Developer: HYPYRYL
Publisher: HYPYRYL
Platforms: PC
Tested on: PC
One Ship Two Ship Redshift Blueshift – Review
When a game alerts you about the fact that it’s easy to learn, yet hard to master, then all sorts of alarms start ringing. Blowing your own horn isn’t often something you should be doing if you don’t want the player to start with a feeling of cynicism towards the title. It has to be said though, the game does its best to hold true to the premise.
Story
If you want to play the game for the story then you are totally out of luck. There is no story behind the game. There’s just two pilots, the endless void of space and a bouncing ball that changes colour every turn. The galaxy isn’t on the verge of destruction. It’s just a friendly or what has to pass for friendly game of galaxy pong.
Graphics
Now this is where the title of the game comes into play. One Ship Two Ship is all about the fact that there are two vessels on the screen at all times, and the colour of the screen flashes to clarify which player has to watch out for the ball. At first the game starts off slowly and the flashing isn’t really all that bothersome. As the game progresses and the ball starts to gain momentum those flashes will be faster and faster. Add these features to the tons of explosions and other movements and you have a game that can be a nightmare to seizure patients and a prelude to one hell of a headache.
Why they didn’t add a warning screen right before they advise you to play with a gamepad is beyond me. With so many things going on, it might even become very difficult to focus on what’s really important. You really have to focus when playing this game. Not really a game to wind down with after a stressful day.
Sound
The sound in One Ship Two Ship Redshift Blueshift is decent. The publishers could have put in a very easy tune and set it to loop, but they’ve done more than that. The tune playing when you are bouncing the ball around isn’t indicative of the state of the game. The action on screen might be overkill, yet the sound could be a really slow tune. This doesn’t really amp you up, but with a game that’s so very loud in the graphics department, having a slow and soft tune might actually be what you need. At times the tune might become really poppy with and upbeat tempo. This will affect your mood for the better and it has a very high retro feeling to it. Also when a game starts an announcer will tell you when the game has started. This also adds to the retro feel.
Gameplay
One Ship Two Ship Redshift Blueshift is an indie space game that has a very high pong likeness.
Control wise, the developers have slightly fumbled the ball. One Ship Two Ship Redshift Blueshift is supposed to be played on a gamepad. This brings up the small problem that a lot of gamers don’t have a gamepad. If the developers had included a way to toggle the controls from gamepad to keyboard this wouldn’t be an issue. However as it stands now, it is impossible to do so. The game does provide the player with a overview of the controls but only on the gamepad, so you have to figure out the buttons on the keyboard yourself.
Once you do figure it out however, the gameplay is fairly straightforward. Say you are red, then whenever the screen turns red, your ship turns into a paddle and you have to bounce back the ball. When the screen turns blue again, you can fire on the red objects, these contain power ups and those will help you distract the enemy and possibly make him or her fumble the ball and gain you a point. An upgrade might contain a drone that fires at your enemy or rockets that home in on them. You aren’t the only one that has this power however, the enemy can fire at the canisters in their colour and distract you too. Paying attention on where the ball is, is the key to victory but with all that is going on at once on the screen is very difficult and it takes some time to get into the game. This means that you can’t just play this when you have five minutes on your hands and expect to win every match right off the bat.
Conclusion
The price of One Ship Two Ship Redshift Blueshift, is quite high for what you are getting: a visually very bombastic and loud version of pong. It really does live up to everything it says to be, but whether or not that’s to your liking is left to be seen. It is easy to pick up and fun to play but it won’t entertain you for hours on end. Not because the gameplay isn’t engaging or challenging, just because it’s so headache inducing. So buy the game and have fun but be warned though, you’re in for a flashy ride.
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