Officially called Riff: Everyday Shooter, this has been recently released to the EU Playstation store after a very long delay, at least compared to the US store. Has the wait been worth it? Well that’s debatable. Justified? Another matter entirely. But one thing is for certain, Everyday Shooter is a very unique and a surprisingly good game. The game was designed by Jonathan Mak and came to be available with a little help from Sony’s Santa Monica Studio.
It has a unique charm and art style, however some very familiar gameplay elements. It’s a game that plays and controls very similar to games such as the average Blast Factor and more accomplished Super Stardust. However here you have the option to use the face buttons as well as the analogue sticks, with a little note from Mak saying he recommends using the face buttons. You move your little ‘dot’ around a 2d screen, shooting at all sorts of other weird and wonderful creations. Destroying the various ‘enemies’ leave little dots that gradually disappear. You score by collecting these dots, the more the merrier. Also the more points you collect the lives you gain. The key to gaining these points is creating various chain reactions, this usually involves shooting different objects, and however the strategy is very different in each level.
The games main defining feature is its art and music style. The base music of the game consists of a variety of different guitar riffs. These change and alter with each shot you fire and each enemy you manage to hit and destroy. The music can be described as almost hypnotic; it keeps you there and greatly adds to the whole experience. It does loosen its grip eventually, but is still a lot of fun, even after the novelty wears off. The visuals as well have their own allure, crisp, clear and like nothing else I have seen in a game. They also vary significantly from level to level, and are very memorable, a key aspect to the game.
A bonus is that the points you earn can unlock various extras, these include extra lives for use when you start and a variety of extra visual effects. Surprisingly there are no online leaderboards, which are now becoming the norm, so high score junkies will have to battle among yourselves. Although having said that, if your feeling ambitious you could battle against Mak himself, as he has loaded up his personal best scores.
That’s not to say this game does not have its disadvantages. Like many other downloads from the PSN it has a great addiction initially but one that starts to fade after a few hours. These games just don’t have the staying power of more full-fledged games. The game doesn’t help itself on this front, it only has eight levels, no multiplayer and the unlockables do not add a huge amount to the experience. So the amount of time you will spend on this game is mainly related to how much you love the unique visual and music effects.
Everyday shooter is a very good PSN game, however given what you get, and the fact it’s very small size, I felt overcharged at £5. A few more levels, multiplayer etc and this game would have been great. Online leaderboards seem such a simple feature I’m surprised it wasn’t included, this feature would have extended the replayability for many. However I still recommend this, if you have a spare fiver doing nothing in your account. This game has great charm and a music style I adore, just wish there was more of it.
