mode (it’s not neccesary for this type of game)
+Quick to start and restart for one more game
-Lack of weapon variety
-No addictive gameplay
-Brings nothing new
-Only two game modes (not enough content)
This was my honest opinion on the game, no harm intended at all, and I’m giving WE ARE DOOMED a final 5.5/10 score.
