I am a simple man. When I see a top down shooter and an indie together, I´m all giddy inside. As I have said before, indies are awesome, and I´m happy they exist. They are here to bring experiences that you won’t find somewhere else (and if you do find them somewhere else, it will most likely be more expensive). Now, we have here a hardcore top down shooter/roguelite that keeps me coming back for more even if I hate running backwards.
For starters IHRB is not your average shooter. As the name implies, you are running backwards away from the hordes of enemies. Let me tell you, the game feels so fresh. It really is an interesting and engaging take on the top down shooter. However, this is not all that IHRB has going on.
As you may know roguelites are becoming more popular, and IHRB rides the popularity wave like there´s no tomorrow, introducing a randomized upgrade system and every upgrade counts. Since you never know which upgrade you will get, choosing your character and trying to find a way to maximize the upgrade system is a must.
Speaking of heroes, IHRB is a tasty cocktail of indie characters from different games, going from Serious Sam (played the game a lot on Xbox 360), Hotline Miami, Enter the Gungeon ,and more, each with specific traits and abilities that completely change each run. For example, Serious Sam has more health but less walking speed, but his stats are balanced and his ultimate (each character power move) deals good damage. There is also The Bullet from Enter the Gungeon. The Bullet is a really interesting character for many reasons. He has low health but good speed, but unlike other characters that carry two weapons, he uses his Sword only that fires beams (a la Legend of Zelda way). Since it’s a magic sword, it has infinite bullets (meaning no need to look for ammo like the rest of the cast). He also doesn’t have an ultimate but compensates this with special weapons appearing randomly. You can just hold weapon and special weapons buttons and fire away (since the special weapons appear randomly you never know what you’ll get), since they change really fast. There is no need to hoard them. Just shoot everything on sight.
Another interesting game play mechanic is the spin attack. Pressing B will have your hero use a spin attack. What’s so special about it? The spin attack is an integral part of the game play. It’s as important as shooting or special weapons because you can use your spin attack to reflect incoming missiles (some can’t be deflected though), destroy buildings. or parts of the stage. When you do, you get gold experience points (besides the points you get for killing enemies), and after filling the yellow gauge on top of the screen next to the score, it let’s you level up. Once you do, you can choose one of three different upgrades than can range from more health, more ammo, less spin attack cool down and so forth. This adds another layer to an already fun filled course.
For those of you that think the game is too hard, there is a baby mode (identified by a pacifier) that gives a little more health to your character and tones down the challenge a little. But for those masochist gamers, once you beat a boss, there is a lever that you can activate to receive the boss’s curse (these levers as well as the baby mode are present in the starting portal, you can also choose your starting weapons). These curses make the game even harder but with the added boon that you get higher scores (and level up faster as well), so for those who like to be on top and can handle the punishment this is heaven for you.
Graphically. the game looks awesome. I really like the voxel-style of each and every object and character found here. Even the blood looks like cute red blocks. I like the destructible environments and that the game runs super smooth either handheld or TV mode, even when there is a lot of enemies on the screen. The music is like expected: a kickass rock and guitar arrangements that complement the explosions and sound effects.
Bottom Line: I Hate Running Backwards is like no other top down shooter. It features solid game play mechanics, a fun cast of characters each with their weaknesses and strengths, and all around action. I honestly cannot recommend it enough because even though is a little hard–once you start raking up points and levels–when you die, you are like “one more run,” and those one more runs can have you playing for hours without even knowing.
A Review code was provided for this review.