Spacejacked: PS4 Review

Spacejacked: PS4 Review

Developed by Rotten Mage
Platform: PS4

There's something about 8-bit gaming on the PS4 console.

It's a perverse pleasure, a throwback to when things were simpler, and inevitably, rather than being how the game looks, it's all about how the game plays.
(Though admittedly, it is a little bit about how the game looks too.)

Rotten Mage's tower-defender style shoot-em-up is a simple pleasure, a bitesize game that hilariously fills out with its roster with a hero called Dave.

Set on a spaceship with invading aliens, Dave, who frequently lets you know didn't sign up for this, is called on to save the day.
Jumping from area to area, putting up turrets (choice - laser, gun or stasis field - or all three), Dave's job is to stop the baddies from overwhelming the main engines.

Dave's able to assemble and reassemble turrets in different locations, or build others when enough metal (the in-game currency) is collected to do so. But the trick is to set up the defences and get ready before a timer introduces the waves of attackers.
And then potentially, to disassemble and reassemble in other arenas when waves come in...

As Dave deals to the baddies, members of the spaceship are freed from their kidnappers, and offer different kinds of help.
One offers to upgrade blasters, another turrets and another gives him the chance to venture out in a spaceship and collect metal in a mini-game.

To say Spacejacked has a retro charm is to smother it in faint praise.
It's very playable, has 20 levels and really is quite easy to get through - replayability is perhaps more of an issue than you'd realise until later on.

But there are endless survival modes and other challenges as well - there's enough to do in the game if you want to just kick around.

Much like Bro-Force, the graphics are perfectly adorable and also silly as well.
There's charm aplenty in the game, and levels tax you with their commitment to strategy - you can't just wing it, unless you fancy playing a very short campaign.

The game never stutters even when the screen's overloaded with creatures, and the guns are going all blazing. There's certainly an addictive touch to the game as well as the fact that it embraces bitesize plays, if you just want to kick back and chill for a bit.

There are challenges within Spacejacked, but the whole thing is never overly challenging - level fails are usually dealt with quite quickly if you're prone to learning.
Ultimately, Spacejacked is a lo-fi indie treat, a reminder that big isn't necessarily better - it's endlessly playable and admirably cute.