Thanks to Ratalaika Games for the review code

Title: Super Destronaut: Land Wars
System: PS4
Price: $4.99
Release Date: 03/10/2020

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Presentation

Being another installment in the Super Destronaut series, you may assume that this is yet another Space Invaders take like the prior two entries, but surprisingly, Land Wars is a first person shooter. Retaining the neon color scheme of DX, the map you explore is very easy on the eyes, and the invaders are the same designs that they were in DX, so it’s very easy to identify your foes. My only gripe with the visuals comes from how it can be a bit tough to identify coins on the ground at first, since they can blend in if you don’t know what to look for. Otherwise, the game looks great with a good field of view.

Gameplay

Land Wars is a FPS that tasks the player with clearing out the enemy invaders in waves, shooting their weapon with the shoulder buttons as they navigate the rectangular map. You have a jump to dodge enemy fire, but besides those two options it’s just a casual romp hunting down enemies. Defeating enemies will increase a multiplier that can reward you with more points and coins, so if you manage to find a group of enemies you can take advantage of them to raise that multiplier.

You can return to the spawn point and then use your coins to purchase upgrades for the game session. From handy ones such as a coin magnet or health refill, to differing weapons that can help turn the tide of battle on the higher difficulties. You can be perfectly fine without spending coins on any upgrades, but they do come in handy if you need some extra cash.

The core arcade mode simply has the player repeating waves of enemies to rack up the highest score, and it does follow the same sort of scorechasing habits that made Destronaut DX so much fun. Likewise if you think the default mode is too slow to start, you can go with the hardcore difficulty mode, where waves are more frequent and aggressive.

There are several other scorechaser modes like these too, including Combo Breaker, a mode where you must focus exclusively on boosting your combo to survive, Maximum Strength, a mode where you’re fully powered and allowed to go nuts with a Rocket Launcher, and finally, Snail Mode, where you’re hardly any slower, but lose the ability to jump, making evasion much more difficult. These modes are all fun in their own way, but I personally enjoyed Hardcore and Snail Mode due to the added challenge making the sessions more enjoyable and faster-paced.

Last but not least, is another mode separate from the scorechasers, in the form of the Challenge Mode. Returning from DX, these are special challenges that task the player with doing a certain objective in one of the scorechaser modes as fast as possible. Whether it’s clearing a certain amount of waves, killing a certain enemy, reaching a certain score threshold, or buying a certain items, these are fun ways to get a bit more replay value, although I personally enjoyed the challenges in DX a lot more, since they were more to the point.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Land Wars is a fun spinoff in the Super Destronaut series, offering some scorechasing entertainment and a perfect entry point for FPS newcomers! The easier difficulties can be a bit repetitive, and the challenges can sometimes feel as if they take way, way too long, but otherwise you have yet another solid, enjoyable scorechaser from the minds at Petite Games, and while I think DX gets the nudge over this one for better pick up and play purposes, this is still a solid choice for scorechaser fans. I just wish there were online leaderboards here, as that would have greatly increased this game’s worth.

I give Super Destronaut: Land Wars a 7 out of 10.