Grid Runner Revolution 1.117b | 66,3 MB
As shoot-'em-ups go, Gridrunner Revolution will seem familiar from the outset. Move ship around playfield, rotate ship to shoot in any direction, fire a constant, liquid stream of death at the enemy, grab upgrades. For the long of memory, it's clearly a vintage Jeff Minter shooter (note recurring sheep motif). Regarding its relevance to the modern landscape though, it's hard not to draw comparisons with Geometry Wars. Originally a mini-game in Project Gotham Racing 2, and later one of the great success stories of Xbox Live Arcade, Geometry Wars really planted the flag for retro-shooters. But it was just that - a shooter. An incredibly pretty and incandescent and addictive and very, very polished shooter. And one which took many of its cues from Gridrunner++, Revolution's forerunner. Grid? Check. Crabby ship? Check. Retina-searing particulate explosions? You get the picture.
But there's a playful, experimental aspect to Revolution which shmups generally lack, and that's not a reference to its stylistic attributes... ruminant symbology and commendably insane voice-overs, for instance. It lies in the fabric of player choice, and the feedback loop the game provides you with. For example, you can happily play the entire thing simply shooting enemies, collecting upgrades and cracking levels, and you'd have a fairly good time. You don't even have to rotate your ship to succeed; with the advent of diagonal and rear-facing cannons, you're pretty much sorted. Playing the game like this would also be a tremendous waste of all that Gridrunner Revolution has to offer.
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