It can be hard to believe, but there are, in fact, more ways to deal with enemies than just shooting them. Talking is right out, of course, but as anyone who’s ever played Space Giraffe or Dark Messiah of Might & Magic knows, a straightforward attack may be effective but lacks a certain style. There are other, better, more rewarding tools available, and managing them properly is not only equally effective but also incredibly entertaining. Cyberpulse looks like your standard all-purpose neon-drenched arcade shooter on first glance at the screenshots, but what it actually is about is shoving enemies around to let the walls of the arena dispatch them for you.
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The basic plot is that you’re cleaning up bugs in cyberspace, knocking them into firewalls and each other to make them explode in a shower of particles. “Firewalls” are basically the sides of the arena, although like all the rules in Cyberpulse that’s subject to change with each new level. Rather than firing a gun, the player ship has a circle extending from its front that’s used to knock enemies around, and here’s where things start getting tricky. In most twin-stick games one stick moves and the other aims, and while that’s technically true here as well, what’s actually happening is that the force-circle is always attached to the ship’s nose and the second stick aims the direction of force. If you fly up towards an enemy and bash it with the force-circle, you can aim the direction it goes flying to target other enemies or a closer firewall. While technically it’s possible to keep the force-circle fully activated at all times, when deactivated the pips enemies drop home in on the ship to increase the bonus multiplier. It’s an important part of the game to know when to go defenseless and when to keep the circle active.
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Each new level has its own rules, though, so very little remains the same between one arena and the next. The first level or two are unlimited lives, get as high a score as possible within the time limit, but after that all bets are off. One level may have no force-circle and require the use of power-up abilities to kill enemies, and some can be aimed in standard twin-stick style. Other levels are the standard limited-lives run, no time limit, while another might have no firewalls but instead some fireballs that you need to bash around the arena and into the enemies. Each level, no matter the type, comes with three score goals to meet and the first two generally awarding some type of unlock, including permanent ship abilities usable on any level or modifiers to use in multiplayer.
Like any good arcade game, Cyberpulse takes a simple concept and keeps playing with it to see what else it can do, and the vector-inspired art style doesn’t hurt either. It’s a lot more colorful than anything seen in an ’80s cabinet but the heart is there, and that includes the steep difficulty level when trying to get the reward for the third score goal of each arena. Thankfully restarts are quick when you know you’ve screwed up, and the action ramps up fast so you’re quickly back in the middle of an arena of orchestrated chaos.
Cyberpulse released todayon Steamand is a lot of fun for arcade fans. You can see thelaunch trailer here, containing 750% of your recommended daily allowance of neon-particle explosions.
