A Worthy Successor or a Cold Disappointment?
A couple of years ago, developer hinyari9 brought the dystopian world of Marfusha to the Xbox; a game full of fast-paced, mindless, shooting fun. It focused on the titular character, a young and inexperienced soldier, fighting against robotic enemies of the state. Now though, there’s a sequel with Marfusha’s little sister Snezhinka stepping up to join the war this time.
Is Snezhinka going to deliver much the same as its predecessor, or will the younger sibling be able to surpass her big sister’s efforts?
A Sister’s Search
Snezhinka has been watching Marfusha going back and forth to the warzone, returning home with more injuries and scars on each occasion. For some reason, her sister hasn’t returned from her previous outing, causing much concern for Snezhinka. Taking matters into her own hands, she applies to a private military company called Blue Peacock in order to get on the frontline and begin the search.
That’s the basic premise of the Story Mode, with the idea being to help defend various objectives from the onslaught of machines hell-bent on causing destruction. Taking control of Snezhinka in a 2.5D environment, you just need to aim and fire your weapon at any bots heading towards you. Should you wish to acquire them, there are gadgets and special weapon attacks at your disposal too. Once you defeat the wave of enemies for the day, there’s barely a moment to rest as you’ll soon progress to the next and, ultimately, you must keep doing so until you reach the conclusion on day 100.
Wage War, Collect Cards
The only brief respite you get is at the end of the day when you can buy cards to enhance your chance of succeeding. Surviving a shift will earn the money to spend here, but in these rather grim times, the salary is measly. In fact, it’s worse than that due to a raft of deductions for health insurance, broadcast fees, labour shortage tax, and anything else the crafty powers that be can sting you for. It really is befitting of the situation though, which forces you to choose wisely over purchases.
The actual cards available are presented at random, however there’s a pretty good variety of weaponry, gadgetry, and even the opportunity for co-workers to aid your efforts. I’m talking about SMGs, assault rifles, shotguns, snipers, grenade launchers, turrets, barriers, a gadget that creates a sonic boom, and more. You’re likely to try out a multitude of weapons due to their waning durability, which helps keep things interesting. Additionally, certain cards are stat boosters to permanently increase attack power, mag capacity, reload speed and knockback effect, to name just a few aspects. Compared to the selection offered in Marfusha, it’s definitely better all-round and there is new equipment to try out.
Snezhinka’s Enemies and Environments
That’s not the only improvement either, with a greater assortment of deadly machines trying to bypass your assault. Sure, they’re still a mixture of ground-based movers and flying threats, but in terms of design and artillery, there are fresh offensive threats to worry about. An array of different backdrops is also welcome, despite being in keeping with the bleak dystopian setting. It’s also good to find that there are multiple narratives to uncover through the Story Mode, depending on who’s hired to assist you.
Whether you’ll have the desire to witness the entire collection of scenes between Snezhinka and her surprisingly cute gun-wielding colleagues, is up for debate, as a single playthrough is going to take an hour at most, and by that point, the mind-numbing blasting of bots does begin to feel repetitive. Dare I say it’s also far too easy to survive the duration, unless you get horrendous luck and are stuck with the slow firing weapons. Trying to stop a barrage of suicide drones with a sniper is testing for sure, but it’s still a relative breeze overcoming even the biggest bullet sponges the game has to offer.
Beyond the story, there is a Challenge Mode to prolong proceedings further, which gives you the choice of either Gate Defense or Power Plant Defense. The main difference between the two is that the Power Plant has containers stacked as an extra line of defence and when they’re destroyed, rewards are given as a bit of a helping hand. Essentially though, it’s a case of picking a character from those available and holding out for as many days as possible, with online leaderboards to show off your best attempts.
The more you play Challenge Mode, the more characters you can unlock, each possessing unique perks and stats. A handful of extra, rather cool, cards are added to the pool for hitting certain milestones during a run too. Again though, aside from those desperate for bragging rights, it’s just samey but potentially longer if you do well.
A Mindless But Enjoyable Shooter with Limited Longevity
In conclusion, Snezhinka doesn’t reinvent the wheel, instead opting to build upon the fast-paced action of its predecessor. The improvements aren’t huge, but there’s certainly added variety in the equipment, the enemies, and new narratives to be found here. Unfortunately, the gameplay is still mindless, repetitive, and seemingly easier than before, so the longevity is questionable.
If you just want a stress-relieving session, or enjoyed Marfusha, then Snezhinka is a good enough shooter to fulfil your needs, at least for a little while.
Important Links
Lock and Load: 2D Survival Shooter Snezhinka Arrives on Consoles – https://www.thexboxhub.com/lock-and-load-2d-survival-shooter-snezhinka-arrives-on-consoles/
Buy Snezhinka on Xbox – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/snezhinka/9nzmh87hhd8b
