A bullet hell shooter that is a colourful cornucopia of equal parts pleasure and frustration. One minute it’ll have you jumping for joy. The next, you are screaming at your TV with clenched fists and bulging eyes, swearing to Christ and everything holy that you’re done and you’re never going to play it again.
That is, until you realise how addictive it has become. So, you boot it up for another round. And wouldn’t you know it? You’ve died again.
But frustrating as this might seem, this is also where the beauty of the game lies. Each time you play, you get slightly better. You slowly become a master of dodging, weaving, ducking, and diving. Flying your fighter jet through sequences of lasers feels like it should be impossible to traverse. Somehow, you manage to squeeze through. And my god, does it feel great.
Space Invaders
As the gameplay is essentially two buttons—shoot and move—you could say that it’s reminiscent of the classic 1978 arcade giant Space Invaders. You’d be right, if Space Invaders were on high-quality stimulants and the same steroids that make Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson look like he’s sculpted from solid stone. Although there are some similarities between these games, they are very much light-years apart. Psyvariar 3 has a subtle complexity to its mechanics. At first glance, it lulls you into a false sense of security. Before long, it will make you sweat. Originally released for Steam and the ninth generation of consoles (Xbox Series X, PS5), this Switch 2 upgrade supports 4K in quality mode. In performance mode, it hits a staggering 120 frames per second. This makes the experience feel fluid and full-on. It is a bit like speeding down Rainbow Road at 1,000 miles an hour after you’ve eaten one too many red mushrooms.
Psyvariar 3 is made up of six different game modes
- Arcade Mode: This is the main attraction. You journey across 7 different cosmic areas, upgrading your ship along the way. For me, this was definitely the most enjoyable mode.
- Arrange Mode: Basically unhinged mode. Your attacks are always at full power. Bullet patterns are faster but simpler. This mode can get super difficult, so if you like a challenge, this one’s for you.
- Mission Mode: Here, you are tasked with specific objectives like surviving as long as possible or destroying all enemies. As you can imagine, this gets boring very quickly.
- Caravan Mode: I have no idea why they chose to call it this. In this mode, you try to achieve the highest score possible within two minutes. It is good if you’re competitive, but my high score was shamefully low. I would go out of my way to hide it from my friends. If I had any.
- Endless Mode: Here, you pick a seed or randomly generate one. A seed is a specific number the game uses to generate a certain wave of enemies. If I’m being honest, this mode really wasn’t for me. I imagine it’s great if you want to practice a certain round over and over until you achieve perfection. As you can probably tell, I’m not that type of dude.
- Practice Mode: Talking of practice, we get to our last mode. There’s not much to explain here, as it’s pretty self-explanatory, but it’s a nice bonus option.
I have to say, this game has a beautiful anime art style. This is best illustrated by the seven playable characters. They all have different traits and quirks, but they have about as much depth as a root canal. If I’m being completely honest, I don’t think people play shoot-’em-ups for deep character profiles. But if you feel you are lacking a nail-biting narrative, you could always try to understand the plot. At the beginning, you are met with a barrage of text gradually rolling up the screen like the start of a Star Wars film.
Now, I couldn’t make head or tail of what was going on. It was something about Martians, AI, and Earth colony thieves. Who knows? The reason I don’t know is that I couldn’t help but focus on the banging soundtrack. Honestly, the tunes on Psyvariar 3 are on another level. You can’t help but turn it up so loud it shakes your windows and vibrates your Funko Pop collection straight off your shelf and onto the floor. The drum and bass on some of these tracks is exhilarating. You can’t help but move your feet and throw some shapes. I couldn’t get enough of them. Seriously, they have no business being as good as they are. If one of these tracks was slipped into a setlist in some dingy, filth-ridden all-night rave in Soho, no one would even know the difference.
Overall, this game is definitely worth a play, especially if you’re into short gaming sessions. I imagine playing it for longer than an hour in one sitting could send you into a bit of a trance.Even if you’re not into bullet hell games, you should give this one a go, even if it’s just for the soundtrack alone. For everything mentioned above, it should definitely be put on your radar. For just £17.99, it’s a must-have.
