CounterAttack: Uprising Review
For me, SHMUPs are like comfort food. I recall classics like Gradius, Space Invaders, and R-Type but The Raiden Project for PlayStation is the one that got me hooked on the genre. I rarely search these games out but I can always pick one up and enjoy myself whether it be for 10 minutes or 2 hours. It is fast-paced gameplay with little to no ramp-up time across relatively short levels. When I see “…ridiculously customizable SHMUP…” come across my email, you bet I am going to take a look.
Developed by Relative Games, CounterAttack: Uprising is a side-scrolling SHMUP that can be played solo or with 3 friends locally or 7 friends online. Yep, you read that right: a multiplayer SHMUP. It is up to you (and friends) to save Earth from the Automatons.
Before you begin blasting away, you need to pick a pilot and spaceship. There are 8 to choose from but, if the decision is too daunting, hit that randomize button. You can even choose the color scheme of your ship. Each ship has varying combinations of power and speed ranging from low to high as well as stat distribution across several categories: speed, spread, side, beam, missile, power, plasma, drone, add on, and life.
After going through the arduous task of deciding who will save the world (plus the ever-important decision of selecting your ship’s color), you need to outfit the ship. No, not clothing. There are over 500 attachments to unlock as you progress through the game allowing for nearly endless combinations (it is in the trillions but nearly endless sounds better than writing a 1 followed by 12 zeros). Attachments are split amongst modules and weapons. Modules include things like Afterburner (+1 to your existing speed stat) or Lucky (+10% evasion and +25% attachment drop rate). Weapon attachments completely change how your actual weapons function. For example, you can replace the standard side weapon (which shoots projectiles vertically up and down from the ship) with melee lasers which can deflect enemy projectiles, or you can alter the spread of your forward weapon to be tighter in pattern but do more damage making your attack patterns more focused at the cost of hitting fewer targets at once. The game does an excellent job of explaining exactly what each attachment does and you are free to change up one or all attachments between missions.
If you ever played Gradius back in the day, gameplay will feel quite familiar.
Levels auto scroll across as you have to shoot down hundreds of enemies all the while avoiding the barrage of projectiles fired at your ship. Unlike similar games in this genre, your weapons were already decided on pre-mission. Power-ups go towards increasing your stats. Upon collecting a power-up, you can elect to spend it or bank it and use it for the stat you want to increase. For example, speed is your first stat and when you collect a power-up, speed gets highlighted and you can choose to increase it or not. If you want to pick up some extra lives, you need to collect 10 power-ups to do so. While it seems like it will take a while to reach the later categories, power-ups are pretty abundant and you are more likely to cycle past the desired stat than to be waiting to pick up another power-up. Depending on which ship you choose to play with, your stat loadout when you start the game will be different meaning it will take fewer stats to reach max. Biff starts with 2 in his power slot and that can be maxed to 3 while Marcus has 4 speed and can max out at 7. Stats remain throughout levels (depending on your ability to stay alive and the difficulty level) so by the end of a campaign run, most stats will be maxed. The add on power will add on to a category to go beyond its cap.
Speaking of levels, the campaign map has over 30 of them. Following the first level, you are generally given the freedom of choosing between 2 destinations. Each destination branches further away from the other and you can see the difficulty level of your choices before moving forward. As you progress further into the game, new starting levels become available allowing for further access to the entire map.
The campaign can be played on casual, arcade, or hardcore. Casual allows for saving and upgrades are not lost upon death but the unlock rate for new attachments is low. Arcade has no saving, a higher unlock rate, and you lose 3 upgrade points if you die. Hardcore starts you off with only 1 life but has the highest unlock rate of the modes. Extra lives can be earned in all modes and each mode can be played on easy, medium, hard, and very hard. For the fastest unlock rate of attachments, hardcore mode on very hard is the way to go. Any attachment unlocked in one mode becomes available in all modes so it may be best to wait before tackling hardcore once you have a few attachments to give you some advantage over your enemies. In addition to the campaign mode, there is survival mode which allows you to see how long you can last against neverending waves of enemies.
If you want a SHMUP with unparalleled replayability, look no further than CounterAttack: Uprising. While the game can be finished in a matter of hours, the diversity of builds pushes you to unlock more and more of the attachments. As mentioned, attachments completely change the playstyle of the game and are not just power upgrades that eventually make you invincible. If you somehow get bored of what the game has to offer, you can create your own levels to play. There is also multiplayer but unfortunately, online is at the mercy of finding actual people to play. Luckily, there is local co-op to enjoy if you have the means. If you are a fan of the genre, CounterAttack: Uprising is one to check out that could last you hours upon hours of enjoyable gameplay.
