Reviews// Resogun

Resogun is very, very good at making you feel like a proper cool bastard.

This is helped along by the fact that the game is stunning. The whole thing pops with cool, bright visuals. With a quiet nod to the genre's long history, developer Housemarque has taken a 3D pixelated approach to the design. Rather than going for the tempting big-blocky Minecraft look, though, the company has opted for much smaller bricks. In fact, you might not even notice it if you walked in on someone playing the game halfway through an explosive firefight. It's a deftly-handled effect, but boy does it pay off as the level collapses around you. Bits of the environment are constantly shattering around you, spilling across the screen in an almost liquid flow of tiny blocks.

Throw in some eyeball-popping effects from the various weapons at your disposal – particularly the 'overdrive' energy beam you have to power up to us – and looking at Resogun is like having lasers massage your brain, or perhaps like playing a firework display. In fact, there's a particular enemy type that sounds just like a firework, which I doubt is an accident. (By-the-by, I'm pretty sure there's a ring sound effect from Sonic the Hedgehog in there, too).

With a soundtrack that could have been put together for the original Tron for added retro points, Resogun walks a fine line between nostalgia and using an antimatter beam to fire you into the blinding wastes of the future.

If we're going to be honest, though, the only thing that truly makes Resogun next-gen in a meaningful way (as opposed to because it just so happens to be on PS4) is the way the environment breaks down into smaller pieces. It is spectacular and probably couldn't be replicated on a PS3, but it wouldn't hurt the game too much if the effect were replaced by something less technically impressive.

Still, I don't suppose you were in too much danger of buying a PS4 just so you could play an arcade shooter and 'not next-gen enough' is a criticism for a launch line-up, not an individual game. If you just happen to have one under your TV already, though, Resogun is really worth your time.

Pros:
+ Brilliantly-balanced difficulty curve
+ Makes you feel like Han Solo
+ Even prettier than your sister

Cons:
- Er...

SPOnG Score: 5/5