This Dead End City review is based on the Xbox Series S/X version of the game. The game is also available on Steam, Nintendo Switch and Playstation.
What do you get when you mix a top-down racer with a Galaga-like arcade shooter? Well, Dead End City, of course. This isn’t the first time cars were mode of transport in a top-down shooter. Spy Hunter (Arcade, 1983), for instance, or Battle Formula (NES, 1991) where there long before. My personal favorite in this very particular subgenre are the Time Bokan games, and Dead End City visually actually reminds me quite a bit of those two PlayStation (1) games.
Mad Maxing
In Dead End City, you play as one of the 5 (unlockable) characters with the objective to rid the post-apocalyptic-Mad-Max-world of the gangs that are controlled by a thug named Scorpio. Through four levels, you need to rid the roads and remains of civilization of waves of punks that try to control you and the remaining survivors, much like the premise of Mad Max. Fortunately, you and your gang have powerful and fully weaponized road monsters to fight them.
Wave after wave
The gameplay concept is fairly simple. You drive along a vertically scrolling road while waves of thug cars come into your route trying to run or gun you down. These waves come in much like the alien insects do in Galaga. You can opt to let these cars come in and form rows of cars on top of the screen, or you can try to shoot them preemptively while they come onto the screen. Of course, there is some risk and reward here. Trying to shoot them down while they come in will increase the likelihood of being hit by those cars or catching some of the occasional gunfire these waves produce. After every few waves, you will have to face off with the area’s boss. These multiphase boss battles give you the option to attack parts of the boss first or just go straight for the kill by targeting the driver.
Bonus counter
Dead End City is a high-score-driven game. Killing waves without getting hit yourself will allow your multiplier bonus meter to build up to a maximum of ‘9x’ score bonus. When you reach the 9x multiplier, you will not only get your score 9 times multiplied, but destroyed enemies will now drop medals. These medals will add to an additional bonus when a wave is cleared. The important thing here is to not get hit. If so, your multiplier will decrease instantly. This means the destroyed baddies stop dropping medals, severely compromising your score streak. In every area, there is a town or other confined space where the game slows the pace considerably and adds obstacles and pathways to the mix, much in the spirit of my beloved Time Bokan games.
Although I like the core gameplay in the ‘Galaga’-style waves, the ‘Time Bokan’-style, more intricate levels, I find more interesting. The incoming shots fired by the foot soldiers are pretty tricky to navigate. Additionally giant rolling boulders, explosive traps, and other hazards give you way more stuff to deal with. I could wish for the whole game to be this way, but this isn’t the case, so I’ll just applaud that these bits are in the game in the first place. But it does give off the idea that the possibilities of these game mechanics didn’t really reached it potential.
Boss fights
The boss fights are back on the high-speed open roads of these apocalyptic barren lands. As said, they are multi phased but are quite manageable. Only the last two bosses do they feel like a handful, with the latter three being fairly easy. Defeating the bosses without being hit will grant you a battle with an unlockable character. You guessed it, beat this person and he/she will grant you the car..
Dead End City has a bunch of features that will add to the replayability. The leaderboards are a great incentive to keep playing and improve scores. At least, if you are susceptible to competition in arcade games like these. There is a shop where you can buy additional features and characters. Yes, if you’re fed up with trying to unlock the characters organically, you can always grind for in-game coins to just buy them. In the end, it feels like these 5 areas with each 10 waves feel a bit low on content. Then again, the game being €/$ 11.99 seems on par in terms of value for money. I feel that there is enough enjoyable time left in the game to double that. With 6 hours, I think you have turned all the levels and features inside out to call it a day.
Dead End City does a lot very well. It looks nice, has a scoring system that invites to play more to improve yourself and climb the online leaderboard. The Galaga-style shmup gameplay is well balanced and fun, but the slowerer inner city and cave stages show there is more hidden in the gameplay mechanics. It feels a bit under developed which takes its toll on the replayability in the end.
Pros:
- Fun Galaga-style shmup gameplay
- point scoring system is addicting
- The game alternates with slower more intricate levels
- total of 5 (unlockable) characters which play differently
Cons:
- The slower paced levels with more intricate level design are few and far between
- Not many areas to play (5)
