Sixty Second Shooter Prime by Happion Labs is a twin stick shooter that has made the jump from the free web app market onto Xbox One. Improved graphics, additional soundtrack and an unlockable infinite play setting are all the enhancements on offer here. But is that enough to justify the price?
Sixty Second Shooter does exactly what it says on the tin. You have one minute to score the highest amount of points possible in the short amount of time you are given. Think of Asteroids on speed except you're fighting against cubes which will either be static or moving. Other various shapes make an appearance which will shoot at you and are extremely fast and mobile.
You start the game with a very basic shot which can be upgraded by collecting the various power ups that are strewn around the area. You can upgrade your basic laser, activate a slow motion effect and become temporarily invincible.
Different difficulty levels are not earned here. To reach a higher level while playing you just enter a warp hole. This will increase the enemies difficulty and help towards achieving that elusive higher score if you can last long enough. But if you progress enough you can choose to start at any higher level you have previously visited from the start menu. This in turn will allow you to start with tougher enemies which in turn will let you rack up a higher score.
Sixty Second Shooter Prime takes no prisoners when it comes to its difficulty level. You're just as likely to die within ten seconds as you are to make it to the end. Most of the games I have played so far have lasted about thirty seconds. Although I am getting a lot better. The game does have some frustrating mechanics at times though. Warping into higher difficulty levels tends to get you killed quicker than normal. This is due to the frustrating camera angle being so close to your ship. It makes it nearly impossible to plan any kind of strategy especially when red bullets are near bloody impossible to see. I have solved this by changing the screen setting. But you can only do this when you have unlocked the option. The amount of times I warped into a higher level only to be shot or to smash into an enemy immediately became extremely frustrating.
Twin stick shooters have been around for many, many years now and this offers nothing new to the genre. However I found myself constantly going back to try and beat my previous high score. It doesn't get much more old school than this.
So if high score chasing sounds like your kind of thing then you will feel right at home here. This is definitely the kind of game you can just jump in and out of at your leisure.The addictive nature of beating your last high score really resonated with me and for £4 can you really grumble? Thanks to Xbox for the game.
Sixty Second Shooter is available now through Microsoft’s ID@Xbox label.