Ikaruga, R-Type and Metal Slug are all types of games that I am naturally terrible at but thrive off their addictively punishing gameplay loops. Dogfight: A Sausage Bomber Story is an arcade side-scrolling shoot ’em up and has already dropped onto the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S consoles and serves a similar premise to classics in the genre. The game is also available for Playstation 4|5, Nintendo Switch and Windows PC. Gameplay is fast and frantic and keeps everything a real challenge whilst catering to all age ranges and whilst its offering is really short, there are some great qualities that shine through across the nine different environments. Is it an indie worthy of your hard-earned cash in this congested time in gaming though, I’ll be sure to let you know if you keep reading.

Gameplay

Being a side scroller, you’ll be traversing from left to right whilst taking out enemies that approach you on screen. What’s unique here though is that you can spin your plane around and fire behind you if you haven’t got the weaponry to do this already. You’ll need to be quick and prompt whilst dispatching enemies as they don’t remain visible on screen for long before they disappear. If you’re gunning for the highest score possible you’ll want to attempt to kill everything possible. Fallen aircraft will drop medal icons that can be collected for a boost to your score.

In addition to these collectables, there will also be drops for more weapon power, extra bombs and health. It was a real challenge to negotiate to pick up every single item especially in solo play as enemies will continue to fly in even if you swoop in to gather everything, so be mindful of your approach. If you find things a little too easy you can ramp up the difficulty if you want to test yourself.

Graphics & Audio

Visually Dogfight: A Sausage Bomber Story is crisp on the big screen and you can tell that everything appears to be hand drawn to perfection. Because the gameplay is pretty chaotic, similar games in the past have always struggled when it comes to performance on the busy sections of their games. Here I had no issues on Xbox Series X, the flight of the plane is quick, nimble and buttery smooth. I especially enjoyed how well done the backdrops of each level were, it almost feels like you’re playing a live-moving comic book, everything is pristine in its presentation.

There is a boss fight at each stage and each will present a different challenge where you will need to adjust your strategy and even flight path. They are well designed and each is a MEGA version of something, you’ll understand what I mean when you play. Gunfire is well displayed and you can easily differentiate your own weapon spread against your enemy. Sound effects and soundtrack blend well with the visuals and wrap around the atmosphere perfectly.

In Conclusion

Dogfight: A Sausage Bomber Story is super simple to pick up and play and accessible for anyone and this is the real draw to the overall experience. Whilst it is a lot shorter than I would have hoped, it really is about quality and not quantity here. I enjoyed the fact that you could spin the plane around in a split second and the variance in the levels really allows you to experiment with that function along with different weaponry. The speed run function will encourage more than one run-through of the game, but it is one of those that you could easily obtain all or most of the achievements in a short few hours of gameplay. But it isn’t one of those naff 1000 gamerscore games though, so don’t be fazed by that fact.

If you’re looking for a game that offers four-player local co-op, because let’s face it there aren’t many out there, then this is for sure one you’ll want to keep an eye on. I found the entire experience fun enough that I am considering going back for an additional run on a harder difficulty or even to try and attempt some flawless runs where I can annihilate everything without dying. For the reasonable price point of £14.99/$17.99, it is worth a buy if you’re a fan of the genre.