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[Dr_Salt]

I'm a big fan of Smash TV and Total Carnage but somehow Nex Machina flew under my radar. When I found out Eugene Jarvis, the arcade game legend behind games like Defender, Robotron 2084 and Smash TV worked along Housemarque on Nex Machina I knew I had to play it.

I am pretty blown away on how good this game is. Its a true spiritual sequel to those oldschool arcade twin stick shooters. The shooting, bullethell and movement all feel incredibly fine tuned. The soundtrack is also incredible and it has some pretty cool particle effects.



Sadly the game did not sell well despite getting stellar reviews. It ultimately caused Housemarque to state that they were done with arcade style shooters which makes me even more sad.

Right now the game is 5 bucks on steam. If you enjoy the twin stick genre or bullet hell games you owe yourself to play this masterpiece.

 

[Kuranghi]

Yeah, great game, and a steal even at £14.99 in terms of tightness of gameplay and visual design.

I was also sad about that news but I also think Returnal looks like it could be great too! Its still kinda "twin stick"... in the same way all 3rd person games are twin stick lol

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

One of the modern arcade classics, for sure.

 

[GHG]

Such an amazing game.

It's a shame it didn't do well enough for Housemarque to keep making games like this.

 

[Skyr]

I might try this out.


Op you should add the PS4 version too.
It's actually cheaper than the Steam version for me right now.
3.99€ on the german store right now.

 

[Kuranghi]

When are we likely to see more of Returnal?

 

[namekuseijin]

it's awesome. I really enjoyed past Housemarque arcade action. They're technical achievements in visual style, frantic action and tight controls. The studio reminded me of old Konami and Treasure.

Btw, Resogun is a modern take on Defender, by Jarvis too. It was my favorite game on Atari 2600 and this remake was the best thing of early PS4...

 

[JSoup]

I mentioned this in a different thread, but for the price it's an amazing OST and it even came with an equally amazing game as a free bonus.

 

[Nixonomics]

Absolutely phenomenal game and entirely worth $5.00. Easily one of my favorite games of all time. As Dr_Salt said, if you have any interest in arcade games you owe it to yourself to give it a try.

 

[Mhmmm 2077]

Truly amazing game, makes me sad that Resogun didn't make it (officially) to PC.

 

[BloodOmenPT]

I liked it so much I actually gave it two chances, got the digital version when it came out and later on the limited physical edition from LRG so I can keep it forever . Awesome fast paced game.

 

[MrS]

HDR in this game is incredible. A must own for OLED owners. Don't sleep on it.

 

[Jeeves]

Well you sold me. I bought it! Who knows when I'll get to playing it, but it looks great.

 

[Quixz]

I'm a big fan of Smash TV and Total Carnage but somehow Nex Machina flew under my radar. When I found out Eugene Jarvis, the arcade game legend behind games like Defender, Robotron 2084 and Smash TV worked along Housemarque on Nex Machina I knew I had to play it.

I am pretty blown away on how good this game is. Its a true spiritual sequel to those oldschool arcade twin stick shooters. The shooting, bullethell and movement all feel incredibly fine tuned. The soundtrack is also incredible and it has some pretty cool particle effects.



Sadly the game did not sell well despite getting stellar reviews. It ultimately caused Housemarque to state that they were done with arcade style shooters which makes me even more sad.

Right now the game is 5 bucks on steam. If you enjoy the twin stick genre or bullet hell games you owe yourself to play this masterpiece.

As per your recommendation, I've just bought it for the PS4 - £3.19

 

[Cert.in.Death]

Seconded.

Game is superb.

 

[Dr_Salt]

it's awesome. I really enjoyed past Housemarque arcade action. They're technical achievements in visual style, frantic action and tight controls. The studio reminded me of old Konami and Treasure.

Btw, Resogun is a modern take on Defender, by Jarvis too. It was my favorite game on Atari 2600 and this remake was the best thing of early PS4...

I wish I could play it but I only have a PC.

As per your recommendation, I've just bought it for the PS4 - £3.19

You won't regret it.

 

[Mobilemofo]

𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔𝚢𝚘𝚞. 𝚒𝚖𝚖𝚊 𝚙𝚒𝚌𝚔 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚞𝚙 𝚝𝚘𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝. 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚙𝚒𝚌𝚔 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚞𝚙. 𝚋𝚒𝚐 𝚏𝚊𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚚𝚞𝚎 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗. 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚘𝚐𝚞𝚗 𝚒𝚜 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚢 𝚏𝚊𝚟𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚐𝚊𝚖𝚎𝚜 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕.

 

[godhandiscen]

I wish I could play this game, but I only have an Xbox and Switch. The lack of consideration of many indie devs with the X1 makes the PS5 more alluring.

 

[Grinchy]

It's really great but most players will have to put some time in to really learn the systems properly. Highly recommended.

 

[Agent X]

Nex Machina is a fantastic game. It's one of the best pure action games of the last seven years, from a developer that has has repeatedly set a very high bar for these types of games.

I liked it so much on PS4 that I even bought a physical copy from Limited Run Games (still sealed).

Op you should add the PS4 version too.
It's actually cheaper than the Steam version for me right now.
3.99€ on the german store right now.

It's $4.99 on the PS Store in the US, for about another week.

Nex Machina

55, “What a trip.” – The GuardianbrbrEssential, “Housemarque has just made the game of its career.” – Eurogamerbrbr910, “Nex Machina is a game that confidently meets expectations. Its difficult, intensely satisfying, and packed with enough secrets and lofty secondary objectives to keep you...

store.playstation.com

Btw, Resogun is a modern take on Defender, by Jarvis too. It was my favorite game on Atari 2600 and this remake was the best thing of early PS4...

Resogun is also a superb game by Housemarque, but I don't believe Eugene Jarvis was involved with it. (Unless you're saying that Defender was by Jarvis.)

If you still have your Atari 2600, and you liked Defender, then dust it off and track down a copy of Stargate (also known as Defender II) for the 2600. It's a surprisingly faithful conversion of the arcade game.

I also mentioned in this post in another thread here recently that someone is currently developing an impressive version of Robotron 2084 for the 2600.

 

[namekuseijin]

if you still have your Atari 2600

only down memory lane

and if you had an Atari too, I urge you to place it in the locker, grab a VR headset and Battlezone Gold Edition. It's as retro futuristic as it gets.

 

[Agent X]

It's currently on sale in PlayStation Store (US) for $3.39. This price is good until November 20.

Highly recommended!

 

[Schrödinger's cat]

Totally recommended. As is all of Housemarque's portfolio.

I recall being excited to learn of a new Housemarque game, then even more excited that they were collaborating with Eugene Jarvis.

The end result exceeded all expectations. And it's also a masterclass in art design. The pace of the game and how well it communicates things to the player through colour usage, visual motifs and audio cues is second to none.

 

[Grinchy]

It's currently on sale in PlayStation Store (US) for $3.39. This price is good until November 20.

Highly recommended!

That's a crazy price for it. It's insanely replayable.

 

[Agent X]

Totally recommended. As is all of Housemarque's portfolio.

I recall being excited to learn of a new Housemarque game, then even more excited that they were collaborating with Eugene Jarvis.

The end result exceeded all expectations. And it's also a masterclass in art design. The pace of the game and how well it communicates things to the player through colour usage, visual motifs and audio cues is second to none.

I completely agree. Housemarque games have exemplary audio work. It's not just the awesome music, but as you pointed out, the audio cues which are key to identifying off-screen events. A lot of Housemarque games use audio as an integral gameplay element. Come to think of it, Eugene Jarvis did that with many of his games, too. This tradition goes all the way back to the original Defender, where you would hear a humanoid's cry for help, glance at your scanner, and then take off to make the rescue.

Speaking of Housemarque's portfolio, it looks like everything that they've been involved with on PS4 is currently on sale right now. Aside from Nex Machina ($3.39), other games on sale include Resogun ($4.94; also cross-buy with PS3 & PS Vita), Super Stardust Ultra ($4.93), Dead Nation ($5.99), Alienation ($4.99), and Matterfall ($6.99).