Rick Henderson Review

Rick Henderson doesn’t have a story; it’s simply an endless horizontal-scrolling shoot ’em up, a.k.a. shmup, developed as an homage to 16-bit classic games of the genre and arcade classics from way back when. Endless means that the game itself will never really end; it will test you and your shmup skills as long as you can survive its onslaught.

Players can choose a ship that has its own max speed, shield duration, and special ability; such as spawning a decoy to attract enemy projectiles, a teleport skill, or calling in an artillery strike to wipe off nearby enemies. The game features a total of 27 unique weapons that can be found throughout levels.

After beating the game’s bosses at the end of each of the game’s five levels, you’ll be given a perk that can either improve your speed, armor, or firepower. Interestingly enough, the game introduces a Grazing system (think of it as a near-miss mechanic) where getting close calls with enemy projectiles fills a bar where once filled up, your buddies will show up and shoot everything on screen.

The game’s main nuisance here is the abrupt difficulty spike. While not uncommon for the shmup genre, Rick Henderson’s endless and rogue-lite-like mechanic from the game’s algorithm. While players will feel that difficulty spike within levels, bosses are the biggest culprit of that and it can be frustrating given all the efforts you made to survive an already tough level ruined by an insane boss.

The game looks great and colorful in all of its pixelated glory. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel and does what it’s supposed to do. Although there are certain situations where enemy projectiles get lost within one another meaning while you’re trying to dodge a projectile, you’ll hit another one that you won’t see until the very last second. The game’s soundtrack is another decent and interesting synthwave score to get you ready for some explosive fun. Speaking of which, explosions do sound weird at times; almost like a crowd clapping for some reason.

Despite its issues with abrupt and frustrating difficulty spikes, Rick Henderson is a decent and enjoyable entry in the shmup genre. Fans of the genre will revel in its randomness and unpredictable challenge across the game’s five levels, however, this won’t the shmup to convert newcomers to the highly challenging genre. There are worst ways to spend money but I’d only recommend this to diehard fans of the shmup genre.