Whisker Squadron: Survivor

Over the last thirty years, we’ve seen the Star Fox series go from the future of video games to a Zelda-like adventure to that sci-fi franchise Nintendo periodically remembers and farms off to a different developer. If you don’t count the post-humous release of Star Fox 2, it has been almost a decade since the last mainline game, and that sucks. If you too are frustrated by Nintendo’s reluctance to send their furry fighter pilots into space, then let me recommend the brand-new game Whisker Squadron: Survivor. Developed by the people responsible for Race the Sun and Absolute Drift, this new shoot ‘em up is what you get if you turned Star Fox into a survivor-style roguelike. Will this be enough for you to forget about Fox McCloud, Slippy Toad and Pappy Hare? That’s what we’re going to find out when I review Whisker Squadron: Survivor by Flippfly.

When evil robot bugs known as The Swarm threaten to conquer the galaxy, it’s up to the Whisker Squadron to eradicate these pests before they divide, multiply and take over. You play a brand-new recruit named Olivia, who is reluctant at first, but is out for revenge after The Swarm destroys her home. She, along with two other pilots, will fly through a series of narrow passageways in order to shoot down the alien invaders and save our furry friends from the infestation of robot insects.

Although it’s presented as a 3D shooter, Whisker Squadron has all of the hallmarks of a survivor-style action game. The goal is to make it through three increasingly difficult chapters, each with five or six different levels to beat. To do this, you’re going to need to shoot down the alien bugs and collect the VP bucks that burst out of them. When you collect enough of them, the game will pause and give you a choice between several different abilities or enhancements. For example, you may want to focus on upgrading your firepower, or perhaps it’s better to build up the chance of an enemy ship dropping a health pick up. You’ll be able to add laser and missile drones that will fly alongside our pilots, as well as choose faster bullets, thicker shield, more powerful bombs and a whole lot more.

What you’ll quickly discover is that you’re constantly upgrading your craft, sometimes four or five times in a single stage. Your new abilities and upgrades will start to stack up, changing how you decide to tackle each playthrough. You’ll choose what the focus on, and that’s really where this game shines. You may find that you want to prioritize health drops over more powerful weapons or choose to throw all your points into magnet powers, that way you never miss even a single one of those VP bucks. One tactic is to have the widest array of abilities possible, while it may make more sense for you to load everything into upgrading only one or two aspects of your craft. But watch out, because once the run is over, all of these abilities and upgrades disappear, forcing us to start all over.

The good news is that there are new weapons and perks that you can buy between runs that will upgrade the ship and pilot permanently. You first see that with the load out, where you have the ability to switch between three different pilots, each with their own pros and cons. Olivia, for example, will regain a certain amount of health after each stage, which is especially important for beginners. Max, on the other hand, can choose between four different upgrades, instead of the usual three. And then there’s Ross, the oldest and crankiest member of Whisker Squadron, who will earn substantially more VP bucks than the other pilots, but will not regain health as fast as Olivia.

Beyond the pilots, we’ll also have a chance to switch between the typical burst fire, as well as a shotgun-style blast, a gatling gun and a powerful laser strike. Similarly, you can switch between several different secondary bombs and homing missiles. And if you still have some money left over, you can improve your odds of getting a critical hit, how much shield your ship has and other useful upgrades that will carry over into every single run.

And that’s how things go. You work your way across three different chapters, each with several different paths to take, all while fighting through randomly-constructed stages that last just long enough for you to shoot down every last insect baddie. If you’ve upgraded your craft adequately and know how to dodge enemy fire, then you may stand a chance taking on several different boss fights, all of which leads to a rather anticlimactic ending.

But wait, we’re not talking about the negatives yet, because there’s still a lot that I like about Whisker Squadron: Survivor. For one thing, despite the repetition, the gameplay loop is immensely fun. Even when I died late in the third chapter, I couldn’t wait to jump back in. That’s a testament to how different each playthrough feels. Because you don’t necessarily see the same upgrade options in each session, you’re basically forced to try out different tactics. I liked this. And I like the gameplay in general. It’s fast and fun and full of possibilities. It even has a slick barrel roll move that you can use to deflect enemy fire. I like how this initially acts as a shield, but you can upgrade it to be everything from a magnet to a way throw the enemy bombs back at those pesky bugs.

I also really like how much there is to do in Whisker Squadron. You’ll open up a challenge mode early on, which is exactly what it sounds like – a mode where you take on increasingly difficult challenges created by the developers. Even more interesting is the mod mode, where you can alter and handicap your session in order to earn more VP bucks and experience points. This is especially good for people who have beaten the game and still want to unlock everything.

While this is an extremely easy game to recommend to anybody who likes this style of shoot ‘em up, there are a few things holding it back. For one thing, I feel like the game’s progression is a little too slow, especially compared to other similar games. You’ll eventually get to a point where you’re earning a lot of VP bucks in a single session, but that happens hours into the game, after you’ve had to grind for permanent upgrades. Some of the early game grinding could have been sped up a bit.

And on that topic, I wish there were more weapons and upgrades to buy. Part of the reason why the early progression is so slow is because there’s barely anything to buy, and a lot of it has to be unlocked through spending a lot of time playing the game. There are really only a few different types of guns and bombs to equip. That’s a shame, because this is the kind of game that would have benefited from a much bigger arsenal.

It doesn’t help that the bosses are all extremely lame. They are harder than the typical enemy, I’ll give them that, but they are often small and visually uninteresting. Given the robot insect gimmick, this feels like a huge missed opportunity. I want to shoot down giant spider bosses or battle a praying mantis. Look at what the Darius series did with its fish theme, yet there’s nothing cool like that in Whisker Squadron. I was shocked when the game ended, because I simply couldn’t believe that I had just fought the final boss. It was so small and boring and pathetic. These encounters are, across the board, a huge letdown.

The good news is that the intensity of the rest of the levels more than makes up for a few disappointing boss encounters. And this is not a game you’ll likely beat in an hour or two. I ended up getting sucked into this game in a way I wasn’t expecting, logging well over a dozen hours into the game before finally sitting down to work on this review. Between the random levels, the different types of abilities and all of the extra modes, there’s more than enough content here to keep you glued for days and weeks. It may not hit the same heights as Star Fox, but longtime shoot ‘em up fans will get their money’s worth with Whisker Squadron: Survivor.