I’ve been harsh with a lot of games from Ratalaika Games in the past. They publish a lot of small indie titles, many of which are more akin to school projects than polished games. Most of them are tedious with bad mechanics and short play lengths. But every once in a while, something small comes along that is absolutely glorious fun, even from the extreme indie scene. That’s certainly the case with Super Destronaut: Land Wars from Petite Games and I applaud Ratalaika for bringing it to us!
Super Destronaut: Land Wars has a terrible title. It honestly sounds ridiculous and it looks like an acid trip met Tron to make a first person shooter with enemies stolen from Space Invaders. In short, it looks almost silly from the static screen shots. But no worries, in motion that changes and the game is incredibly fun! Turns out it’s actually based on Petite Games’ Super Destronaut and Super Destronaut DX games which are themselves, of course, clones of Space Invaders. Take that, mix in some wireframe 3D environments in negative colors with neon outlines, toss in some Doom-style weaponry and you have yourself the basics of Super Destronaut: Land Wars.
There is no story here. No narrative whatsoever. You just point and shoot and try to survive. There’s no complexity, the playfield never changes, but it’s simply fun to run around and shoot stuff. Gameplay is smooth and slick and you have up to five weapons available. Gather the gold that dead Destros (what the heck do you call them?) drop and use it to buy weapons at the shop. Rifles, shotguns, laser rifles, and even a rocket launcher are all available! Additionally, you can go on a rampage if you kill enough Destros fast enough, giving you an extra weapon for a short time and double-fisting the mayhem!
The interface is great. Simple, intuitive, and well-crafted, there’s nary a hitch to be seen, just waves of Destros shooting at you from all directions. In addition to Classic mode, there are four others, including Snail Mode where you can’t jump and move slowly, Maximum Strength where you start out with a rocket launcher (woot!), Combo Breaker where you start with maximum combo bonus and lose if it drops to zero, and Hardcore Mode where everything is tougher to kill!
Add to all that the Challenge portion of the game and you’ve got a lot of variety for a little title. Challenge gives you 30 tasks to complete. Each one has a set time to complete it for either gold, silver, or bronze bonuses. Take too long, no bonus for you. There’s no added value to getting gold, but for some reason, it’s actually fun and gratifying with Super Destronaut: Land Wars. Challenges can simply be score a certain number of points, collect a certain amount of money, get X number of kills, or so on, ranging widely through the mechanics of the game. Nothing takes too long and most of the challenges can be completed within a couple tries if you’re competent at FPS games, but they’re simply a joy to play through.
Music in Super Destronaut: Land Wars is thumping too, going well with the frantic, non-stop action design of the game, and weapon sounds and laser blasts are pretty much the only sound effects, but it all works well. You never feel overwhelmed, but there are plenty of times when you might be a bit out-gunned, especially as the higher waves of enemies start massing you or spawn behind you when you least expect it!
There’s really nothing at all bad to say about Super Destronaut: Land Wars! It’s fun, it’s neat-looking, it has solid core gameplay. Everything about the game screams well-designed. It’s a short game, since there’s no story or wide variety of enemies and dungeons, but it’s also cheap as hell, a hallmark of Ratalaika releases, and at $4.99, you’re getting a pure arena-style FPS experience for a song! With the PS4 version, not only do you get the PS4 edition of the game, but you also receive a cross-buy purchase for the Playstation Vita, so if you still have one kicking around, you can play on the go as well for no additional cost!
Super Destronaut: Land Wars tracks all your gameplay, keeps a listing of your top scores for each section of the game, and compiles all your play statistics as well, so you can track your progress in comparison with other players easily or simply try to top your high scores. There’s no online functionality here and unfortunately, it’s single player only (which for $5, you can’t complain). This is one game that would be incredibly fun in a 4-8 player online arena deathmatch, but sadly, that’s not the case yet. For now, you’ll just have to settle with blasting your way through a digital landscape for score and achievements, and having a great time doing it! If you love arena FPS gaming, don’t even hesitate! Buy Super Destronaut: Land Wars today!
This review was based on a digital copy of Super Destronaut: Land Wars provided by the publisher. It was played with a PS4 Pro on a 55” 1080p Sony HDTV. Super Destronaut: Land Wars is also available for Vita, Switch, and Xbox One. Now go shoot some Destros!