Project Starship (Xbox One, 2020)

Project Starship
Developed by Panda Indie Studio
Published by Eastasiasoft Limited
Released for Xbox One (2/11/2020)
Also on PC/PS4/PS5/Switch

Preface

Project Starship is a throwback shmup of the vertical-scrolling variety. This is the first release brought to an Xbox platform by Panda Indie Studio, which as far as I can tell is now going by Arabong Dev and consists of a single developer named Matteo. Project Starship originally released for PC back in 2015, but saw a revival for home consoles in 2020 thanks to publisher Eastasiasoft. As a huge fan of shmups in general, I was excited to see what this one has to offer...

 
Graphics/Presentation

The graphics in Project Starship are presented with 2D sprites with bright colors and bold outlines that are surprisingly large for a game of this variety, which works in this instance since your hitbox is only the cockpit of your ship. The pixel-art looks good for the most part, though the art on the character select screen looks more pixelated than the rest of the game. The levels in Project Starship are randomized, making each play a bit unpredictable but the background details look nice and fit in with the player/enemy sprites nicely.

Torinto (Xbox One, 2023)

Torinto

Developed by DVL Games/Leaf Team Games

Published by Eastasiasoft Limited

Released for Xbox One (5/23/2023)

Optimized for Series X|S

Also on PC/PS4/PS5/Switch

Review Intro

Torinto was originally developed by DVL Games and released for PC back in 2019. Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here, but as far as I can tell this was ported by Leaf Team Games and published by Eastasiasoft Limited and Ratalaika Games. It's all a bit confusing figuring out who does the porting and the publishing when both of these companies are involved.

Torinto caught my interest because it looked like an interesting take on the run & gun genre. The game sports a medieval fantasy theme and features some nice hand-drawn artwork. Hoping for some good mindless run & gun fun, I didn't hesitate to pick this one up and give it a shot. Let's get into it and see if you should do the same...

Many Faces: Console Edition (Xbox One, 2020)

Many Faces: Console Edition

Developed by WANZUNGDEV/EastAsiaSoft Limited

Published by EastAsiaSoft Limited

Released for Xbox One (5/26/2020)

Also on Linux/PC/PS4/PS5/Switch

 

INTRO

Developed using GameMaker Studio 2, Many Faces was originally created by Chicago-based WANZUNGDEV, which on his Twitter page states that he's just "an ordinary IT guy with a passion for retro and indie video games." It's hard not to admire games that were developed by a single person that manage to make it onto the storefronts of potentially millions of video game consoles. Many Faces was ported and published to home consoles thanks to EastAsiaSoft, a company which has released a steady stream of ports on the Xbox One over the last several years. Many Faces is a multi-directional shooter inspired by arcade classics, so right away this one had my interest on that alone. Let's take a look at the game and see if it's something worth investing your dollar & time into...

PRESENTATION

Let's just get it right out of the way: Many Faces is not easy on the eyes. The graphics attempt to mimic the look of an early 80's arcade game, but with this simplicity comes an appearance devoid of much charm, detail or personality. The menus are easy to use but bare-bones, but the option to turn on a cross hair to make aiming easier is appreciated. To accompany the retro graphic design, there is a chiptune soundtrack that sounds like something of the era. While the music works well enough with the graphic style, none of the compositions are memorable or stand out in any way. 

 

The main character design is uninspired to say the least: he's just simply a white circle with a basic face drawn on it. There's some decent variety when it comes to the enemy designs, the problem is that most of them are boring, coming in the form of simple shapes that are difficult to tell if they're supposed to represent something. There are nods to 80's culture, with one enemy looking like a Tie-Fighter ship from Star Wars and another that looks like Evil Otto from the arcade classic Berzerk. While the nostalgic throwbacks are cool, the majority of the enemy designs are just as immediately forgettable as the lackluster stage designs, which we'll get to shortly...

Iro Hero (Xbox One, 2019)

Iro Hero

Developed by Artax Games

Published by Eastasiasoft Limited

Released for Xbox One (12/18/2019)

Also on Linux/Mac/PC/PS4/Switch

 

 

Preface

Developed by Artax Games, a small indie studio based out of Madrid, Iro Hero is the first of many shmups that would be published to the Xbox One via Eastasiasoft Limited. Iro Hero takes heavy inspiration from genre classic Ikaruga, featuring a 2-color (blue/red) shot system which you'll have to alternate between on the fly to kill enemies of the respective color. Similar to the classic it was inspired by, Iro Hero plays like a mix of  the puzzle and shoot 'em up genres, which can be a tough duo to mix while maintaining a good fun-factor. Without further ado, let's take a look at the strangely named Iro Hero and see if it's worth your time and money...

Presentation

Iro Hero is a shmup of the vertical-scroller variety, featuring some nice-looking 2D sprites. The enemy projectiles all clearly stand out amidst the backgrounds. While the sprites are well-drawn, the ship design tends to be a bit bland and forgettable. The opening stage, which takes place over a sprawling city, looks promising but is easily the coolest of all the backgrounds featured in the game (at least out of the ones I witnessed, more on that in a bit...). The player ship is quite large, making it difficult to dodge enemy bullets, though you can switch the color of your ship to match the bullets and absorb them. This takes some quick timing and gets tough on some of the more crowded screens later in the game. Another positive aspect to note regarding the presentation is the excellent soundtrack, featuring some groovy upbeat techno music that helps make the game more enjoyable. There is some weird volume adjustment that happens with the in-game music, where it suddenly gets louder or quieter for some reason. It's not a game-breaking issue by any means, though it is slightly annoying.

Null Drifter (Xbox One, 2020)

Null Drifter
Developed by Panda Indie Studio
Published by Eastasiasoft Limited
Released for Xbox One (4/8/2020)
Also on PC/PS4/Switch

Null Drifter bills itself as a "1-bit lo-fi simulation," which seems fitting considering the graphics are composted of 2-tones of color and rather basic, but decent pixel-art. The game plays like your average twin-stick shooter, starting off easy but picking up in difficulty quite fast. Several of the waves will feature a boss at the end to fight. As you destroy enemies, they'll drop coins and sometimes power-ups. There's also a dash maneuver that can be used to evade or damage enemies, which requires a short time to recharge after use. Upon dying, you can spend your collected credits purchasing upgrades that allow you to start out powered-up a bit. That's really about all there is to Null Drifter, it's a minimalist twin-stick with some frenetic action; nothing more and nothing less.