The first thing that will strike players going into LUFTRAUSERS is the minimalistic, almost Atari level of visual design. Elements are immediately distinctive, and you know exactly what you are, what you need to shoot and what you need to avoid being shot by. Enemy units pop out of the background, your shots are distinct from the rounds of your foes and keeps the user interface to a minimum by representing your current health neatly by a contracting circle when taking damage.

"The gameplay is a rather unique blend of Time Pilot, Lunar Lander games and Astroids, where you need to think just as much about your piloting as you do the enemies around you."

Everything is immediately identifiable and visually reminiscent of old war footage. Should you not like the sepia tones of the visuals however, the game leaves the promise of packing in various palettes that can be swapped between attempts, though this wasn’t available as of review time. The music is far less immediately striking, but in service to the presentation takes a somewhat cliche third reich soundtrack and has a catchy, familiar sounding mix for the gameplay.

Crashing in LUFTRAUSERS is inevitable, but in particular, you’ll be crashing a lot when first starting out. The gameplay is a rather unique blend of Time Pilot, Lunar Lander games and Astroids, where you need to think just as much about your piloting as you do the enemies around you. If you aren’t careful to keep yourself propelling around, you will quickly find yourself nosediving towards the water, potentially into a ship. Dropping your velocity however, can allow you to make tighter turns and get the drop on incoming fighters. This constant fight against gravity, as well as the enemy fighters gives LUFTRAUSERS a unique feel to others in the genre.

Enemies come in all shapes and sizes, from tiny gunboats, to fighter planes firing missiles after you, to huge battleships. Each enemy demands a different tactic, with ships often being the most difficult and rewarding to take out, as you skim the water and dodge their massive volleys. As previously mentioned, health is handled in a very visual manner by a contracting circle around your plane while taking damage, and other visual stimuli such as smoke can tip you off that you’re in trouble.

"The game rather proudly boasts it’s 125 different combinations of parts, and it leaves a lot of room for the player to find what they’re comfortable with and balances it with time to play with all the toys as you earn them."

This drops another, much more unique mechanic into LUFTRAUSERS, something not exactly ingrained in the muscle memory of a shmup player. Should you stop firing, you’ll begin to repair slowly. Repairs never take so long that they break the pace or the tension, but are just long enough to break that all important, score multiplying combo. There is a certain risk to reward to be weighed among everything else, on how much longer you can keep firing before you need to back off a bit to preserve yourself.

The menus between attempts follow the visual style of the game with cartoon-esque and caricature-esque Nazi’s, and a grainy brown mission documents look to the few menus. It’s here where you can peruse stats, view challenges for the next go and customize your own ship with parts gained.

The game rather proudly boasts it’s 125 different combinations of parts, and it leaves a lot of room for the player to find what they’re comfortable with and balances it with time to play with all the toys as you earn them. Each part is completely unique, and nothing feels like filler to boost the number of possibilities. Changing a single ship part can change your whole movement and play style, and finding a favourite, or just a new combo becomes a game of it’s own.

"This deceptively simple looking game takes bits and pieces from many of the classics, as well as a few contemporaries, and layers them together into something that feels much like a great sandwich."

While the concepts driving it give the game a special quality, the controls are consistently hard to come to terms with. Regardless of your orientation, you propel with up. And steer left and right from there. Using a keyboard in particular is an exercise in frustration, and connecting a controller can only resolve so much.

Once you’re over the learning curve and get to grips with the controls, parts can be unlocked to customize your ship, and your play style by progressing through the stages. Progression happens through scoring a specific number of points over your attempts, though there is little to tell you how close you are to the next level. The whole progression by points system itself is a little questionable, relying more on blind perseverance than mastery of the game mechanics.

This deceptively simple looking game takes bits and pieces from many of the classics, as well as a few contemporaries, and layers them together into something that feels much like a great sandwich. Not too much to digest, and surprisingly meaty. The controls add some unwelcome mustard to the taste, but once you get past the surprise of it, still very enjoyable.

This game was reviewed on the PC.

Bullet-hell/arcade shooter Luftrausers has finally received a release date. Initially revealed for the PS3 and PS Vita, the game will also be arriving for PC on March 18th according to Valmbeer. It will be published by Devolver Digital.

Those interested in the PC version can head over to Steam or the Humble Store and pre-order it. You’ll get a 10 percent discount from the usual $10/£6.99 price. Those with tons of friends can also pick up the Air Raid Pack, which contains 1 DRM-free version and 100 giftable Steam keys. It goes for $749.99/£524.25, so it’s also a good way for you and 100 other buddies to avail of discounts rather than purchasing the game in bulk.

Luftrausers is unlike most other arcade shooters as it focuses on survival and increasing your survival times as much as possible. It’s also presented in a sweet monochrome colour scheme. Stay tuned for more information on the game in the coming weeks.

Indie developer Vlambeer, which worked on Ridiculous Fishing and is currently working on Luftrausers, has highlighted a flaw with Microsoft’s ID@Xbox program for the Xbox One. It allows for indie developers – regardless of size – to develop for the console with all features accessible and self-publish it. So what’s the problem? According to Vlambeer co-founder Rami Ismail, there is a clause in the policy that states that any game arriving for Xbox One also releases for other formats at the same time.

Speaking to Joystiq, Ismail stated that, “Microsoft was doing reach-out to certain developers back in the early days of ID@Xbox, and we discussed potentially bringing Nuclear Throne to Xbox One with them. There had been mentions beforehand that there was a launch parity clause in the contract, with the exception of games that were already signed to another platform during the announcement of their self-publishing program. Thus, before we signed with Microsoft, we e-mailed Sony that we quickly wanted to sign Nuclear Throne with them with a month of exclusivity.”

Yes, you can break the clause if you sign an exclusivity deal beforehand. However, this presents a problem for indie devs due to constraints in resources. It’s hard enough creating a game for one platform – try developing for two.

Ismail has called for the parity clause to be removed. “Honestly, we’ve had enough trouble with our promise for a simultaneous release for Luftrausers, so by getting rid of parity we’d be able to focus on one platform for Nuclear Throne first. We’d rather Microsoft allow us not only the freedom to self-publish, but also to publish in whatever order we prefer…. We’ll keep pushing for Microsoft to drop the clause, and we’d recommend any other developer to do the same.”

What are your thoughts on the same? Let us know in the comments below.

So what’s the deal? Luftrausers essentially challenges you to collect points, upgrade your plane with over 125 different combinations and complete the 100 odd missions in an effort to succeed. You need to get better, stronger, faster and smarter as the game wears on, if you want to beat the final boss.

Commnuity challenges help keep the game fresh, though the developers are incredibly keen on the challenging nature of the game to ensure that. Luftrausers will be out later this year on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita along with PC, Linux and Mac.