Assault Android Cactus Full Release, Some Thoughts On This Action Packed Shooter

Assault Android Cactus has been mentioned a few times here during Early Access, but the game is finally available in its full form, so I gave it a spin.

Disclosure: I was provided a key by my PR people.

About the game (Official)
When you're running on battery, make every second count!

Assault Android Cactus is an arcade style twin stick shooter set in a vivid sci fi universe. Junior Constable Cactus is outside her pay grade when she responds to a distress call and ends up stranded on a crippled space freighter under attack by its own robot workers.

Utilising a draining battery mechanic in place of lives, Assault Android Cactus challenges you to think fast and keep the bullets flying, blending the gameplay of western styled arena shooters with aspects of Japanese style bullet hell as you charge head first through transforming stages, massive boss battles and an eclectic cast of characters on the way to saving the day.

My thoughts
I’m not usually all that into twin-stick shooters, but Assault Android Cactus is so beautifully made it would have been a crime not to write it up.

I actually tried it originally from a tech-demo of sorts that the developer sent over back in 2013 (at my request), so I’ve been waiting for this one for quite a long time.

You can play the game as one of five androids, all of which are female and they don’t have any outrageous designs about them to make them any kind of sexy either. This is a big plus, as I’ve seen far too many games go a bit over the top with women characters, and it’s helped me enjoy it some more.

Cactus is a game that knows I suck at it, so it doesn't kill me instantly and that's one of the things I like about it. Instead of dying right away, you get to pick yourself back up off the floor with a burst of energy pushing the enemies back.

It’s not enough to have a great design though of course, the gameplay has to match the vision, and boy did they deliver. Assault Android Cactus is very nearly twin-stick shooting perfection. I think my only concern with the game is that it has a single set difficulty level, as it would extend the life of it and my enjoyment of the game to beat the same levels when it’s a little bit more insane.

Each character has a different set of weapons, so even if you complete the main campaign, you might find things play out rather differently with a fresh set of weapons. I’ve personally found Starch to be my favourite, I find a beam laser to be more a more efficient killing machine than the weapon Cactus herself uses. It's also weirdly amusing to see my android friend's mission complete screen have her picking her nose, it caught me off guard and gave me a minor chuckle.

The level design is quite brilliant too, many twin-stick shooters suffer the same flaw, and it’s that the levels are very static and boring, but AAC mixes it up constantly for you as the levels shift around as new and more varied enemies pop out. It's not just the design of the level that's well done, but the length of time involved in beating each one, which isn't so long that you feel worn out like in other games I've tried. It seems to pace everything out rather well!

The boss fights are pretty damn tense too, the first one certainly didn't go easy on me and I'm really quite surprised I was able to beat it on my first attempt, but it was a damn close one.

Final thoughts: It’s twin-stick heaven, go buy it. Even if you don’t like them usually, you may find this to be a different kind of monster altogether. The local co-op is sure to make it a killer game for a Steam Machine. It's another game I plan on testing my Steam Controller with when it arrives, exciting!

Check out Assault Android Cactus on Steam, and on Humble Store where it is DRM free + a Steam key. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.