Habroxia 2 review

Habroxia 2 tells the events of what happened after a brutal attack on Free Space where humanity sends scout ships to the star system that was at the source of the assault. But when one of the pilots doesn’t return home, it’s up to his daughter, the talented star pilot Sabrina, to go and find him.

Habroxia 2 is a non-linear shoot’em up, a.k.a. shmup game where players will navigate space and destroy every enemy ship in their path. As with other shmups, players can pick up a bevy of power-ups in order to get the leg up on the opposition. It also mixes a bit of RPG lite mechanics to add a layer of depths to the otherwise monotonous gameplay.

As you destroy enemies and survive levels, you can mean pick up additional perks such as shield for temporary protecting barrier or bombs which will allow you to destroy all enemies in one shot; can be quite useful when overwhelmed by numbers. You also have a special attack that you can select when first starting the game. It can be used once, but the meter refills pretty quickly.

Unlike most shmups, your ship has a health bar so at least you know you won’t be one-shotted. Thankfully you can recover some health with Heart pick-ups. You can also pick up additional firepower which can be used with your alternate attack button. Destroyed ships will also drop credits which are a currency that can be used to upgrade your ship (attacks, health, etc…) in between missions by accessing the shop; this is where the RPG lite mechanics come into play. You can upgrade your health and attack power how you want; as long as you have enough credit.

The game’s biggest problem is the controls. They implemented twin-stick mechanics where you need to use the right joystick in order to shoot your main weapons. It’s clunky and doesn’t offer as much precision as using the left joystick to aim and a face button to shoot can offer. Especially against boss battles, it makes things harder than they should be.

While the lite RPG mechanics are definitely interesting, it does means that you’ll have to grind a bit as you’ll struggle in the early parts of the game. The biggest nuisance is that all enemies require a certain amount of bullets before exploding; a lot of them are insane bullet sponges that it feels more useful to avoid everything rather than shoot. But again, you won’t earn a lot of in-game currency and not be able to upgrade your ship.

The game looks exactly as you’d expect from a space shmup; a black backdrop with colorful enemies and their projectiles aiming to destroy your ship. The soundtrack is surprisingly interesting; while not as classic as other shmups, this is one where you’ll want to pump up the volume which shooting everything in sight.

Habroxia 2 is one of the best shmups I’ve played in a while. It’s a step up from its predecessor and the RPG-lite system where you can improve your ship can be addictive. Although the twin-stick controls can be a turn-off that it makes it frustrating to enjoy and grinding can prove annoying in the long run, but as a whole, Habroxia 2 is a fun and addictive shmup.