It’s within the game’s formula of being a twin-stick shooter where it sets itself apart from latter, as well as other games of such a commonly used narrative. While the intentions here are mediocre at best, the story is passable since the player’s attention should be entirely focused on its gameplay. Where the game chooses to utilize cut-scenes for specific moments within the game, they are kept to a brief minimum, hoping to place the player back into the action as soon as possible. Given the game’s lack of concentration to its characters and story, this is something I can appreciate.

" While the intentions here are mediocre at best, the story is passable since the player’s attention should be entirely focused on its gameplay."

Right from the beginning of the game there’s a selection of four characters to choose from, and as the player makes their way throughout the game additional characters will be available, each providing new ways of play thanks to their class-based skills. Where Cactus for example comes armed with an assault rifle and a flamethrower, others such as Lemon, Coral, and Holly come equipped with lasers, shotguns, missile launchers and so on. One thing in particular that I found to be enjoyable within these selection of weapons lies within its supercharge mechanic.

Also known as Mega Weapons, it’s function is an obvious one: Destroy your foe, your weapons gets buffed, unleash chaos. Simple yet effective. Had the game not made use of this, I feel it’s safe to say that things would have become rather stale. It has to be said that although my connection to these characters felt limited at best, they should carry enough personality to keep players amused and engaged throughout their experience with the game. Something along the lines of a children’s television show produced by the likes of Cartoon Network is where these characters hold reminiscence.

With that being said, it carries a slight familiar charm to that of Platinum Games’ The Wonderful 101, along with similar gameplay mechanics of Sierra Entertainment’s Geometry Wars 3. Where the former gets away with enough diverse gameplay and exciting action sequences, and the latter to that of a competitive nature with a killer aesthetic design, this game doesn’t quite manage to reach such varied levels of entertainment. Gameplay takes an approach that’s geared towards those who enjoy competition and difficulty. Providing the player with what is essentially two distinct health bars, the first corresponds to the character’s battery pack, which in turn represents the character’s life.

"With that being said, it carries a slight familiar charm to that of Platinum Games’ The Wonderful 101, along with similar gameplay mechanics of Sierra Entertainment’s Geometry Wars 3."

As this battery pack continuously depletes over the duration of gameplay time, the player must remain on top of their game and replenish its sources by defeating enemies. The second being provided to the player is one that I consider to be rather pointless to say the least. Representing the character’s health status, this is where enemies inflict their damage. Should the player be deprived of their health, they can simply mash away at the buttons and respawn to full regeneration, so long as their battery pack contains enough charge. As the game’s progression system works via a series of hubs, each with their own set of levels to take part in, each of these levels contain stages which play-out as a series of horde modes.

Clearing out each of these levels grants access to each of the game’s many boss battles, who then grant further access to the next hub world. As mentioned previously, the game plays out as a top-down twin-stick shooter, and while it’s satisfying to play with a mouse and keyboard, the nature of the game recommends you play with a controller from the comfort of your sofa. It’s not by any means mandatory, but as indicated by the local-cooperative choice of one to four players, the developer’s intentions seem rather clear.

"Should the player be deprived of their health, they can simply mash away at the buttons and respawn to full regeneration, so long as their battery pack contains enough charge."

Although the game’s combat mechanics are solid and provide a fair amount of diversity given the core mechanics of the game being a twin-stick shooter, one thing in particular I wasn’t to keen on was the game’s visual restriction in level design. While the game is by no means bland, it would do well in mixing up its level design in the way how things are played. It’s worth keeping in mind that the core mechanic of gameplay functions as a horde-based, twin-stick shooter, but the inclusion of an on-rails, bullet-hell sequence would’ve been a welcomed addition.

Similarity is too much of a common theme, as the similarities that exist within each level becomes one that’s expected upon entering the upcoming stage. Given the environment of the game is bound to that of a spaceship it would have been nice to see alternative stages, as opposed to just elevators, boarding platforms, and hallways. The game’s aesthetic design is best described as cartoonish science-fiction dipped in a shiny metallic rainbow.

Where the game manages to make use of these limiting environments is done so in a technique that’s actually quite clever. As the player battles against hordes of enemy robots which thankfully are quite varied, the battle stage constantly rotates, shifts, and transforms adding a new sense of space without actually transitioning to a new area. This visual overhaul is appreciated as it attempts to disrupt and diversify the player’s traversal, therefore providing challenge which the player must adapt to. It’s here where the similarities to Geometry Wars 3 prove strong, something of an explosive dance floor that thankfully puts a restriction on the use of dubstep.

"The game’s aesthetic design is best described as cartoonish science-fiction dipped in a shiny metallic rainbow."

Think Geometry Wars with bobble heads. With that being said, the game’s soundtrack is pleasing to listen to. Audio design is of an arcade nature, keeping in line with the tone of the game, which can also be listened to from the game’s main menu. Outside of the game’s campaign mode which in itself does provide enough satisfactory replay value, there’s also a community-based skill mode by the name of Daily Drive, and a challenge-based horde mode known as Infinity Drive, both of which are designed to push players to their limits, applying the pressure and stretching their endurance.

Should the game receive downloadable content within the near future, more of the same would be very much appreciated. Assault Android Cactus is a fun and challenging game, striking the right balance between difficulty and enjoyment. Solid in its gameplay and pleasing on the eyes, it’s great to play solo but it’s clearly at its best when played with additional players. This is where the game hits its high-points and will undoubtedly hold relevance in the time which follows its release.

This game was reviewed on the PC.

When Microsoft first introduced its ID@Xbox program, it was intended to correct several problems with the current indie development scene for the Xbox One. Firstly, it would allow developers to self-publish their games on Xbox Live without needing Microsoft or a third party as publisher. Secondly, it allowed any one – even one single individual – to develop for the console and bring their games out to the world.

After the heavily negative reaction for the initial policies of the Xbox One, which caused several indie devs to opt for Sony and the PlayStation 4 instead, this was a huge step-up. The announcement that more than 30 developers had signed up for the program made it even sweeter. However, ID@Xbox has a parity clause within. This states that if you want to bring your game to the Xbox One but also release it on other platforms, then all platform releases need to happen at the same time. That is, unless you already had an exclusivity agreement in place with another platform predating the announcement of ID@Xbox.

This was the case with Vlambeer, developer of Luftrausers and Nuclear Throne, though co-founder Rami Ismail was far from happy about it.

Speaking to Witch Beam’s Sanatana Mishra, who developed Assault Android Cactus, GamingBolt was told that there were three reasons the studio wasn’t on the list of announced ID@Xbox devs. Firstly, they are initially told there would be no self publishing on the Xbox One. Secondly, when they were initially approached by Microsoft and asked to contact them, there was no response. Thirdly, it was made clear that if Witch Beam wanted to be on Xbox One, they had to delay the PS4, PS Vita and Wii U versions of Assault Android Cactus due to this parity clause.

“We started work on our Wii U, PS4, and PS Vita versions a while back and they will most definitely be ready before any hypothetical Xbox One version could be, as a team of 3 we can’t really build in many platforms simultaneously. My understanding of the ID@Xbox launch parity clause is that you need to launch at the same time or first on Xbox One, which in our case would mean delaying the other platforms as they would definitely be ready earlier.

“As for [reasons] 1 and 2, they are more like reasons we would be hesitant to jump in to Xbox One development than something that would prevent us entirely. The ID@XBox program is very developer friendly aside from the launch parity clause.”

So say you have an Xbox One title that is also set to launch on the PS4 at the same time. Say your title is delayed on the Xbox One for any sudden reason. That means you have to delay it for the PS4 as well and according to Mishra, “I believe the rule applies to Wii U as well, but yeah the clause stipulates you need launch parity on the Xbox One version in order to be a part of the ID@Xbox program which means you cannot launch first on another platform.”

Microsoft is wiling to work with developers who already have exclusivity agreements in place on a case-by-case basis. Do Sony or Nintendo have such launch day parity clauses? Sony doesn’t, and though Nintendo hasn’t confirmed as such, Mishra is confident this isn’t the case with the latter either.

So say you want to bring your game to Xbox One at some point after hearing about ID@Xbox, but already have it in development for other platforms and aren’t willing to postpone their release for the same (as is the case with Assault Android Cactus). Mishra confirmed that, “Based on the clause we would be breaking the rules of the ID@Xbox program so we have no plans to bring Assault Android Cactus to the Xbox One.”

Other indie developers including Xiotex Studios’ Byron Atkinson-Jones and Two Tails Games founder Mitch have also expressed their disdain for the clause.

@LewieP @SanatanaMishra well, that kind of confirms that it’s not universally indie friendly then.

— Byron Atkinson-Jones (@xiotex) December 5, 2013

@LewieP @xiotex @SanatanaMishra it’s a pointless policy. It will only hurt Xbox long term.

— Mitch (@onimitch) December 5, 2013

In conclusion, it’s easy to see why Microsoft is asking for such parity. After the massive response to Sony’s “open arms” approach for indie development, the company wanted to prevent any more timed exclusive indie titles in the future. Remember, this is not currently the case for games announced before ID@Xbox was revealed – those games would be eligible for release later on Xbox One but will need to go through Microsoft and work it out (as Vlambeer has). Games that were already in development for PS4, Vita and Wii U when ID@Xbox was revealed and don’t have exclusivity agreements but also can’t devote resources for an Xbox One release? They’re flat out of luck.

Vlambeer’s Rami Ismail has called on developers to put an end to the parity clause. What are your thoughts on it? Do you believe it’s a smart tactic by Microsoft or just another flub by a company that has had nearly nothing but flubs this year as far as the Xbox One is concerned? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

We got in touch with the duo of Sanatana Mishra and Tim Dawson from Witch Beam to talk about what players can expect from Assault Android Cactus. Check it out below.

Rashid Sayed: First of all, can you please introduce yourself and talk a bit about Witch Beam?

Sanatana: Hi I’m Sanatana Mishra and I’m a the designer at Witch Beam, a team of three Australians who are passionate about making games we believe in, even if they are a bit niche.

Tim: I’m Tim Dawson, I’m the artist and programmer!

Rashid Sayed: One of the features that I observed while watching the gameplay videos is that the level and the environment continuously deforms itself. Can you please tell us the mechanics behind the same and how it will affect gameplay?

Sanatana: Well each level has a central theme that runs through it, in the case of ‘Influx’ it’s a fully dynamic environment made up of 1×1 meter cubes that can transform in to any arrangement we want. It starts off fairly simple with a small enclosed environment with a few pillars and hole, but each new reconfiguration presents new challenges both in the landscape and what kind of enemies you face. For example we can drop all of the pillars away to create an open play space full of holes and unleash a ton of projectile firing enemies and turrets that create bullet-hell style gameplay as there’s nowhere you can hide.

"There will be a roster of 8 playable androids, 4 of which have to be unlocked throughout the campaign. Each one has a unique primary & secondary weapon that create their play style, and we’re considering other stat changes to separate them even further."

Rashid Sayed: The game also supports co-op up to four players. How will the experience differ compared to the single player campaign?

Sanatana: We really wanted to the weapons to keep their powerful feeling in co-op play so we actually scape up the number of enemies but keep their stats the same. To keep things co-operative we share the battery energy amongst all players but a special crown appears above the player who is carrying the team, it’s sort of a competitive co-op experience.

Rashid Sayed: How many characters will the game have? And will each of them special abilities and skills?

Sanatana: There will be a roster of 8 playable androids, 4 of which have to be unlocked throughout the campaign. Each one has a unique primary & secondary weapon that create their play style, and we’re considering other stat changes to separate them even further.

Rashid Sayed: Have you guys looked into the customization of the playable characters?

Tim: There’ll be some unlockable character variants, different hats or a change of colour scheme, but it will be limited.

Rashid Sayed: How long will the game be? Furthermore, how are you guys ensuring that the game will have high replay value?

Sanatana: It’ll probably take players a few hours for the initial campaign play through but that could change drastically depending on your skill level as it’s a challenging game. For an arcade experience I would say we’re quite big but like any good arcade game we’ve focused on replay value in all of our designs: 8 characters with drastically different play styles, a full rank system for each stage, virtual currency that you can use to unlock additional content like artwork, codex entries, and EX options like Retro Camera mode that drastically change the game.

There’s also Boss Rush & Endless mode for you to tackle once Campaign is complete, full online leaderboards for the hyper-competitive out there, and every mode is playable in full co-op with up to four players.

"The campaign will span 25 levels including 5 unique boss encounters, we’ll have some additional content in Boss Rush & Endless Modes and after launch we’re hoping to release a super intense version of the campaign in the vein of Super Meat Boy’s Dark World."

Tim: Part of the replay value is building a game that holds up to repeated scrutiny. You can blast through a level and enjoy it, but if you come back to a stage, figure out the spawn timings, know when the pickups will drop, try to chain multi-kills together, it still holds up. It just becomes a different kind of fun, like the whole level is a puzzle where everyone is shooting at you.

Rashid Sayed: The gameplay trailer puts a lot of emphasis on weapons. What kind of weapons can we expect in the game?

Sanatana: Our starting four characters are meant to give a good cross-section of the expected twin stick play styles, but the unlockable characters will be a lot more unusual with weapons like Starch’s Laser that has a variable beam width/damage based on distance to the enemy and the Rail Gun that penetrates targets. We’re still tweaking and testing a variety of weapons so nothing is set in stone yet.

Tim: I like guns that shoot black holes.

Rashid Sayed: Have you guys nailed down on the number of levels the game will have?

Sanatana: The campaign will span 25 levels including 5 unique boss encounters, we’ll have some additional content in Boss Rush & Endless Modes and after launch we’re hoping to release a super intense version of the campaign in the vein of Super Meat Boy’s Dark World.

Rashid Sayed: The game is scheduled to be released on Steam, Wii U, PS4 and PS Vita but not on the Xbox One. Can you please let us know the reason behind the same as Microsoft seems to have a change of heart toward indies?

Sanatana: Well when we looked in to the Xbox situation around E3 there was simply no way for us to release on the platform without giving up our independence, Microsoft didn’t want to deal with a small indie like us. Now we’re locked in on 6 platforms and too busy to even consider adding a 7th. If this was always their plan as they claimed I have to wonder why they didn’t mention anything about it until a few weeks ago, even to interested developers.

"We’re going to support cross-save and cross-buy so you only pay once for the game across PS4 & Vita!"

Rashid Sayed: As someone who is working on multiple platforms, what are your thoughts on the unified architecture and 8GB GDDR5 RAM of the PlayStation 4?

Sanatana: Honestly we’re still too early to be talking about the pros and cons of hardware choices, the PS4 is more than powerful enough to create the experience we want with Cactus and that’s what matters to us.

Rashid Sayed: Are you guys planning to use the touch pad controls of the DualShock 4 controller? If yes can you please share details about the same?

Sanatana: Unfortunately Cactus is a pretty demanding game in terms of thumb dexterity, so there’s not a lot of opportunity for the touch pad. We’re more focused on how we can use the light bar to display information (like matching its color to your android in co-op, or your health in single player) and the new rumble system will be great for feedback.

Rashid Sayed: Gaijin Entertainment the developers of War Thunder recently claimed that the PS4’s GPU is 40% more powerful than the Xbox One. What are your thoughts on the same? Furthermore has the PS4’s GPU eased out the number of things you can do on screen in Assault Android Cactus?

Sanatana: From a pure tech perspective it’s undeniable that the PS4 GPU will make it the most powerful console in the world and for us that means we can turn on every visual flourish we want while keeping a smooth & responsive 60fps. We’re focused on every version running at 60fps including Vita, frame rate is king.

Rashid Sayed: Do you plan to support cross saves on the PS4 and PS Vita version?

Sanatana: We’re going to support cross-save and cross-buy so you only pay once for the game across PS4 & Vita!

"We’re going to support the Nunchuk + Wiimote combination as a replacement of keyboard & mouse which should be a fun control scheme, other than that they should be identical feature wise and we’re still quite a ways off from the release so it’s not worth talking about graphics comparisons yet."

Rashid Sayed: How will the Wii U version differ compared to say the PS4 and PC versions?

Sanatana: We’re going to support the Nunchuk + Wiimote combination as a replacement of keyboard & mouse which should be a fun control scheme, other than that they should be identical feature wise and we’re still quite a ways off from the release so it’s not worth talking about graphics comparisons yet.

Tim: I’m itching to do something interesting with the screen! But it’s all up in the air at the moment.

Rashid Sayed: Is there anything else you want to say about the game to our readers?

Sanatana: You can check out a demo of Assault Android Cactus right now on Steam where it’s available for Windows, OS X, and Linux! We’ve also just launched on Early Access if you want to support us and give feedback ahead of our full release in November on PC and early 2014 on PS4/Vita/Wii U.

The developers of the upcoming Assault Android Cactus, Witch Beam have confirmed to us that their title will support cross buy and cross save between PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita.

‘We’re going to support cross-save and cross-buy so you only pay once for the game across PS4 & Vita,’ said Sanatana Mishra, designer at Witch Beam

He also explained how they have focused on the replay value of Assault Android Cactus by adding extra content that can be unlocked.

“It’ll probably take players a few hours for the initial campaign play through but that could change drastically depending on your skill level as it’s a challenging game. For an arcade experience I would say we’re quite big but like any good arcade game we’ve focused on replay value in all of our designs: 8 characters with drastically different play styles, a full rank system for each stage, virtual currency that you can use to unlock additional content like artwork, codex entries, and EX options like Retro Camera mode that drastically change the game. There’s also Boss Rush & Endless mode for you to tackle once Campaign is complete, full online leaderboards for the hyper-competitive out there, and every mode is playable in full co-op with up to four players.”

Tim Dawson, artist and programmer of the game also commented on the matter. “Part of the replay value is building a game that holds up to repeated scrutiny. You can blast through a level and enjoy it, but if you come back to a stage, figure out the spawn timings, know when the pickups will drop, try to chain multi-kills together, it still holds up. It just becomes a different kind of fun, like the whole level is a puzzle where everyone is shooting at you,” he added.

Are you looking forward to Assault Android Cactus? Let us know in the comments section below and stay tuned for more updates on the game in the coming days.

Gaijin Entertainment, the developers of War Thunder recently claimed that the PS4’s GPU is 40% more powerful than the Xbox One. So we made sure to ask about the console’s GPU and whether it’s eased out the number of things you can do on screen in the game.

“From a pure tech perspective it’s undeniable that the PS4 GPU will make it the most powerful console in the world and for us that means we can turn on every visual flourish we want while keeping a smooth & responsive 60fps. We’re focused on every version running at 60fps including Vita, frame rate is king.”

How many characters will Assault Android Cactus have, and what special abilities and skills will they possess? Sanatana responded, “There will be a roster of 8 playable androids, 4 of which have to be unlocked throughout the campaign. Each one has a unique primary & secondary weapon that create their play style, and we’re considering other stat changes to separate them even further.”

As of now, Assault Android Cactus’s is expected to release in early 2014.