POSTED 23/12/12


BIG SKY INFINITY

Ripstone
PS3/PSN + Vita/PSN

Marvin Gaye might have called a song about playing Big Sky Infinity ‘What’s Going On?’ Of course it was well before his time, so the title was instead destined to be bestowed upon one of the greatest songs questioning the way of the world in the history of forever.

We doubt that anybody involved with BSI would complain about that. We, however, will complain about the times when abject, incomprehensible mayhem erupts while trundling through this randomly-generated (meaning they made fuck all assets, so mashed ’em up randomly – hence there being only four simple bosses) double-sticky side-scrolling shooter, frequently resulting in utterly “WTF?!” deaths. The single, solitary life you’re allotted doesn’t help.

With bright, often psychedelic backdrops, and bright, often psychedelic space beasties aiming to explodinate your arse a problem’s obvious. Just when you think things couldn’t get more inexplicable, the palette then goes x-ray-inverty! Then there are times when the screen scrolls so fast – innumerable beasties swarming everywhere - that you just can’t keep up, let alone survive. Well, beyond fluke, but you may as well close your eyes and think of marshmallows.

It’s argh-inducing enough on a PS3 with 46” screen. Shrink that down to the Vita’s comparatively wee means of viewing and... You get it.

Bummer. For beyond the initial hour of useless, un-upgraded peashooterisation and the appalling, mercifully-turnoffable commentator, BSI’s kinda fun. It’d be fun without the proviso though if somebody not colour blind had possessed the foresight to, ooh, test the thing.

Yep, the bones of a cool – if uneven - shmup are here. Gradually upgrading is fun, and the zillion (give or take a fraction less than a zillion) modes offer varied challenges. You can even cloud save progress on one format then continue on the other – neateroonie!

But the bullshit deaths! To quote another Marvin, why stop now just when I’m hating it?

CLICK THIS!



CLICK THIS!