I love Baldur’s Gate 3 with its complex narrative and D&D systems, but, my word, every time I load it up after taking a break it feels like I’m doing my A-level exams once again. There are just so many systems, spells and story arcs to keep track of that it all gets a bit overwhelming.
So when a game like Super Destronaut Landed X Loaded comes along it’s good to just go back to the basics once in a while. It’s as simple as you could ever get – a weird creature comes into view and you shoot it. End of story. That’s the essence of the game and after thirty minutes of playing it, you’ll see pretty much all there is to it.
There are a few other games in this series – Super Destronaut: Land Wars, Super Destronaut DX and Super Destronaut DX-2 – but I am afraid I haven’t personally played them. What I do know though is that I won’t be missing any great knowledge or story arcs…
There isn’t one you see; no narrative or cut scene or deep character analysis. You are a small blobby thing on the screen and you are shooting alien animal things that appear, pretty much until you die. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing not having a story, in fact, it’s quite a refreshing change of pace.
There are ten arenas to choose from and all are open to you at the start of the game. They are mostly similar in their 2D maze-like design, just with differing levels to move across. Some have things like barriers that open and close, making timing very important. Whatever though, your little blob hero appears and you start the game with 30 bullets and then the enemies appear, slowly at first and then gradually they appear faster and in greater numbers.
You have a jump button to navigate yourself across the levels, up and down. You have a shoot button too, but will need to collect bullets as they appear randomly across the level throughout the run-through. Certain creatures will take one bullet to kill, others two, some three, and onwards and upwards. It does mean that you’ll need to keep a close eye on your supply.
You have mines too, laying them down to take out enemies, but they also seem to do this so soon you have to be careful where you go in this very small area. The good news is that this is a game that throws our achievements and Gamerscore like they are going out of fashion – 1000G of Xbox achievements in around 15 minutes if that is your thing.
Visually, Super Destronaut Landed X Loaded is quite basic, but what it does it does very well. The heroes and aliens that you encounter are very basic, like little sprites from games of yesteryear, but the colours are pleasingly bright and brash. It deals with the chaos on the screen without fault and is all that you would expect from an arcade shooter. And the audio is on par, so much so that it wouldn’t feel out of place in a video game arcade off Clacton Pier in the late 1980s.
But would I recommend Super Destronaut Landed X Loaded? Well, there’s no doubt that it is a good arcade shooter, full of quick gameplay and enough action to keep you going for half an hour. But after that? It’s all for debate as to whether you’ll continue to play. Perhaps it would have been better if the devs had not unlocked everything from the get-go, or if there was some kind of goal to aim for. But they haven’t and it feels a shame because the core gameplay is addictive and fun.
So, Super Destronaut Landed X Loaded, thanks for the short-term memories.
Super Destronaut returns with the Landed X Loaded edition – https://www.thexboxhub.com/super-destronaut-returns-with-the-landed-x-loaded-edition/
Buy Super Destronaut Landed X Loaded on Xbox – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/super-destronaut-landed-x-loaded/9N8246G1FVWH
