THE ART OF WAR Stunning creatures and background design make this alien invasion shoot ‘em up a gem
Remote Life (PEGI 16)
PS4, PS5, XBOX ONE, XBOX X/S, Switch, PC HHHII
For all the different types of games that exist, gamers still have their favourite genres they gravitate to time and again.
Personally, I can’t resist a good platformer, am a sucker for a first person shooter, and simply can’t say no to a shoot ‘em up.
It’s been an incredible year for fellow shoot ‘em up fans, with wave after wave of great releases.
And the latest to enter the mix is also one of the most impressive – Remote Life.
This 2D side scrolling shooter is set in an incredible world of monsters, which looks and feels like a heady mix of Alien, Terminator and a side serving of R-type.
It was first issued on PC back in 2019, but now console owners are able to get in on the action.
As with all games like this, there’s no real plot as such, the premise being that a huge alien hive is approaching our planet, and the only way to defeat it is to get inside its core and destroy it.
You play an ambitious pilot sent to wipe out the hive and save mankind.
From the off it’s clear to see that graphically this game is stunning. Rich backgrounds add real depth and atmosphere, to the point you can almost smell the rot and dank as you move through the levels.
It’s almost unfair how much work has gone into them as you get very little chance to appreciate them, dodging and weaving around the swarms of mechanical nasties that crawl out of the biometalwork.
As for your ship, the pre-rendered 3D sprites are beautifully and smoothly animated, initially giving the feel of a game from the mid 90s. But that vibe quickly fades, as the brutal gameplay begins.
While billed as a shoot ‘em up, the way you’re able to move your craft makes this more of a twinstick shooter, being able to fire at enemies anywhere in a 360-degree angle.
There’s a huge number of levels – billed as missions – to fight through, each boasting terrifying new creatures and bosses to face down, and as you’d imagine the higher up the levels you go, the more insane they become.
The game has three ranks to move through, and you start as captain in the slowest ship on offer, progressing to Colonel and then General, unlocking faster, higher powered ships.
In one respect it’s a good thing, as it allows you to get to grips with the controls and how the game works, but it’s also a tad frustrating when you want to up the pace and can’t.
While you can choose the difficulty level you want to play, the game’s AI system analyses your skills and helps out by giving you extra lives if it feels you need them – something I found really helpful, but my ego took a a bit of a bruising.
It’s not just the alien snakes and flying pods that want a piece of you, the surrounding environment can be just as deadly with rocks, buzzsaws, turrets and nests proving fatal if you clip them.
That posed a bit of an issue, in that sometimes there was so much going on on the screen that I’d miss something silly, like a sticky out rock, and die horribly.
Considering this is the work of a one-man development team, it’s an impressive game. Yes, there are areas where it falls down a little – the hit detection isn’t always spot on, and some of the voice acting leaves a lot to be desired – but honestly, in the moment, I was having so much fun those niggles barely registered.
The true test is whether there is replayability here, and with its addictive gameplay and reasonable accessibility for newcomers to the genre, I think Remote Life is a game you’ll want to keep coming back to.
Buy it: £14.99 from store. playstation.com, and xbox.com