Giant, screen filling bosses may sound somewhat prosaic, but somehow Intrusion 2 makes them fresh and relevant again. I mean they really need to be seen to be believed. While the average enemy within a level runs the gamut from ED-209 style robot to rail gun firing para-trooper, the boss enemies really are something else. Whether its grappling hooks that shoot out to grab you or use objects in the environment to shield themselves, every encounter with an enemy plays out differently. Even the simplest enemies have complex dynamics associated with them. Enemies rag-doll in a way that’s not realistic, but is incredibly satisfying and cinematic. As the creature I fought scrabbled around to find objects to throw, its long robot limbs snaking across the environment looking for appropriate weapons as all the while my plasma rifle beat it backwards.Įach shot you fire feels solid every time you hit an enemy with a bullet or bomb or missile there’s a kineticism to it. None of this was scripted, it was all dynamic. As these objects were picked up and thrown, my bullets deflected them away, and I even jumped on them and used them as springboards to rocket above the enemy and shoot it in its more vulnerable head. For example, when fighting a huge robotic enemy that looked a lot like the sentinels from the Matrix movies, I was dodging crates, metal girders and huge blocks that it tore from the scenery and threw at me. It makes for a very dynamic experience, where each encounter with an enemy feels unique and can surprise you. Superficially it might look like Gunstar Heroes or Metal Slug X, but the addition of so many physics enabled objects in the levels makes a huge difference to the game. While the game plays a lot like classic 16 bit side scrolling shooters, it has one big difference: physics. I am a control pad lover at heart, but the accuracy and responsiveness of the mouse and keyboard seems much more effective during the toughest parts of Intrusion 2, and those tough parts really don’t mess around. I found it far preferable to play with mouse and keyboard though, directing my relentless streams of hot lead with the mouse cross-hair and moving with the WASD keys. With control pad it plays a bit like a twin stick shooter, albeit one where you view the world side on rather than top down. You can play with control pad or mouse and keyboard. The gameplay oscillates between mildly challenging platforming – as you fight a few enemies at a time – to moments of veritable bullet-hell where death is all around you and quick reactions combined with split-second timing are your only defence against incoming seas of bullets, rockets and giant robotic fists bigger than cars. Like Contra or Metal Slug, you run and jump your way through a 2D world filled with enemy soldiers, jeeps, tanks and giant robot dragons, all the while dodging bullets and firing hundreds of thousands of bullets, missiles and weird blue plasma bolts. There’s not a moment of that movie though where it rivals the sheer ridiculous, balls-out action that Intrusion 2 squeezes into every single second of its gameplay. In the world of the Expendables, dropping a pillow onto a cloud would cause both to explode in a ball of fire. Completely lacking self awareness, when it’s serious it’s funny, and when it tries to be funny it’s embarrassing, but crucially everything blows up, all the time. I went to see the Expendables 2 last night. It’s the best game of the summer, on any format. For me, it’s also far better than any of the others I’ve mentioned. Games so good they put big budget mainstream releases to shame, and make anyone complaining about a games drought sound like a fool. Games like The Mount and Blade series, Lone Survivor and even the first incarnation of Minecraft were like this. At those times I occasionally come across something thats original, well made and fun, but also completely unexpected. It’s only in such a slower period that I get the chance to play smaller indie games like Intrusion 2. If you only play Xbox games, perhaps this years weaker summer of arcade and lack of huge blockbuster titles will make you feel like the games industry is slowing and creativity and originality have dried up. I think maybe it’s more prevalent amongst those who game on only one platform, or who stick to a few prescribed genres. To someone like me, who always has far more great games to play than time to play them, this always seems like a strange attitude. Over and over, I’ve heard the familiar lament, “there’s nothing to play!”. I’ve heard a lot of people talk about a huge game drought this summer.
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