Developed by Flump Games
Released for XBLIG (1/2013)
Also on Ouya/PC
Pester is a vertical shoot 'em up with a retro-arcade feel. The graphics look like something from the early to mid-80's, the screen is cropped like it was natively a vertical game (though there is not tate option) and there are scanlines emulated to make it seem as though you're playing on a CRT monitor. While the action looks like an older arcade game, you have bullet patterns to dodge inspired by the more modern bullet-hell shooters. Your ship has the ability to toggle your movement speed holding the left trigger when precision dodging is needed. Coins are dropped by defeated enemies that when collected will help build up your hyper shot meter, which will give your firepower a temporary boost when activated.
The graphics in Pester are a mixed bag, with the ships looking like something out of Galaga while the backdrops look like something that would have come out a decade later. There seems to be a lack of sound effects, for example the coins don't even make a sound when picked up. The enemy explosions fail to impress both in graphics and sound. While Pester definitely isn't the prettiest shmup available on XBLIG, when it comes down to the gameplay there is still a fun and challenging shooter here. There are quite a few modes to unlock, the game keeps tabs on your high scores and there are some settings to customize as you play. You can select the background, music, overlay and ship design. This all helps add a nice amount of replay value. In arcade mode you can play classic mode or boss survival. There are also survival, asteroid belt and boss modes that can be unlocked for achieving certain scores on particular modes. There's also another mode called Tempus which is a timed mode. There's a number next to your ship that is constantly ticking away. Instead of lives, dying will take ten seconds off the clock. Enemies now drop clocks instead of coins, and each clock you pick up adds an additional second to your clock. It's a fun and unique mode and rounds out what was already a nice package.
Pester is definitely a good effort as far as shooters on XBLIG are concerned. The full version features an appearance from one of the ships from Chronoblast which is neat. There's thousands of worse ways you could spend a buck! The game was also ported over to PC and the Ouya. It's currently on Steam for $0.99 just like when it was up on XBLIG!
Final Verdict: Pester is an enjoyable and challenging vertical shooter. While not the best on the service, it retailed for only a buck on XBLIG and is worth a look for genre fans.
Related Links:
Pester - GameFAQs
Pester on PC - Steam
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