Assault Android Cactus Preview

By – Steven Smith

It was my genuine pleasure to play an early build of Assault Android Cactus.  This is a fast paced, twin stick shoot’em up that has a great arcade feel.  For those not familiar with this style of game, it is a top down shooter where the direction you move and the direction you face are controlled independently.  In this title you control character movement with the keyboard, using either WASD or the arrow keys.  The mouse moves a cross hair across the screen and your character will always turn to face it.  This makes it very easy to concentrate on a single target while still remaining mobile enough to dodge incoming fire.

The game places you in the role of an assault android tasked with destroying a large number of rogue robots who are causing havoc. Initially there are four androids available.  The main one is named Cactus, which is where the name Assault Android Cactus comes from.  Each character has their own look, personality and arsenal.  This makes choosing one a very tactical decision.  It is similar to many space shooter games where you get to select different ships with varying powers.  Every android has their own unique primary and a very powerful secondary weapon.  Cactus, for example, has a rapid fire assault rifle but also carries a flamethrower for backup.

To keep things balanced, the secondary weapon can only be used for a short period and has a cool down time before it can be selected again.  It feels like there was a lot of thought put into the character designs, both in look and in weapon choices.  Cactus seems to be the basic all around character while the others have definite strengths and weaknesses.  After defeating the first boss, I unlocked a new android, who seems to be a slight upgrade over the four base characters.  Of course that could just be due to my playstyle. Witch Beam told me they plan to have four unlockable characters in total.

Each level consists of one large room, similar to an arena shooter.  Some are wide open while others have a more claustrophobic feeling to them, keeping you contained by walls or pits.  One level has the lights going out for brief periods of time.  This leaves your character in the dark and only able to see what was right in front of them.  There are also certain levels that change their design as you play.  The floor may raise and become a wall or completely drop away.  You are in no danger of actually falling into a hole, but the changing layout may suddenly leave you trapped in a newly formed corner.  Seeing my first transforming level, I admit, caused me a bit of panic.  Now that I’ve gotten used to the concept, these have become my favorite levels to play.

When killed robots drop items for you to pick up.  Most of the time you will be collecting small energy items.  These act a bit like experience points in a way, collect enough to fill a small energy meter and your primary weapon gets upgraded.  Unlike experience points, your energy meter will begin to slowly decrease if you have not collected any energy recently.  So far it seems a weapon upgrade just boosts damage, but since the game is still in development this can change.  Your weapon can be upgraded several times, though each new upgrade costs more energy than the last.

There may be a limit on the number of times a weapon may be upgraded.  After collecting enough energy for my third weapon upgrade I have received a message stating “Energy Level Maximum”.  However I keep accumulating energy afterwards as if there is another level to reach.  This may just be a pre release bug. You can also pick up some temporary boost items, these are Accelerate, Shutdown and Firepower. The Accelerate boost causes you to move much faster for a limited amount of time.  During this period, all items will be drawn to you making upgrades easier to obtain.

Getting the Shutdown boost causes all robots on the screen to power off for a limited time.  When the action gets too hectic this can provide a much needed, however temporary, reprieve.  One twist I found was that it only affects robots currently in play.  New robots entering the fray after a Shutdown has started, are exempt.  My favorite boost though has to be Firepower.  When you get this item, two floating robots take up positions on either side of you.  These drones fire their own powerful guns in whatever direction you are facing.  Nothing clears an area like Firepower.

The most important pick up is the Battery.  Your android runs on battery power which depletes over time.  When the power is gone it’s game over. Think of it as more of a time limit that can be extended rather than a health bar.  As long as you have battery power you can keep playing until you run out of enemies. This does not mean you are impervious to damage however.  You have a health meter that decreases when hit by enemy fire, if you can avoid taking damage for long enough your health regenerates.  If you take too much damage your android collapses to the ground.  Pressing the fire button repeatedly will fill your health back up, once full you get to keep on fighting.  Be warned, even while your character is laying motionless on the ground they are still using battery power. So while it is important to avoid damage, it pays to aggressively push the enemy to get batteries and other power ups.

An aggressive playstyle also helps you build up your Chains. This is simply record of how quickly you can get a lot of kills.  A Chain of 5 means you killed 5 enemies in rapid succession.  Killing enemies nets you points, as does building large Chains. At the end of each level, you are given a brief summary of all the points you earned.  Points are also awarded based on how much life and energy you have left. Getting knocked down by taking too much damage will subtract points from your final score.  The net total of points earned and lost equate to a letter grade. The lowest score is a D, and I received plenty of these at first. The ranks, in order of lowest to greatest, go D, C, B, A, S and S+. For all you competitive types, there was an unused option in my copy of the game that was marked Leaderboards.  Hopefully this means you will be able compare top scores with other players.

Since this game is not finished yet I was only able to experience the first seven levels, which included a boss fight.  Also I could not try any of the other gameplay modes.  Aside from the main campaign, I could see options labeled Endless Battle and Boss Rush. One feature that I could test was the multiplayer.  The only thing better than shooting hoards of rioting robots is doing it with friends.  Assault Android Cactus supports up to four local players meaning that everyone playing has to be on the same computer.  Simply plug in a few gamepads and you are good to go. I had some trouble with this myself as my specific gamepad, the GGE909 Recoil, is not currently supported. Witch Beam assured me that they already have full controller support for Xinput devices, such as an XBox 360 gamepad, and are currently working on including Directinput devices. Their goal is to expand controller support to include as many models as they can.

Even though this game has a retro arcade feel, the visuals are more in line with newer games.  The character designs have a lot of nice detail.  Each android has lights on their head which sometimes pulse or change color related to in game events, such as taking damage.  There are also some great animations.   Case in point, the way a floor tile morphs into a pit or wall is fun to watch.  One character carries a pump-action shotgun as their primary weapon and pumps it like a Hollywood action star after each shot.  These little details along with simple but solid gameplay mechanics make Assault Android Cactus a really fantastic game.  If you like plenty of action and don’t mind the repetitiveness of blowing up lots and lots of bad guys, then keep an eye out for the release of this title.