Pawarumi review

Shoot’em ups’s, they’re an interesting breed, a genre dating back to the golden age of the arcade, filled with creativity, positivity and compelling gameplay, all based around core mechanics and a goal to blast pretty much anything that moves and obtain that high score on the leaderboard.

Maufacture 43 bring Pawarumi to the party. Creators of this fancy new shoot’em up that offer’s fresh ideas. Revealing a new approach to classic gameplay, In the form of a colour coded shooting mechanism, a Rock – Paper – Scissors control system for the different species of enemies that pop up on your screen and get in your way, as you look to avenge the people of Earth  in a thrilling and enthralling Neo-Aztec Shoot’em Up!

Picture the scene, Pawarumi is a modern shoot’em in a world where the council rules the nations with a dictator like Iron fist. No one dare questions the council, they rule supreme, and have the armies of the world at there disposal. With that said, you play the role of a pilot named Axo, and take command of the legendary ship Chukaru.

As Axo you take the fight to the council, in this all against odds of fire power. However, there’s more to this shoot’em than meets the eye, as a dark secret is yet to play out and be revealed.

Could it have something to do with taking flight, mastering the true power of the illustrious Chukaru, and finding out the true meaning behind all of your actions?

This refreshing shoot’em up takes a fresh approach in the form of a uniquely artistic direction, set in a retro futuristic sci-fi pre-Colombian inspired sci-fi universe. Your ship possess some remarkable features, with not just your standard shooting arsenal, but an a mass of colour. This a mass of colour can best be described as a technicolor spectacle at your disposal, a light show of lasers to dispatch those oncoming waves of hostile forces deployed by the council to take you out.

Sometimes when you know things, you possess the greatest threat of all!

Your ship the Chukaru is a very durable ally, and has a few tricks up it’s sleeve. Chukaru has the ability to heal, deal double damage, or even charge it’s electrical capacity and form a particle charge. This particle charge can  be utilised and unleashed in the form of a Super Attack leading to devastation for anyone in close proximity.

With a uniquely colour coded system of weapons at your disposal, it pays to pay attention to the colour of your adversary and deploy the correctly coloured firepower for some explosive effects.

Pawarumi’s level design is quite simply stunning and excellently presented in full 3D with some breath-taking cinematic staging throughout. Featuring five unique levels based around the globe and inspired by the classics from the world of gaming, certainly in the field of shoot’em up’s and paying homage to some of the great arcade titles of yesteryear, with 1990’s pop culture references thrown in for good mixture. The game also has a quality Peruvian Electro-Metal soundtrack flowing throughout and it sure gets you pumped up and ready for the action that is sure to be coming your way.

The game is a visual spectacle of how you can produce a shoot’em up, that has the ability to tell a story and set the theme.  Dark Mystical opening screens, moody sci-fi sound effects, all perfect for setting the right atmosphere for a space encounter like no other.

Space Votex, fascinating ancient civilisation symbols, adding a sense of wonder, and then wham the visual display that follows, is gripping to say the least, and extremely exciting.

This Shoot’em Up has a wonderfully different style in terms of it’s control system, which is easy to pick up but requires coloured coordination to get the best out of the game.  To help you with that, Pawarumi has an expertly crafted tutorial system that details the mechanics of the game, the flight system and all the colourful combos of arsenal that feature in the game. Be sure to take note of this tutorial system, as shooting the right colour is important, but changing it up a bit works to your advantage too, as the right colour combo’s charge the different abilities that your space craft possess.

Difficulty wise, it’s spot on. Making excellent use of a health bar system, using an awesome shield feature. This game won’t be over in seconds, but I assure you that you will have to find a strategy and take advantage of the trinity game fused mechanics if you want to reach the later stages of the game.

What of the ever-important replay value? Well, Pawarumi has three different story endings to conclude, each achieved by completing the three difficulty levels on offer. And that’s not all, any shoot’em up trying to capture the imagination of players, should include leaderboards and not just local play.  I’m delighted to say Pawarumi pulls this off in the form of world leaderboards.  These leaderboards are a must in this genre adding instant replay value to the game, as you try to climb the ranks, in hope of one day seeing your name at the very top.

Pawarumi for me is how you should produce a modern Shoot’em up. It’s fresh with new ideas in terms of its colour coded firing system, 3D global locations, which offer a real sense of purpose. The game has excellent sound effects and an awesome soundtrack which adds to the feel of the game. Pawarumi is a game that captures you, with it’s thrilling and exciting attitude and pace, with good use of important replayability features. My only criticism is that the game is a little short, and would have been better had the developers included an rpg levelling up system for your craft.