Luftrausers

In Luftrausers, your plane is launched from a submarine in enemy territory. Completely outnumbered, it's a battle of survival whilst trying to wrack up the highest score possible.

The map is a cyclical scrolling horizontal tunnel, so you can constantly move the same direction (left/right) if you want to, blasting anything in your path. I describe it as a tunnel since you are limited by the sea below, and thick clouds above.

Randomly spawning enemies enter the arena in both air and sea. Initially, you will be taking down small fighter planes and small ships, but later on will be introduced to battleships and 'Ace' fighters. The intensity keeps increasing and it's only a matter of time before you are defeated.

Destroying enemies increases your combo multiplier up to a value of 20X which will disappear if you don't make a kill within around five seconds. Your plane can take a few hits but will regenerate when you stop firing your weapon. This gives you a risk versus reward system of whether you want to keep the multiplier going, or regenerate your health to survive longer.

The controls are simple to learn. Holding up on the analogue stick or keyboard gives thrust to your plane in the direction you're pointing. Easing off the thrust causes your plane to fall as gravity takes control. There's only one other button you need, and this fires your weapon.

Your plane consists of a weapon, body and engine. New parts are unlocked when you meet certain targets which is determined by the parts you choose. These plane parts are what makes Luftrausers so fun, since there's hundreds of combinations which play differently, and the challenges encourage you to do so. These differences force you to change your strategy; some planes are better suited for air combat, whereas others are better to go after the ships.

The other type of unlockable is the colour schemes. The graphics are extremely basic and functional, and the new colours often make the game look way worse.

Luftrausers is a great game to play in short bursts. Each attempt won't take you long, but its addictive nature will have you playing multiple times. Collectively, you can happily wrack up a few hours. It's only a matter of time before you unlock everything, and the longevity of the game depends on how determined you are to beat your high scores.

Luftrausers is a good time wasting shmup with great music that changes depending on the configuration of your ship of which there are many. Core mechanics are very tight and feel great and the configurations do offer pretty varied gameplay. The Nazi aesthetic stuff is maybe a little questionable but it is well executed.

overall, it isn't groundbreaking or deep and once you are done, I doubt you'll come back too often but it is fun to pick up for an hour or two at a time.

Beware, the menu music is extremely loud (maybe this is only on my copy).