Game Info
GAME NAME: WE ARE DOOMED
DEVELOPER(S): Vertex Pop
PUBLISHER(S): Vertex Pop
PLATFORM(S): PS4 (tested), PC, XBox One
GENRE(S): Twin stick, action, arcade
RELEASE DATE(S): 04/14/2015
We are doomed. Are we, truly? I guess that really depends on your philosophical bent. But in this very specific case, WE ARE DOOMED is a twin-stick score attack game where you use your short-range weapon to blow up enemies while avoiding being blown up yourself. Oddly enough, it’s very reminiscent of Hotline: Miami in a few key areas.
There’s no story. No cut-scenes, no voice, only the slightest of text. Your 17-button PS4 controller is underutilized, with only two sticks and one button doing anything. Opponents come from all sides, exploding in glitchy, geometric colors when you hit them with your short-range laser. Collect little squares and cubes to raise your score multiplier and charge your superbeam. Fire the damn thing when it’s charged, where it destroys everything it touches in a fraction of a second. Die – and become immediately resurrected, in the exact same spot, to continue on. It’s less “we are doomed” and more “live die repeat,” at least until you run out of lives (or hit wave 30, good luck with that).
As a fast-paced arena shooter, the game is very good in short bursts. Like Hotline: Miami, in brief play sessions, gaining a few quick victories is very satisfying, and running into a wall where you can’t go further is frustrating, but easy to drop and pick up later. The waves of enemies start out small and slow, eventually evolving into much quicker baddies who will do more than just try to bump into you. Stage-wide hazards, such as asteroids and a slow-moving uncrossable barrier, add to the madness of the shooting. Although there are occasionally stages that are a bit more relaxed, it can get pretty frantic.
This anxious, twitchy gameplay is exacerbated by WE ARE DOOMED‘s visual style. Again, like Hotline: Miami – this is not a game you’ll mistake for something else. Basic, angry geometries fly from all angles, supersaturated colors abound, and the pops and explosions are nearly seizure-inducing. While it is a definitely interesting, unique aesthetic, it does often get very cluttered and hectic, trying to figure out which direction to move. I doubt this is an error on the developer’s part though. This busy, frenetic style adds to the interesting challenge of most of the stages.
Then there’s the audio. Once again comes the juxtaposition to Hotline. Although the music and audio in the two games are not similar at all, they reach the same level of fascinating immersion that most big-budget games strive for and ultimately fail to achieve. The music is a glitchy, electronic mess of discordant flats and sharps, rending a sense of unease during the game. We are doomed, indeed, says the music. The soundtrack by itself is worth a good few listens, and maybe even the five Canadabux the musician, Robby Duguay, is asking for. But then the unsettling, almost dystopian tonality of the music is cut with the words “SUPERBEAM READY” and the robust, welcome blaring of firing it. It’s amazing in a game so small that the audio can be so well-realized, in both form and function.
The Recommendation
WE ARE DOOMED is a well-done arcade shooter, although personally I find it more interesting from an artistic standpoint than a gameplay one. The fact that the game starts and restarts so quickly is handy as well, to keep the game and action moving along at a very brisk pace. The music itself is worth the price of admission here – and to boot, you get a very serviceable, fast-paced twin stick that is worth a play.
