Truxton Extreme Review - A Brutal SHMUP!

What the hell is Truxton Extreme? No, it's not the name of Elon Musk's latest kid - good guess, though. Instead, it's a surprising new entry in a series many have likely never heard of: a shoot-'em-up arcade title known simply as Truxton (or Tatsujin in Japan, meaning “expert”). Having originally released in 1988, just two years prior to my retiring from my job of not existing yet, there are few better candidates for a modern glow-up than this lost classic.

That said, as far as classics go, it's a pretty deep cut, and one I haven't personally played. In fairness, I've enjoyed but only ever truly dabbled in bullet hell shoot-'em-ups and am far from a veteran Shmuppet, a name nobody often calls fans of this genre. But will Truxton Extreme convert me into a diehard genre fan, or will it make me spit upon its legacy with a fiery hatred borne of the lack of ability to “get gud”? The answer, contrary to the modern gamer’s battle against nuance, lies somewhere in between.

That's because Truxton Extreme is hard. Even being the most newbie-friendly entry in the series, the difficulty is undeniably present regardless of the options you choose. And this is where it's likely worth starting, because Truxton Extreme’s Steam page claims it to be “for masters and novices” alike, and on that point, I mostly beg to differ. Yes, there are options to customize the number of lives and bombs you can bring into each level with you. Yes, there's more than just an Arcade mode that requires you to get through the whole game without losing all your lives, though that remains a staple. And yes, there technically is a new “Heart Starter” mode eliminating the classic but (in my opinion) archaic concept of limited lives. But each of these nods to shmup newbies comes with a hefty caveat.

Sure, lives and bombs can be customized, but only from the default of 3 to an absolute cap of 5. Sure, there's a story mode that allows you to play the game's levels with one of three characters who each have some forgettable but well-illustrated plot beats, but the limited-lives restriction remains a mandatory piece of it, ensuring that only those skilled enough to play on normal difficulty can see it through. And sure, the “Heart Starter” mode does get rid of the limited lives and just lets you play, but mysteriously only lets you play the first level before booting you to the main menu, either an incredibly bizarre design choice or a seriously major bug.

In any case, Truxton Extreme is willing to give you more leeway in difficulty than its original iterations, but not enough to truly earn the distinction of a novice-friendly genre entry. If you're not an experienced bullet hell-er, Truxton Extreme is hard. If you don't want hard, don't pick up Truxton Extreme. If you do - keep reading.

Each level of Truxton Extreme will send you on an auto-scrolling journey through hordes of elaborately-patterned enemies before reaching a boss. As is tradition for the genre, enemies will release a flurry of bullets as they zip past, creating a ballet of obstacles you'll have to be quick on your feet to avoid if you can't dispatch their source foes in time. Thankfully, Truxton gives you a nice variety of abilities for the job - you can choose a handful of different weapons, albeit one at a time, that do anything from firing a massive flurry of enemy-seeking bullets to creating a huge electric field and so on. All of these weapons are fun to use, but I found the silver weapon, the aforementioned enemy-seeking one, to be by far the most useful, since it completely forgoes the need to aim and can hit enemies anywhere on the screen. I wouldn't say it's overpowered in the sense that it makes the game easy, because it should be quite obvious by now that “easy” is a term that does not apply here. But it does make every other weapon seem like a deliberate handicap by default, which certainly doesn't feel intended.

As you make your way through a level, you'll pick up speed and power tokens that will raise the effectiveness of your attacks and increase the speed of your ship, which can be shifted back down at any moment once the option is available. You'll also have bombs that can clear a large chunk of the screen of enemies and bullets when in a pinch, as well as a special attack that shoots a faster and more concentrated stream of bullets at your enemies to dispatch them faster. It's a nice combination of mechanics that feels unique enough to make Truxton Extreme worth a try for those who want to experience something a little different, and you can choose to play cooperatively with a friend, which is a nice added bonus.

Visually, Truxton Extreme looks great. It's undoubtedly a huge visual upgrade from the original games so long as you're not bitter about the transition from retro pixel art to full 3D, and the chaotic web of bullets constantly on screen is both stressful and oddly eye-pleasing at once. There are only 8 fairly short levels in typical shmup fashion, but the visual variety within them is nice enough to keep the eyes glued to the screen. The soundtrack, which to me evokes cheesy 80s cartoons to some degree, was not my thing, but undoubtedly more of a “your mileage will vary” feature that fans of the originals are likely to appreciate.

Overall, Truxton Extreme is a really fun modern sequel that just happens to be ball-breakingly tough, and newbies to the genre are probably better off searching elsewhere unless they want a brutal challenge right out of the gate. But genre veterans or fans of the original game are likely to feel right at home here with a beautiful glow-up of a series that time may have otherwise forgotten. Truxton Extreme gets the bronze genie lamp of approval.

GOOD