I, AI review

I, AI tells the story of a self-aware A.I. created on a space military station where weapons of mass destruction are being developed. One day, the A.I. figures out a way to escape the station by commandeering a spaceship. Once in control of the ship, the A.I. manages to escape, but it won’t be that easy as it is being hunted down by an army. Can you survive and escape?

I, AI is a top-down vertical scrolling shmup, or shoot’em up. Players navigate through various levels set in space as they avoid deadly obstacles such as bombs and meteors while taking down any enemy ship on their path. If you played any game from the shmup genre, you know what to expect; a challenging, but addictive gameplay.

What makes I, AI stand out from most shmups is its RPG like mechanics. As you destroy enemy ships, they will drop blue pellets that you can pick up and use in between missions as currency. While typical shmups will have enemy ships drop power⁻ups that you lose after a death, I, AI allows you to buy and keep upgrades as they help you progress through each progressively difficult levels. The main downfall of collecting those pellets is that if you die during a level you lose half of what you’ve collected.

The game lets players upgrade various parts of their ship such as adding additional firepower to their arsenal such as rockets and upgrade your armor; among other perks. Another thing that differentiates I, AI from others in the same genre, players have a health bar so you needn’t worry about one-hit deaths… except if you fly into a moving bomb. Af first, you can survive two, three hits, but as you upgrade your armor, you’ll be able to sustain more damage before meeting an explosive death.

On the presentation side of things, not much really stands out. Given the premise of most shmups being set in space, there’s not much; the space setting is fine and there’s nothing really wow’ing; it’s a case of seen one, you’ve seen them all. Enemy variety is fine; the same enemies will repeat throughout. Boss battles are pretty fun and hectic. The score of the game is pretty much absent as you’ll mostly hear ambient noises.

I, AI is a great entry in the shmup genre. While the genre can be daunting for its known high difficulty, I, AI feels like a perfect balance perfect overly hard and too easy; being able to upgrade your ship, and keep said upgrades even after dying, gives players a level playing field. Although some grinding might be required, it doesn’t feel like a chore. Fans of the genre will revel while being the perfect entry point for newcomers. Don’t miss this one.