Excessive Trim is a randomly generated shooter without shooting. Instead of firing bullets, this is a slice’em up. Meaning, you play as a weed smoking alien in a flying saucer that has been outfitted with blades, killing anything in the path of the boosting dash attack. However, this slicing dash move is on a short cool down timer so there is no button mashing.
This is another game that fits perfectly in the EastAsiaSoft published library. It only costs five bucks, features easily obtainable big point Achievements, and has well-polished gameplay that focuses on one gimmick. It only takes about 30 seconds to clear a stage so death, which will inevitably happen, is never overly punishing or frustrating. If anything, it makes you want to immediately retry.
The smoking alien must buzzsaw through stampedes of cattle, mow down pitchfork farmers, and avoid obstacles like barns and crates with each run. Upon completing each stage, the player is offered an optional upgrade. Sometimes, however, it isn’t an upgrade; it’s a tradeoff. So you might increase the size of your blade but at the cost of speed. All 10 Achievements are stage based too. If you have the skill to reach Stage 11, you’ll unlock all 100-point Cheevos.
Excessive Trim also has a unique scoring system. Instead of gaining a point for each human or cow you mutilate, score increases when weed leaves are collected. Sometimes enemies drop them, sometimes not. Rarely, a pill worth 5 points will also drop. Score also doesn’t mean anything as it isn’t tied to unlockables or anything, just local bragging rights. The furthest stage and highest score are posted in the corners of the main start screen but there is no online leaderboard.
My biggest complaint is short lived. You see, there is no tutorial or “how to play” option in the menu. So the first few runs, don’t be surprised if you get a little confused since this gameplay is a little unique. Luckily, all will make sense after a few failed attempts. Also, the audio, like so many games released these days, is so loud, making it difficult for streamers. Without an option to decrease the volume in-game, I had to stream without audio as it was still too loud even after messing with the capture settings. Having the ability to swap color palettes is a nice visual option though.
Even though Excessive Trim lacks significant replay value, it is absolutely worth the low five dollar asking price. Plus, where else are you going to find a weed smoking alien so high that he wants to murder countless innocents with his bladed saucer (other than Destroy All Humans)..?
SCORE: 8/10
Also Play: Feeble Light
Reminds Me Of: Space Invaders Get Event (WiiWare)
Don’t Forget About: RedRaptor
By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com
Twitter: @ZackGaz
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