Son of Scoregasm

Ignore the terrible name and barebones look, because Son of Scoregasm is one of the most surprising dual-stick shooters to come around in a long time. It's the kind of game aimed at a more hardcore shoot 'em up audience that has already mastered everything Geometry Wars and Super Stardust has to offer. This is a tough little action game that equal parts exciting, frustrating and satisfying.

The sequel to the 2011 breakout hit Scoregasm, this follow-up gives us a brand new batch of 28 action-packed stages and seven different endings. It's all laid out in a grid that reminds me of OutRun. The idea is to complete a small, self-contained stage with waves of enemies and then exit to another small, self-contained stage with waves of enemies.

But don't let that simplistic objective fool you, because Son of Scoregasm if rife with creative obstacles. Every stage will throw something completely new and different at you, forcing you to throw out a lot of what you used in other levels and come up with a new strategy. For example, you'll be dodging a laser grid in one stage, pushing back large spike rollers in another, and then trying to stay in the middle of a moving triangle inside of a larger triangle. Some stages will throw in enemies you can't kill with your standard gun, while other times it will be all about surviving a spiral of aggressive bad guys.

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The stages themselves aren't especially long, but they're tough. This is the kind of game where you'll spend a half hour trying to beat a boss or make it past an especially tough obstacle. I like that this game strips everything back to the bare essentials, focusing solely on creating a bunch of unique stages that feel completely different from one another.

Even on the easiest difficulty, the challenge is going to turn a lot of players off. I loved the battle it puts up and couldn't wait to see what they would throw at me next. That's rare for a genre that has been a bit stagnant recently. It's not as flashy or accessible as something like Geometry Wars, but Son of Scoregasm more than delivers with fresh and creative level designs. Just ignore the terrible name.