Luftrausers

Completely freaking worth the purchase. Yes, it's a pure arcade-style game with random enemies and one setting/stage for ten bucks, but the mechanics are so fine-tuned, the aesthetic's so unique, the crazy color palettes are just insane, and the part combinations make it very replayable. My favorite thing to do is just play the game with all random parts - just restarting with a new build each time. With just that one stage, I've put more hours into this than I did with Assassin's Creed IV, so that's something.

We've been waiting a long time for this one, and it's finally here. From the guys who brought us Ridiculous Fishing, Super Crate Box and Nuclear Throne, yet another title that screams "Vlambeer". What that means should be clear if you ever played any of their games. This game is the modern definition of arcade at its finest, having an easy to grasp concept, challenging difficulty and that certain "punch" that the dutch developing team is famous for. This game isn't an epic, but it certainly is epic fun if you just want to play a fun game without any strings attached. In "Luftrausers" (a somewhat nonsensical German-jibberish title), you play as an aircraft that shoots down other aircrafts. And boats. And Submarines. And other crazy stuff. There's not much more to it, really, but as simple as this formula might be, it's extremely effective at what it does. The handling of your little plane is extremely intuitive, it just feels so well balanced, an aspect that Vlambeer is known for. During the course of playing the game, you will unlock new parts for your little vehicle, giving you a total of 125 unique plane types to experiment with. Ever saw a flying nuke that shoots a laser from its front and bullets from its rear? Well, this is only one of the many combinations that you will try out in order to kill everything you see and survive. And surviving isn't easy, since in good old arcade fashion, the enemies aren't pushovers, and if you think you can relax for a moment, a barrage from a cunning ace pilot chasing you down will kick you straight back to reality. Time to kick back. And with style. This game oozes the latter, with its retro-ish graphics and its fantastic, dynamic soundtrack that changes depending on your loadout. Luftrausers is meant to be played in short boosts, just like in the arcade days, but because of its stellar, minimalistic gameplay, putting the controller down after 5 minutes is almost as difficult as the super-hard mode that hides somewhere in this little indie gem. If you like an easy to get into, fun game that is polished to near perfection by its devoted and beloved creators, take a look at Vlambeer's dogfighting indie casual arcade hardcore roguelike realtime kamikaze piloting simulator Luftrausers. Rauser included.