Everyday Shooter - PS3 Network review

Art, music, and arcade action meld gorgeously in the PS3's must-play answer to Geometry Wars

GamesRadar+ Verdict

Pros

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    Uniquely artistic blasting

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    Every level is different

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    Music sticks to you

Cons

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    Hard as balls

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    Tunes need more interaction

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    Multiplayer would've rocked

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Finally. After two years and a lineup of wannabes as long as Tommy Lee’s… list of sexual partners, there’s finally a top-down arcade shooter worthy of being compared to the 360’s amazingly compelling neon-and-techno laserathon,Geometry Wars Evolved. It’s just as colorful, just as fresh, just as likely to infect you with the “just one more game” fever, and even more unique despite a charmingly humble, wildly inaccurate name: Everyday Shooter.

On paper, Everyday Shooter seems typical. You are a small, haloed diamond-thing that moves around the screen with the left analog stick and belches pulsating destruction in whatever direction you point the right stick. Mostly abstract geometric shapes begin to drift by, and you blow them up. It’s standard gameplay copied straight from the Big Book of Top-down, Two-stick Arcade Shooters written by Robotron 2084 back in 1982.

Except it’s not. Not even close. As you start pumping hot geometric death into the various shapes around you, you’ll immediately notice that every direct hit adds a note to the churning guitar music in the background. Neat. Then you kill a larger enemy, and a chord is struck. Then, you blast one particular enemy and it blossoms into an explosion that causes any enemy it touches to explode as well, and any enemy that touches that explosion blows up to, and so on, leaving a mosaic of blinking white dots that you collect for points.

More info

GenreArcade
DescriptionA captivating mating of a top-down arcade shooter with an ambient music game, Everyday Shooter is one of those "games are art" experiences. Don't miss this one!
Platform"PS3"
Release date1 January 1970 (US), 1 January 1970 (UK)
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Eric Bratcher
I was the founding Executive Editor/Editor in Chief here at GR, charged with making sure we published great stories every day without burning down the building or getting sued. Which isn't nearly as easy as you might imagine. I don't work for GR any longer, but I still come here - why wouldn't I? It's awesome. I'm a fairly average person who has nursed an above average love of video games since I first played Pong just over 30 years ago. I entered the games journalism world as a freelancer and have since been on staff at the magazines Next Generation and PSM before coming over to GamesRadar. Outside of gaming, I also love music (especially classic metal and hard rock), my lovely wife, my pet pig Bacon, Japanese monster movies, and my dented, now dearly departed '89 Ranger pickup truck. I pray sincerely. I cheer for the Bears, Bulls, and White Sox. And behind Tyler Nagata, I am probably the GR staffer least likely to get arrested... again.