Minishoot’ Adventures kind of feels like what you would get if Space Invaders and the original Zelda decided to have a baby together.
Soulgame Studio brings to life a frantic shoot ’em-up combined with the excitement and fun of exploration in Minishoot’ Adventures. Describing Soulgame Studio the founders said that they are a small independent game studio founded by two French guys who played too many video games in their childhood and decided they had to make their own. “We like to create all sorts of quirky and charming universes that we fill with joyful and moving experiences.” And they did do that in Minishoot’ Adventures. The game is charming, quirky, and enjoyable, with a hint of old retro-style games added in.
In the story of Minishoot’ Adventures the Unchosen has returned. Minions have emerged from the underworld, your village has been destroyed, and all your friends are now trapped in corrupted crystal. You now must embark on a journey to save your world and friends. There is a surprising amount of lore that has gone into Minishoot’ Adventures.
Since the old ages, whenever a crisis occurs, the Primordial Scarab, a beloved deity, and source of all the blue crystal energy, grants one of the little shipling extraordinary powers to face the odds. One such occasion occurred when gigantic ships from the depths attacked the shiplings’ village. As expected, the Primordial Scarab gave mighty powers to a young shipling, that everyone naturally called The Chosen.
After an epic battle, The Chosen came back triumphant, and the village celebrated. But then came the time to surrender the Primordial Powers to restore the sacred balance. The Chosen, full of pride and triumph, refused to give up the powers and the Primordial Scarab had to forcefully retrieve them. Deeply shattered by this loss and humiliation, in a moment of spite, The Chosen destroyed a blue crystal.
An unfathomable sacrilege for the shipling. From the broken blue crystal, a sudden burst of raw energy came out, but instead of being balanced and self-restorative, it was unstable and corrupting. The crystal shards turned red, the young shipling touched them and absorbed their vibrant energy. Then the shards darkened and became void of life and energy.
Rebuked by the deity for this serious offense, the Chosen was banished and thus became the Unchosen, full of resentment and frustration and fed by the red crystal corruption. Echoes of the transgression were soon everywhere, and many were tempted to follow the Unchosen in their glorious attempt at mastering forbidden powers and achieving impossible growth. The Cult of the Unchosen flourished, and many villages rejoiced in the Unchosen’s glory. New ways of exploiting the ancient sacred energy were developed, leading to expanding, thriving villages and cities.
But the red energy was a corrupting force, each blue crystal destroyed was a scar in the grand balance, deteriorating the nature and the life of the world. One by one, each city fell. The Unchosen, unable to face the reality of what had been done, kept fleeing each tragic event. Ultimately, they fled back into a forgotten cave, their sense of self progressively disappearing, replaced by a deeply rooted craving for more power, crushed by the burden of corruption and isolation.
There, in the depth of the void, a definitive plan was born in the bleeding heart of the Unchosen. Using underground crystals, an army of drones was crafted. An army that would once and for all put an end to the reality of the outside world in which they didn’t belong. If they couldn’t have the Primordial Powers, nobody would, they stole them and hid them in deep dungeons, guarded by the giant ships that were drawn to and corrupted by the crystals of the void.
When the dungeons emerged, the red drone army poured out over the overworld, which promptly fell. The shivering cities were swept away, as to obliterate the memory of their failure. The blue village was ruined, and their inhabitants were frozen into the void crystal as if to forget they ever existed. Everything became still. Yet, somewhere in a deep cave, a void crystal was shaking with life.
Inside, a trapped young shipling was just called upon by the Primordial Scarab to rise as the new Chosen. Deprived of the Primordial powers, it will not be easy for this Chosen to face the challenges ahead, to retrieve all that was lost, and to face a forsaken world.
In Minishoot’ Adventures, you’ll have to explore the map, find the bosses’ lairs, and defeat them. Minishoot’ Adventures offers quite a wide range of enemies within the world. Each enemy has a unique movement and attack pattern.
The mechanics for the Minishoot’ Adventures are smooth, right at the beginning of the game you’ll be informed that the best way to play the game is with a controller. I didn’t even try to use a mouse and keyboard and I’m happy that I didn’t.
With the controller, your spaceship feels agile, and you can move quickly to avoid the enemy’s attacks. Not that it is always easy. The number of projectiles you must dodge and move around makes for an interesting movement-like puzzle.
Learning the attack patterns of your enemies in this retro-like shooter can make all the difference in combat. For the first little while of Minishoot’ Adventures you’ll be using just your default guns, but as you progress, explore, and defeat bosses you’ll unlock more abilities and power-ups.
Some abilities help you move across the map easier, like being able to boost across gaps and speed over ramps. Other power-ups to your gun allow you to shoot down walls to reach new areas of the map. Going back to the combat aspect of Minishoot’ Adventures, you can choose to have a full auto aim, aim assist, or have it completely free aim. It’s a nice option to have if you prefer to just enjoy the adventure of the game without being too concerned with having a perfect aim.
You can also enable an invincibility option; this was fun to try but took away from the rush of the battle and the feeling of achievement you got after defeating a difficult enemy. However, it’s still a good idea and lets someone who doesn’t want that stress, to also enjoy the game still.
There is a type of puzzle feel to Minishoot’ Adventures, and that appears in the form of your enemies’ fighting patterns. Some enemies shoot forward others in a spiral, there are even some that shoot their projectile and get flung backwards. Deciding how to best move around and defeat your enemies does require you to think on your feet and problem-solve.
The map in Minishoot’ Adventures is a decent size, and you’ll need to travel back and forth a few times to unlock the different areas. Personally, for me, I’m not someone that enjoys that back-and-forth style. I would like to know where I’m meant to be going and how to get there. However, that is just a personal preference and shouldn’t discourage other players who enjoy these types of games.
Minishoot’ Adventures has a retro look to it. But don’t let that fool you though, the game is well-designed. It has vibrant colors and unique-looking areas and even though your character is a spaceship they have personality and charm. Which draws you in and makes you want to help them and their world.
Even the sound and music of Minishoot’ Adventures have a retro vibe to it. The background music isn’t annoying, and I found it relaxing during the times I was exploring the map. Bullets sound like you would expect them to for this type of game and that’s not a bad thing. It is consistent and fits in well.
For the most part, Minishoot’ Adventures is a well-rounded game. I didn’t encounter any bugs or heavy glitches. I did have stutter once but that could have been caused by something other than the game itself.
It’s an enjoyable experience even though I’m not particularly fond of having to backtrack numerous times, I still found myself wanting to explore further and unlock new areas, power-ups, and abilities for my character. The battles in the game are fast-paced and the enemies at times can be unforgiving.
Certain parts can be rage-inducing, especially if you are inclined to get frustrated easily by being killed multiple times. However, that makes it even more rewarding when you beat those enemies.
This Space Invaders – Metroidvania-style game allows you to feel the adventure of discovering the map, power-ups, and new equipment for your spaceship. All while making progress in the game’s storyline.
While Minishoot’ Adventures is a fun, casual game to play, unfortunately, it’s not a game that I can see making a big splash. It doesn’t have much replayability to it and I won’t find myself looking to play it again soon. The adventure was interesting as I was exploring and fighting my way through the game, but I forgot about it once I stopped playing the game.
