PlayStation 5 Critic Reviews

Under Defeat (2025) is a remaster of the expertly crafted 2005 vertical shooter, offering tight gameplay, striking art, infectious music, and shmup-friendly extras that make its high difficulty rewarding and replayable.

While Under Defeat does show its age - particularly with the UI - it still manages to be a brilliant challenging shoot-'em-up that has some quite unique elements. Boasting some glorious couch co-op action, some banging soundtrack options and a fierce challenge for any arcade shooting aficionados, this is one of the very best games of its kind.

Under Defeat is such a challenging explosion-filled shoot 'em up that it's hard to put it down, especially with its distinct modes and helicopters to pilot. Throw in flashy visuals and a great soundtrack and you have one radical arcade shooter.

Under Defeat brings together all versions of the game and even includes a new one, even if with few differences in fact, creating an aura of a full-bodied version of a title that can be considered a modern classic of the genre. If you are a fan and enthusiast of shoot 'em ups, you definitely need to add this one to your library.

The latest iteration of Under Defeat shows just how solid the original game was and remains to this day. It’s simple yet effective take on the shmmup genre still provides a great challenge with fun gameplay that drives you to keep coming back again and again to better your score. Unfortunately, if it hasn’t hooked you in the past, this version isn’t really going to do much else to suck you in. The new additions help sweeten the pot for long-time fans but just don’t do enough to pull in any new ones. All in all: fans of the game will enjoy coming back and appreciate having access to a shmup-great on modern consoles.

Under Defeat returns yet again and while it's starting to get a bit creaky, it still shows more class than a lot of newer shoot 'em ups. The visuals can get a bit messy though and it's not the most exciting shoot 'em up ever.