Sixty Second Shooter Prime

By: Robert Murphy

Anyone who has spent their time searching through the Xbox arcade before will have undoubtedly come across a game called Geometry Wars which pits a tiny ship against waves of increasingly difficult enemy ships and challenging events. The game style is not something new and while searching through the Xbox One arcade recently I discovered a game that struck me to be in similar fashion, Sixty Second Shooter Prime. In this adaptation of this twin stick style of game you play as a small ship that also progresses through waves of enemies that include enemy ships, spiral like objects, giant three dimensional cubes and much more. Your goal is to hopefully progress further and further to higher levels trying to survive and reach a larger score than the last time with your missiles and guns by your side.

Besides Geometry Wars, I have played a number of this style of game before and it truly can be a hit or miss type of thing to play especially with how limited it can be for those making the game. When it comes to Sixty Second Shooter Prime we see examples of just how limited things can be but can still see the fun to be had. Much of the games graphics are basic and feature simple shapes for your ship and your enemies as well, it feels like many of them could be drawn on a napkin by someone trying to make cool three dimensional shapes. The backgrounds are not any better, lumpy clouds, dizzying arrays of random colors and stark lines that cut randomly through the playable field make things not only confusing but very unimpressive to play on. These and other features such as different songs can be selected in the main menu for the game but this doesn't make the game any more impressive to play through if you're hoping for more appeal in a different background. Other visual effects that will come as you fight to survive through the waves of enemies include the large explosions that come with so many other games like it. This can be caused by hitting a very high combo which explodes everything in the nearby area in a chain reaction, while this is great to accomplish it the joy can be immediately taken away by the confusion of the explosion leading you to hit an enemy you didn't see. 

Getting into the gameplay, Sixty Second Shooter Prime plays like a game that wants to rush through it because you either die instantly or you have to hurry up and make a large score before the time runs down. It isn't to exciting when a game puts a time limit over your head especially when the time frame is sixty seconds, it causes a panic almost with a player and I believe that's why many games have done away with it entirely. Never the less you must try and climb through the levels with your odd space ship destroying everything using bombs, missiles and guns hoping for a higher score each time. You can also collect a variety of power ups such as time slow down, invincibility, multipliers and additional missiles, this was one thing I really thought was stellar about the game and helped make me feel the addiction that the game meant to give off. Another addition that helps the game is the Infinity Mode that takes you away from the panic and the short lived momentum of the 60 second mode and lets you add more time through power ups the longer you survive. 

In conclusion, Sixty Second Shooter Prime is a let down of a game especially when you look at some of the competitors it has and the other games that have been around with twin stick format. The game isn't at all that expensive though and can provide you with some amusement for a short time but that is about all you get with the amount of content the game has in store for anyone who purchases it. Maybe if the game gets a little more work put into it it could have some potential but outside of what you have right now I can't see anyone playing for too long. 

Good:

- Can be enjoyable when you get going like any twin stick shooter

- Power ups are fun and add to the minor addiction 

- Infinity Mode helps break up the short gameplay

Bad:

- You will feel rushed while playing through most of the game

- Visuals and graphics are very unimpressive

- Lack a lot of content, you will unlock everything in an hour of playing

Scully Rating: 4.0 out of 10