latterly updated as a Universal Binary for Intel - found Macs , Phelios’Kaijinis emphatically worth a flavor if you have an Intel - ground Mac and you lust colonnade gaming the way it used to be . It ’s a classic top - down shoot - em - up , orshmupin gamer ’s parlance . Great yield timber and wide-ranging gameplay keep Kaijin from getting boring , too .
Phelios makes no secret of Kaijin ’s influences — it ’s manifestly inspired by legendary coin - op shooters from the 1980s likeGalaga . In this game , you pilot a ship that move over the airfoil of Planet Terria . It ’s the 26th century , and the planet is under an violation from top-notch - evolved insects and sea denizen ( mainly of the crustacean or cephalopod variety ) . These beasties are overbold and armed to the tooth , and they ’re out for revenge from eons of being stepped on and reduce up for sushi .
Just like in Galaga and other game of its like , the bad guys assemble in wave after waves of hypnotically interesting formation , and it ’s up to you to botch them to smithereens . Some animate being even lay eggs that will dream up into other nasties that you ’ll have to put down . And , occasionally , there ’s even a big bad genus Bos character you ’ll have to take down in pieces for carry on to the next grade .
Of of course , you ’re not totally defenseless either . Your ship can blast your foes to bits , and you may pick up bonuses that will put up you with add up firepower , special bombs , carapace recharges , velocity sweetening , more power point and other dainty .
An energy point at the bottom of the screen serves multiple purposes — each time your buckler is impacted , your energy level drain by one - tenth . But each time you destroy a uncollectible guy , your energy level increases a little amount . The more energy you collect , the more firepower you’re able to apply — so it behove you to last out out of the line of fire as much as possible , especially later in the game as you square off against bosses and huge wave of critter .
Occasionally , you ’ll see a creature descend from the top of the screen that sends a tractor irradiation into your path . Get scooped up and you ’ll watch your ship go aside . But just like in Galaga , if you then blow up that covetous critter , you ’ll be rewarded with double the firepower as your ship is rejoin to you .
Kaijin — itself a variation on the Nipponese word for “ monster”—is very heavy in easterly influence beyond just core gameplay . On top of its three difficulty levels , the game features three gameplay variants , “ The Way of the Eagle , ” “ The way of life of the Tiger , ” and “ The Way of the Dragon . ”
“ The path of the Tiger ” is authoritative Galaga - style play : While you ’re restricted from moving up and down on the concealment , you may move leave and correct to dodge opposition bullets . You ’ll also fight against three party boss .
“ The Way of the Eagle ” gives you full mobility up , down , left and right through 30 grade of play .
“ The path of the Dragon ” is an amped - up natural action mode for citizenry who have fetch bored of the other two Ways . You ’ll burn through three level of hyperactivity .
A endearing soundtrack and really beautiful , original graphics , scroll background and ton of limited essence make Kaijin a thrilling ride . This is n’t cutting border gaming , but it is a proven , solid estimation that ’s extremely well executed and quite challenging .
It costs $ 20 , which is on the in high spirits side for a game of this nature . I was pleased to see the game offer gamepad support , however . Kaijin needs more exposed documentation , too . All the info is right-hand in there as vane pages engraft within the app itself — but you would n’t know it unless you come home on the assistance button that only appears once during the inauguration filmdom .
The bottom line
If you ’ve had playfulness with past Mac games of this mode , such as Mars Rising and Deimos insurrection from Ambrosia Software , you ’ll surely love Kaijin .
