Habroxia 2 | Switch Review
Not a lot about Habroxia 2 will surprise you. It’s a standard twin-stick scrolling shooter, although it does alternate between vertical and horizontal paths. I would never claim to be the “old-school” gamer on staff here, but something about this little shooter from Lillymo Games caught my eye. Perhaps it was the sharp look, perhaps it was the promise of an interesting story. Either way, I’m glad I gave the game a shot. Despite its familiar nature, Habroxia 2 is a fun way to spend a weekend.
Faster Than a Speeding Bullet(s)
As I admitted earlier, I’m nothing even close to approaching a white-knuckled score chaser. I am, however, intrigued by clever game design. Early on, I was absolutely struggling my way through the game. I found it difficult to dodge the myriad projectiles constantly approaching my ship, and the bosses were handily kicking my ass. Interestingly for a twin-stick shooter, Habroxia 2 has upgrades reminiscent of RPG games.
While these make your ship more powerful, of course, it adds a peculiar wrinkle as well. Because you can sell off these upgrades, the player is essentially in control of the difficulty throughout. I invested heavily in spread shot upgrades, and became a god in the cockpit. Combined with my shield ability, I was untouchable. The game ended up becoming too easy, so I sold off my upgrades and played through some stages again. While it was indeed more difficult, I felt more properly challenged.
Try, Try, Try Again
The short nature to the levels make it fun to try out different upgrade levels and special abilities. There are a wide variety of special abilities, such as a giant laser, slow-moving bombs, or the aforementioned shield. These can be equipped, independently, on both the front and back of the ship. Habroxia 2 has an absolutely shocking amount of experimentation available to the player.
The Road is Ever Changing
Adding to that experimental nature is the branching maps design. Pay attention on a level and you might see a boulder blocking the entrance to a cave. Destroy this boulder, and a whole new section of the level awaits you, complete with its own boss. After defeating that boss, you unlock a whole new area of the world map. Habroxia 2 is filled to the brim with replayability.
There’s a small story here, but despite its intriguing premise it doesn’t really go anywhere. You play as a young woman on a mission to find her missing father. While there are some endearing flashback sequences early on, that’s about all you get. I did appreciate the fun naming conventions of the bosses, as well as the brief description of what their function was before going haywire. It was very reminiscent of the Mega Man franchise in that way.
Run N’ Gun
As I said at the top of this review, nothing about Habroxia 2 is going to shatter your perceptions of the genre, but that’s just fine. Sometimes a really strong game over the weekend is just what you want. Quick thrills and tense gameplay can go a long way. Despite any potential route through the game only being an hour or two, there’s still a lot of fun content. It’s the perfect kind of weekend game, just like when you were a kid.
This review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy of Habroxia 2 provided by LambSmith PR for coverage purposes. It is also available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, and PlayStation Vita.
Habroxia 2
$9.99
Pros
- Wild Opportunity for Experimentation
- Lots of Replayability
- Sharp Look and Tight Controls
- Fun Bosses
Cons
- Feels Like the Story is Left Unexplored
