Blue Rider

2016 is a great year for twinstick shooters, and it’s in no small part thanks to this game. It’s a game that feels straight from an arcade gallery in the 80s but manages to fit perfectly into today’s standards, and I’m glad I didn’t have to put quarters in to keep playing, cause I died A LOT. Old-school challenge.
The controller response time is quick, and it has to be because the difficulty keeps climbing to the point where you must be absolutely sure of what you’re pressing, with almost no margin for error. There were points when I the screen was covered in bullets, and I was just there trying not to panic, But it gets hard without getting to a point of frustration, and every time I died I knew it was because I had done something wrong and not because the game was unfair. Could use some checkpoints, though. Also, the power-ups should look a bit different. Maybe with letters, like in Contra. But, as it is, the weapon system is varied and has no actual flaws. Blowing robots up sounds like a good time and Blue Rider makes it as fun as it can be with a nice progression in armory.
At the end of each level you find a different final boss, and that’s by far the best part. Their designs feel detailed and they’re really hard! I ended up using different strategies with each of them and that took me a while to figure out, but the feeling of reward you get after finally beating them is unmatched. I’d certainly try out a Boss Rush Mode, one after another (Defeated 4 bosses until now)
Haven’t finished it yet, but I’ve been playing for a while and it doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. And, while i died a couple of times, I just kept coming back for more.
Summary:
An easy recommendation for anyone interested in a fast and challenging game. The sort of game that makes you stay up until you manage to beat one more level.

In what has been a year thus far loaded with twinstick shooters – I believe that I have discovered the best of them all with Ravegan’s Blue Rider. In fact, it wouldn’t be too far out of place to suggest that this may be one of my favorite and most enjoyable games of the year. I’m hopeful that it’s a title that will get picked up by the critics for their review but thus far only Brash Games have picked up on it and they scored it a perfect 10/10.
The game has you playing around as a blue spaceship riding and guiding yourself through levels that are littered with enemies of the robotic kind. There are a significant number of different enemy types throughout the game all with their own little quirks and powers. Getting accustomed to each of them is a vitally important component of becoming a skilled player. After you’ve beaten the waves of enemies that are just waiting to kick your ass you have to deal with a boss. Although there are health drops (green) along with bombs (pink/purple) and blue (rampage) they (health orbs) are are few and far between and standing a chance against most of the bosses – the first boss in the game was relatively easy if you think about the strategy required for just a moment – will mean that you need to keep as much health as possible because you’ll need it to survive the battle. Should you die at any stage of the level it’s game over. However, thankfully you don’t have to repeat stages that you have already beaten.
What I really loved about the game is the feeling that I’ve taken a step back into the days of the SEGA and Nintendo consoles. I’m currently in the midst of reading the awesome book Console Wars and to play a game that reminded me of that era but with the full production values that modern technology affords was a real delight. The graphics and the sound are a perfect match for what the game achieves and the controls are every bit as tight as what you would hope that they would be. But it’s the fantastic retro flashback feeling that does it for me. It’s a great accomplishment.
Now I feel the need to get something off of my chest. One does not simply ask someone to tell their friends what a great game one is. To see this text in between the first and second levels was not only something I would deem to be unprofessional but also very tacky. If someone is going to tell someone that a game is great or special they’re going to do it because they want to do it and for no other reason. That this is the only criticism that I can honestly level against the game speaks volumes to its quality. But to provide that in the spot of a game tip was humorous and not in a positive way for Ravegan.
Blue Rider requires skill, persistence and a lot of concentration in order to defeat each stage but the effort is well and truly worth it. Experiences of such a level are few and far between and thus I wholeheartedly recommend it.
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“Blue Rider” is a very entertaining, beautiful and addicting shoot-em-up game. So if you like shmups, then you´re going to love this game with no doubt.
Pros:
+ The boss fights (massive bosses awaits you!)
+ Awesome graphics
+ Plenty of different weapons and power-ups
+ Easy to learn hard to master
Cons:
– Even though I like the “Blue Rider” soundtrack, I wish that Ravegan would have thrown in some Metal and Techno music into the mix
– A world map would have been nice (as you tend to get lost at times)
– Bugs (I got stuck in a wall on stage 2, and sometimes enemies doesn´t get hit by your shoots)
Gameplay: 4/5
Graphics: 4/5
Sound/Music: 3.5/5
Controls: 4/5
Replay value: 4/5
Verdict: 4/5
Full review:

Easy to play, easy to rage :) :)

Not bad, but not great either. The game looks quite well and plays good. What i really didnt like was the difficulty setting: The stages are quite easy, the bosses are hard. Nevertheless not a bad game for the price. 6/10

Enjoyable sh'mup game. Nice time waster. It has a cool 'floaty' handling of the hovercraft. Missing a little back story tho. Even something to read from the menu screen would be cool. An extra life drop during level bosses would have been too ;)
Yes would recommend this game.

Blue Rider is a bonafide old-school twin stick shooter with very mild bullet hell elements and a drastic difficulty curve. It never is too frustrating, it has countless boss fights as well as power ups and both sound and art design are actually quite great. Probably one of the biggest positive surprises I've had playing this year so far.
If you like arcade twin-stick shooters and japanese bullet hell is too tough for you, this might be perfect.