"Broken" is kind if harsh, but that's how this game feels to me as well. Just so not rewearding, motivating etc. Phoenix 1 is all about a fantastic shmup experience and skill. This one is a closed garden you may look at for a few seconds but you're never really allowed to enter... I miss progress and satisfaction.
I don't know if I agree with 'there's no point in playing if you can't beat your high score'. There are plenty of games that give you ZERO in-game reward for playing them (e.g. they have everything unlocked already). You can play to improve your skills, or you can play because it's fun. I think what you actually mean is 'I'm not having fun playing this game and the only thing motivating me to do so is the promise of unlocking ships'.
I think it would be great if the game had a per ship leaderboard . It's clear that some ships simply WILL get better scores than other ships when played with the same skill level. A trireme will always outperform a Czar in terms of completion time.
It's like that on the first Phoenix which makes the need for balancing unneeded. I see why Firi Games changed it for P2... But clearly balancing is still heavily needed if they want to keep a common leaderboards for all ships. Here's one more idea for balancing, which also promotes daily play for max cash earning and ship unlocking: how about some enemy ships have various resistances to certain attacks? This would encourage owning different ships so that each day a different type of ship can be used to dominate the boards. With this, how about rewarding the defensive abilities as well, similar to Patashu's off-screen bullet count reward system, but make it more rewarding for those that use barriers, EMPs, and even that bullet-shooting/cancelling thing which name i totally forgot now. It shakes things up in terms of best ships for each day, and also promotes owning different ships and upgrading them.
"how about some enemy ships have various resistances to certain attacks?" I think this already exists in the Shield/Armor/Hull mechanic, but I haven't tested to see how big of a factor it is.
Hmm.. You're right. However, clearly it hasnt been that effective at its purpose considering it's just Missiles generally at the top of the leaderboards. But yeah, this is a start where Firi could tweak.
I created this quick reference graphic to explain icons on Ship Selection. Most of you know it by now, but sharing it here just to make sure.
I've played some cave titles and they don't grab me. I need the one bullet is death feel to my plays.
As far as this game having a greedy economy... I think if you play daily, getting 1 upgraded ship per week is about reasonable, if you use a ship you get through a warp. That's fair for ftp, especially since you really only need 1 upgraded ship to complete most of the missions. This game will be on my iPad and iPhone for a long time. Try playing on an iPad Pro with Apple Pencil. It's like you're cheating.
Alright. I think it has been a while since I gave a game 5 stars right away but this is it. Graphics: 4.5/5 I really feel like the graphics are doing everything pretty well. They fit nicely, they are a bit dark though and the game lacks a little in variety but overall I am enjoying my time with it and the graphics are crisp, clear, retina fit and create a satisfying feeling when enemies explode and shit goes down. But you are still able to see everything super clearly at all times which is incredibly important. Sound: 4/5 The one track the game comes with is nice and I am still not tired of it (which says a lot!) so thumbs up for that. Hit sounds for the weapons I have feel nice and impactful regardless of the weapon and the sounds in general fit very nicely and you can use them to tell what weapon the enemy used so they are very helpful and almost mandatory in the very late part of the missions. F2P aspect 4.5/5 No ads, which is really important for me, no p2w bullshit at all! Yes upgraded ships are a i bit stronger and I sure use my abilities a lot after stage 4.2 so energy consumption etc. Is a nice bonus but I do not feel like they are necessary. Likewise super rare ships do not really equal super high scores (got top 20 twice with a 1 and 2 star ship). For how slow the money comes in though it will be very hard to acquire new ships and especially upgrading them to a high level. I already support the developers with 5 as I got so much enyojment out of the game. No p2w is very highly appreciated and I sure hope it stays that way. Gameplay 5/5 This is by far the most important part about this genre and hell does this game nail it at all points: Controls are very well done, super crisp and responsive, graphics are not in the way of the action, the difficulty curve for each stage is really well done and the core gameplay especially the later stages are extremely challenging but at the same time super stafisfying to beat. It is very intimidating at first but once you learn how to maneuver between close bullets, learn how to look for patterns and keep moving you improve quite a bit. The great atmosphere created by the visuals and sound help to make the gameplay feel very fun and rewarding while still super challenging. The only gripe I have is that the missions are a tiny but too long if you progress to stage 4 on a regular bases. Stage 1-3 become very easy relatively quickly so a mechanism to skip stage 1/2 would be highly appreciated, maybe if we have beaten them X (20?) times in a row? Something like that? As i constantly progress to the late 4s or 5s a run takes a bit more time than d like to but that is a very minor issue. Summary: Great game! Extremely polished, daily variety, super well done controls and a fair (but not perfect) payment model. 4.6/5
Uh, one bullet is death in pretty much any Cave game. Not feeling this one, personally. It's very sparkly and everything, I can see how some people would enjoy it, but - for one thing, as far as I'm concerned it commits the cardinal sin of any shooter in that it's very, very difficult to differentiate important game elements from the background (bullets to some extent, and the collectibles very much so). I'm sure some people can do this but they plainly just don't stand out the way they do in any Cave game, for example, or pretty much any classic shmup worth its salt. I simply don't find it much fun to play when I'm crossing my eyes trying not to die, and the setup - endless chasing generic "missions" - doesn't appeal to me enough to break past that barrier (there's a ton of free and unrestricted games on PC if I want that, or I can get Kenta Cho games on my old Android phone.) Not meant as a "ur gaem iz bad n u shud feel bad" or anything... but I've played a lot of shmups, even if I'm not very good at them (my nick comes from a Cave shooter), so just observing why I was put off this one.
Holy Moly that is one extensive review! Great to see you like it so much and thanks for the very thorough write-down. <3 We have been looking into a skip mechanism but we're careful with that so it will take some time to arrive. Don't worry, not every game is for everyone and its nice to point out the elements you miss from similar games you like. With Phoenix 2 we definitely intended to make something new and different so it's bound to break some of your shmup habits and expectations. In Cave games most of the times being hit means death yeah, though often there are lives or auto-bomb options? I've played a couple but they never really clicked with me. With regards to older shmups (if you can call it that), Tyrian was one of my favorites
Phoenix II (by Firi Games) [UNIVERSAL!] Thinking about it, probably the one hit death is The main reason why i dislike games like This.
Dear Firi, just give this game a random endless mode and I wouldn't put it down. Those 5 min a day simply don't cut it.
It's not so bad. The enemies in this game attack far slower than they do in Phoenix HD. In HD, it would be incredibly hard to do anything if you had a one hit kill. There's one ship that does that and it is crazy challenging.
Hey guys, late to the party, but here are my 2cents. Really love the new Version of Phoenix and the ideas that went into it. Graphics are cool, additional ships come from creative minds, the mechanics are nice. Love the idea of the ship upgrades and the concept of earning money through playing (basically almost all casual games out there do that - haha). Anyways, considering the thought of upgrading 1 thing per week as stated above would take like 12 years to upgrade them all... (40 ships x 15 possibilities = 600 upgrades/ 600 weeks = ca. 12 years -- not considering the concept of leveling that will take forever after 3 years - hehe) regarding Cave shooters: espgaluda and mushihimesama futari may be the best shooters ever made (imho of course). What cave always did right is the control of the characters. I have never experienced more acurate and direct controls than in a cave shooter. This is relative touch controls par excellence! I really liked the idea of an additional space reserved to control the ships so that my thick thumb does not get in the way which is true for too many shmups
Hey guys, just uploaded my latest video and time for today's mission https://youtu.be/2GvtSxQ8JN0 Today's mission was rough
