RANDOMAX review

Any respectable shooter needs at least one good gimmick. RANDOMAX, the latest release from the doujin circle known as Astro Port, boasts an abundance of remarkable mechanics. Before tackling the game’s seven-stage campaign, players select from a trio of pilots with their own ships, stats, and types of weaponry. Across each vertically-scrolling level, each character can fire from one of the three guns mapped to a different button.

For many STGs, the distinction might stop there. But Astro Port stacks multiple layers of mechanics on top of this solid foundation. Fly over one of the game’s numerous shops, and you’ll get to choose from additional artillery that gets added to one of your three main guns. As the game’s moniker implies, they’re chosen randomly from a hefty pool of 70+ arms. Some fire wide patterns of bullets, while others spread flames around your ship or even release a barrage of explosive red balloons. Many weapons recall the different kinds of firepower found in Compile’s 1989 hit, Gunhed/Blazing Lazers, which should be referenced more.

Soar High Space Gals

Occasionally, you’ll receive passive perks as well. These can offer assistive qualities like creating a barrier around your ship or periodically sending out a bullet-cancelling wave. Some offer to lower an on-screen horizontal line. When you’re north of this strip, two different kinds of items are automatically pulled in by your ship. One reward gradually fills the Extend Gauge which augments the power of your arsenal once it reaches its capacity. The other collectable is tied to the Special Meter, which provides yet another kind of perk for your ship.

As if all this wasn’t enough, weapon pickups have a limited amount of ammo. On the upside, they are completely replenished when you stack a new gun on a pre-existing one. However, if you burn through all of your ammunition the entire upgrade is forfeited. Swapping a cannon with homing missiles and lasers for your default pea shooter will make you feel alarmingly susceptible.

Dodging Bullets and Stress

As such, RANDOMAX goads you into making plenty of decisions. Although you can take your time managing your firepower at the shop, the moment-to-moment choices are as plentiful as they are thorny. Should you construct a single meta-gun that can get out of frantic situations, spread the upgrades more evenly, or risk getting hit as you amass collectables that will supplement your ship? There’s plenty of strategy baked into RANDOMAX, but hardly any time to deliberate over it. Like the best roguelikes, the game goads you into being flexible as you deal with its ever-changing conditions.

Obviously, that kind of cognitive load wouldn’t work when combined with the intensity of the bullet hell genre. So even if you play RANDOMAX on the highest of its six difficulty settings, it’s possible for STG noobs to make it through at least a few stages. Beyond your starting allotment of three replaceable hit point hearts, you get gradual ship shield recharging to absorb the occasional hit. As such, success hinges on keeping your cool rather than pixel-perfect projectile dodging precision. Of course, being able to ‘read’ visual chaos when explosions coat the screen is also an advantageous quality.

Cosmi, Urara, and Dariha vs. The Randomax Pirates

My fellow fan-service comrades will enjoy the sexy character art and playful banter. But others might not be as enamored by a script that imagines your power-ups scattered by a sloppy shipping company. Even if you are the kind of person who is amused by archetypes like the busty mecha-idol or elvish shop girl who’s just as curvaceous, the number of typos are glaring.

For seasoned shoot ‘em junkies who feel like they played it all, RANDOMAX’s arbitrary allotment of perks and multitude of ship mechanics provide better-than-average playability. Although some purists might scoff at Astro Port’s approach, genre fans craving a bit of creativity will find RANDOMAX to be a bullseye.

RANDOMAX was played on PC with review code provided by the publisher.