A vertical shooter published by EastAsiaSoft, Nephenthesys is a challenging and speedy shmup.
In fact, the speed is too fast! Each playable ship, each with their own shot-type, all control the same. Meaning, the speed in which they move is so fast, each death is usually by accident, making it easy to bump into bullets from behind. This hasty speed doesn’t provide the player with the pixel perfect play control that is needed to accurately dodge obstacles and the hundreds of bullets that fly across the screen. Making matters worse, the player only has one life.
Even though having one life is limited, the health meter ties into each ship’s power and winds up being the main gimmick of the gameplay. When defeated, some enemies will drop health capsules and when collected, will increase the player’s hit points by one but also increase firepower. However, taking a hit decreases that much needed power, leaving the player at a severe offensive disadvantage. To succeed, you basically need to power up as quickly as possible, then play perfectly. Losing just one ability is enough to set you down a path in which you cannot recover, especially during the longer boss fights. This unbalanced powering system, in combination with the twitchy speed of the play control, makes Nephenthesys quite a challenge and a frustration.
To be clear, this is not a roguelite but that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to necessarily memorize your way through the game even though enemies appear in the same patterns. Instead, most enemies shoot red bullets and these red bullets are aimed at the player’s current position. So it doesn’t matter how well you memorized the game, bullets are constantly headed in your direction. Like a thorn in your side, there simply is no reprieve from this annoying onslaught of incoming bullets. And remember, taking one hit desperately loses that must needed fire power so it is only a matter of time before you frustratingly return to the main menu.
There is an online leaderboard that auto posts your highest score, but it seems like there is a bug with the upload. As I played this pre-released, this glitch might be patched by the time it is made publicity available, but my score would only post after I completely restarted the game.
Nephenthesys also isn’t the best-looking game, complete with generic ship designs and environments, and the soundtrack isn’t that great, but for a game that launches at $5.99 it is acceptable. By no means is this a high-quality shooter, and it isn’t even a nicely balanced one, but shmup fans still might want to take note even though it won’t take long to spot the frustrations. Most of the Achievements are also easily obtainable and don’t take too much time to unlock.
SCORE: 5/10
Don’t Forget About: the Irem Collection Vol. 1
Not As Good As: Wings of Bluestar
Wait For It: the upcoming Steel Empire shooter
By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com
Twitter: @ZackGaz
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