This is our review for Hyper-5 released by Magic Cube on the Nintendo Switch. It is available now for $/€ 9.99 and is on sale until 5/2/2023 for $/€ 7.99 in the eShop.
It appears that there is a constant stream of shmups being released on Steam, itch.io, and consoles. Apart from quantity it appears its a challenge for indie developers to differentiate their new games. Innovation in this genre can be particularly difficult with so much games coming out. We’ve seen bullet hells, bullet grazers, horizontal and vertical shmups, as well as various combinations. However, to the best of my knowledge, no ‘roguelite’ shmup has emerged from the masses yet. Hyper-5 tries to fit some roguelite principles into its gameplay to create something different.
Cinematic Shmup
First of, Hyper-5 has some other notable features up its sleeve too. Its presentation is quite impressive, with cinematic cutscenes and transitions between gameplay sections. The cinematics have a bit of a Dreamcast and PS2-era quality to them. The scenery appears a bit low-poly and rough around the edges, but should feel a nostalgic for 2000-era gamers. All other assets, such as your ship, enemies, and bosses, have a unique and pleasant aesthetic that’s hard to describe. The ships, both friendly and enemy, boast visual detail, while the creatures have amazing animation for an indie dev project. In particular the insects and underwater creatures look and move incredibly well.
Roguelite-ish
When it comes to the roguelite aspect of the game, I have to say that I like the idea, although it is implemented in the lightest of ways imaginable. I kind of wish it was either a straightforward horizontal shooter or went all the way with the roguelite or RPG mechanics. The game requires you to create a build to cope with the increasing difficulty, but does not let you start completely at the beginning of the game. Instead let’s you continue on the last stage played with your weapons and upgrades still in tact. At the beginning of the game, you are dropped into action with a weak pea shooter with a really low fire rate, alongside a rocket with a dreadfully long cooldown. After attempting and retrying, you can spend your earned money to upgrade your weapons. This means faster shooting rates and more projectiles for the weapons you already own. Additionally, you can also unlock new weapons and the ability to add a third weapon to your ship by clearing fairly basic challenges within the stages.
While the premise sounds appealing, the gameplay in the beginning of Hyper-5 progresses at an excruciatingly slow pace. In my estimation, you have to play each stage 10-15 times to upgrade your gear up to the required level. While the game takes its time to introduce you to the action instead of throwing you into it, it also becomes monotonous quite quickly. Typically, you only get to test your new or modified build near the end of a level or when fighting the end boss. If you find out that your setup or build doesn’t work, you’ll have to change your build and start over. This forces you to go through the slow and tedious early bits of the stage again.
In the end, I sold all of my unused powered-up weapons and used the funds to boost my most balanced build. Experimenting with different builds consumed too much time and resulted in too many stage reruns for me to bother with it for too long.
Heavy grind
Hyper-5 consists of only five stages. Due to its roguelite approach, it can take up to four hours to beat the game. The final two levels offer a much more challenging and satisfying experience compared to the first three. By that point, you feel that you have the necessary tools and means to beat the stages and get that typical shump sensation of blasting their way through hordes of enemies. However, up to that point, the game can be a bit of a drag. The first stages in Hyper-5 feature an abundance of turrets and other stationary enemies, which do not inspire much. Despite this, you will still experience frequent deaths and be forced to grind through these boring stages repeatedly if they are under-equipped. From a certain point onward, it becomes fun to play too. However, it struggles to effectively combine all of its elements into a cohesive experience.
Hyper-5 combines an impressive cinematic visual style with not-so-well-executed RPG/roguelite game mechanics that try to offer more playtime than the game's content can deliver. The concept definitely would work with more content and a smoother progression, instead of starting off in relatively dull first two stages with next to no firepower. The game picks up after that, but for many, that will be too little, too late.
