Octonaut review

The world has been taken over by an alien invasion and on the eve of the downfall of humanity, they call upon for help which only a flying octopus to save the world in this 16-bit inspired retro shoot’em up.

Octonaut is a shoot’em up, or shmup, where players go from point A to point B and kill everything in their path. Enemies come in different shapes and sizes with their own unique attack/skills. As with any shmup, when reaching the end of the level, you’ll go head-to-head with some crazy abomination of a boss. Octonaut’s bosses are pretty interesting and well-designed providing, most of the time, a reasonable challenge.

As you destroy enemy spaceships, players can also pick up additional firepower. When picking up a new weapon, you’ll be able to decide whether to keep your default weapon or switch to the new one. Unless you know all the weapons, it’s a double-edged sword as some weapons are more cumbersome to use than your default attack. For example, there’s a Yo-yo you can use, but it requires you to be near enemies to use it. So it’s important to take note of which weapon you picked up so you can decide whether or not to use it.

One of the game’s most interesting features is that you can dodge enemies and bullets. By pressing a button, your Squid will go into the level’s background and avoid any enemies and their projectiles. The dodging doesn’t last long so it’s all about timing in order to save some health. Speaking of which, this shmup is not one-hit kill. You have a shield which is at 1000 when you first start and drops as you get hit. It’s quite helpful as it allows some players unfamiliar with the genre make some kind of progress. You can also pick up items which allows you to refill your shield.

However, not everything is perfect in outer space. There are some non-boss enemies that take way too much damage before exploding; sometimes no matter how many shots you fire, it won’t even explode before the auto side-scrolling passes the enemy by. It’s kinda irritating. Also, the difficulty ramps up pretty quickly. The first two levels feel fair and well balanced, but starting from level 3, you’re bombarded twice as much as the previous two levels combined. And lastly, there no saves. Meaning if you have to quit or you’re game over, you have to start all over again. The problem here is that the levels feel a bit too long to justify not having saves.

Once you’re done with your normal playthrough, you can unlock additional modes to play. First off is the Panic mode where the game applies the typical rule of shmup: you can only take one hit and then you’re dead. The other mode is Custom mode where it allows players to tweak certain aspects of the game such as number of lives, difficulty (Panic or Normal), Power-ups; among other things.

Another nuisance of Octonaut are the controls. While not bad by any means, they feel a bit stiff and laggy. Movements and attacks sometimes feel like they register a frame later. It won’t hinder the overall experience, however it doesn’t make it feel like the most solid and responsive shmup. Once you’re used to the finicky controls, you won’t notice the difference unless you alternate between this game and another shmup. There’s also a few detection issues especially in levels where dodging is required and when going through narrow spaces.

Octonaut looks great. It’s a bright and colorful shump where every level looks different from one another. While some enemies are seen throughout various levels, the overall enemy design is pretty decent and varied enough to keep players on their toes; the exception being the final level where it’s sometime difficult to differentiate the background from the foreground. Bosses are uniquely designed with their own patterns. While the soundtrack is cute and upbeat but unfortunately easily tuned out as you focus on not dying.

Despite its very unique look, Octonaut is a great addition to shmup genre; fans will enjoy every last minute of this challenging game. While the lack of save functionality and abrupt difficulty curve might be a deterrent for some newcomers, Octonaut can serve as an entry point in the daunting shmup genre. Practice makes perfect.