[b][i]Assault Android Cactus[/i][/b] is a third-person twin-stick shooter with a lot of love put into it. It seems pretty fair and has a few quality-of-life additions compared to the games that inspired it — including hit points and unlimited lives. However, it has some problems… and I'm not just saying that because I'm bad at it.
[b]Full disclosure:[/b] I have only beaten the first area of the game with the default character, so please bear that in mind when reading my review.
[u]The Good[/u]
Cute, bobble-headed android girls blasting robots with various weapons on a space colony? What's not to like?
[u]The Bad[/u]
Controls can't be changed, the backgrounds and enemies blend together at times, the mouse sensitivity feels inconsistent, and the engine has sub-optimal controller support.
[u]The Ugly[/u]
Trying to rack up enough credits to unlock everything is a serious time-sink… I just want my first-person view mode, darn it!
[u]Further Analysis[/u]
[b]The story is simple enough:[/b] you're part of some galactic space patrol and crash-land on this space colony. There, you meet three other androids in trouble. They explain the situation — that their core lords have gone haywire and sicked the machines on all sentient lifeforms aboard. That means androids are fair game, too. Luckily, Cactus (that's the cop's name) rallies the androids together, kits them out with weaponry, and stages a counter-attack! Pretty basic stuff, but it works.
[b]The gameplay is also pretty simple.[/b] Move around. Shoot things. Collect power-ups and temporary boosters. Don't get hit. If you [i]do[/i] get hit a few times, you get stunned and have to tap back in. There is no immediate downside to this — you just get delayed. However, you're also on a timer in the form of a battery gauge. It can be refilled via battery pick-ups, but once it reaches the end, you have to restart the level. Needless to say, if you keep getting downed, you'll run out of time.
[b]The graphics are charming, but confusing.[/b] The main characters are all delightfully bright-eyed and cute as buttons, and the enemy robots are as technological and industrial as can be. However, I had a hard time telling what was background and what was foreground at times. The camera also doesn't seem particularly responsive. This led to me getting trapped in a corner and repeatedly beaten down once or twice. Not exactly a game-breaker, but pretty annoying.
[b]The music?[/b] I honestly couldn't hear it over the gameplay. What I heard seems alright, but a bit repetitive. Typical arcade stuff. [b]The sound effects?[/b] It's okay. Pew-pew lasers, fwoosh-y fire, clankity-clanks as robots stomp around… It works for what it is. [b]The voice acting,[/b] however, is where I think the sound design shines brightest. The voice cast for the four main androids does a darn good job portraying the situation and emotions. Excitement, fear, befuddlement… it's all pretty spot-on and makes you feel for them.
[b]The extras are a nice addition,[/b] but [i]boy[/i] will you be spending some time to earn them. I cleared Area 1 and earned 1,000 Credits. This is enough to unlock some minor things. I unlocked "Normal Head Mode", myself. However, that First-Person View I mentioned unlocks with 5,000 Credits. Art and certain Codex entries also take a bit of Credits to unlock. It's your typical "play the game to get the things" kind of system. As far as I can tell, though, there's no real-money transactions or paid gates to unlock anything.
[b]Where I had trouble[/b] was with actually [i]playing[/i] the game. I don't have the beefiest computer in the world, but between not being able to rebind my keyboard buttons, and the sometimes-sluggish mouse-driven reticle, I often found myself shooting in a random direction, [i]slooowly[/i] sweeping my way toward where I was trying to aim. Playing in first-person mode would probably improve the game a little… but not if the mouse controls continue to stay so unresponsive. The mouse aiming feels sluggish even when the game is running smoothly — and yes, I'm playing on the lowest possible graphic settings with the frame rate uncapped / V-sync disabled.
[b]The game also ignores my controller.[/b] To be fair, my setup is unusual: I use a third-party PlayStation 2-to-USB adapter. It works well enough for most things, but if a game is looking for a [i]very specific[/i] kind of hardware configuration, it tends to get overlooked. I generally use a keyboard-to-joystick emulator for such instances, but I that [i]really[/i] wouldn't help here since I'd still be stuck in "keyboard-and-mouse mode". Not sure if having actual twin-stick controls (left stick moves, right stick looks) would help personally, though — I'm just bad at the game.
[u]Conclusion[/u]
I really want to like this game. It's just… [i]difficult[/i] for me to do so.
Overall, I think this game can be great. It's not something you're going to play every Sunday afternoon with your friends, but it's fun to play around with now and then. It's pretty, the characters are likable, the story is decent, and the gameplay loop is what you'd expect from a game like this. If the controls could be changed, more [i]controllers[/i] supported, and little things tweaked and tightened, this could really be something amazing.
[b]I'd recommend this game,[/b] but only if you're looking for something like [i]Robotron: 2084[/i] or [i]Cannon Spike (Gunspike)[/i] with cute android girls and big guns. It's a flawed gem that I wish I was better at playing.
