Kite

Sometimes I ask myself: "Does the world really need another retro-inspired dual-stick shoot 'em up?" If the brand new game Kite is any indication, then the answer is a resounding yes. From the 16-bit graphics to the destructible environments to the crafting system, this is an action game that gets almost everything right. I have a hunch that if more shooters were as good as this, a whole lot fewer people would complain about dual-stick fatigue.

Let's start with the good news: The revolution is over and peace has once again returned to Earth. Nature and technology have joined forces, weapons manufacturers have been banned worldwide and the sun is finally setting on our violent past. But this bio-mechanical utopia is destined to be short-lived, as there's a super-secret facility where scientists are working tirelessly to create new and even more destructive weapons. It's up to a Human-Operated Remote Droid prototype to take on a bunch of killer robots and make sure the deadly weapons don't fall into the wrong hands.

All this is an elaborate set-up for what turns out to be an exciting dual-stick shooter that is every bit as chaotic as it is fun. Instead of getting thrown into an arena with waves of enemies to kill, you'll need to complete a series of missions to beat the stage. This usually involves picking up a certain amount of floppy discs or destroying the generators that are powering the shields. There are usually multiple steps to completing the stage, so it's not as simple as just running around and killing every robot you see.

When you're not shooting at everything, you'll spend a lot of your time hunting down scraps that can be used to craft new body parts for the Droid. The idea is to rescue the stranded scientists, who in turn will unlock more than one-hundred different crafting designs that will upgrade our hero in a bunch of useful ways. And if that wasn't enough, leveling up will allow you to add perks that will increase the character's speed, shooting range, effectiveness, reload and more. You'll be able to replay the completed levels in order to earn faster times that will open up even more upgrades. There's more going on here than you might initially expect.

Of course, the reason all this comes together is because the action is so damn fun. Kite manages to walk the thin line between feeling like a complete badass and not being too overpowered. The bad guys are relentless and will often try to swarm you, but our hero Droid is more than equipped for any situation. You'll go into each fight with a couple different weapon load-outs that you can swap between at any time. This gives our hero a nice selection of long and short-ranged weapons, something you'll be able to customize before each mission. And you probably already know where I'm going with this, but, yes, you can craft new weapons if you save the right scientists and have enough scraps.

When it comes to the negatives, there are two things that really stand out. For one thing, the game isn't as stable is it needs to be. I found that Kite had a bad habit of crashing on me at the worst possible times. I also wish there was a little more variety to the backgrounds. There are quite a few stages here and a nice mix of objectives, but it's mostly set in the same types of locations. This is a minor nitpick that you probably won't even notice when the action heats up, but a little more variety would have been nice.

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On the other hand, I love the look of this game. Kite employs a striking pixel design that reminds me a lot of The Chaos Engine. I like how chaotic the action gets and that you end up destroying the environment as you go along. The soundtrack is also amazing, giving us a moody and authentic synthwave score. If you grew up loving games like Contra, Smash TV and Zombies Ate My Neighbors, then you're going to feel right at home in this futuristic utopia.

Kite is a frenzied experience that manages to be both challenging and fair. This is one of the deeper dual-stick shooters you'll come across, offering everything from a skill tree to crafting to destructible environments. The missions are fun to complete and I enjoyed the cheesy storyline. Unfortunately, the levels to start to blur together after a while and the game crashes more than I would like, but none of this should keep you from discovering why Kite is one of the best shoot 'em ups of the year.