While billions died in this catastrophe, there were also plenty of survivors, including the pilots, engineers and traders who live aboard a massive ship, called the Ark. Think of it as Diablo in a spaceship and you wonвЂ™t be far off.ДЄs the title suggests, Drifting Lands is set in a world where the planet has shattered and is now just a collection of rocks floating in space. What really sets Drifting Lands apart from the competition, though, is the way in which it has fused its horizontal shooting action with some action-RPG elements. ThatвЂ™s not to say that it is an easy game as the difficulty does ramp up nicely, but it is certainly a bit more accessible. This is why Drifting Lands is a breath of fresh air for anyone who has ever tried to play something from this genre only to get blown to smithereens in the first few minutes. ThereвЂ™s also a story to the game, and while itвЂ™s a little clichГ© (The Ark, sole independent survivors, fight religious zealots, corporations, robots, etc, while their main pilot (thatвЂ™s you) seem to make poor decisions), itвЂ™s fairly well written and characterfully voice acted clichГ© with a moderately diverse cast.As enjoyable as the side scrolling shooter genre is, there is no doubt that many entries suffer from either being too short,too difficult or both. My current favourites, ability wise, are a ring of fire, a back and fore blast that kills things in a straight line, another kind of blast that kills things in a circle around me quicker than the fire ring will, healing, the chance to get more money the bigger the kill streak I can line up, and the thing IвЂ™ll probably never ditch, the Automatic Retreat, stopping you from losing your ship if you die, at the cost of the things you picked up during the mission, and maybe some of your niftier equipment.

Still, once you get into the missions, itвЂ™s joyously simple again, although it becomes more bullet-hell like as you rank up in grades: Shoot things, use your special abilities to kill more things, dodge bullets, maybe fight a boss or a Convoy Mission (Kill X enemy type before the end), and donвЂ™t die. ThereвЂ™s quite a bit of variety in the kit, and while IвЂ™d like to say вЂњGo for the weapon you like the pattern of, and stick with itвЂќ, the game disincentivises that by virtue of the fact that some weapons will always have a lower damage among peers of their respective levels (Shotguns and Lasers, for example, suffer, compared with the Trident and Double Cannon, which, relatively consistently, outdamage them.) Also, yвЂ™know, that weapon you want to get the next hotness of might not have your +X Navigation, meaning its Damage is even lower than youвЂ™d think.

ItвЂ™s not the only different thing about Drifting Lands compared to other shmup type experiences, but that, and the fact that waves of enemies are picked from a list for each level and area randomly, that the game helpfully tells you how many waves are left at the top, and that the difficulty slowly increases as the game goes on with the addition of mechanics like revenge bullets (The ship you shot releases bullets on exploding, usually straight at you), are all interesting features. ItвЂ™s a credit to the game that this is nowhere near as intimidating as I perhaps make it sound. And you want certain numbers, such as вЂњChance for to Break on RetreatвЂќ or вЂњChance for Cargo to be Lost вЂќ to stay low. You want most of those numbers to go up as you go along, such as more Damage Per Second on your guns, more Armour, Health, Shield and Health Regeneration, and other such things.

So, whatвЂ™s different about the game? Equipment slots on your ship, each of which have pretty numbers that may help or hinder you. I just wish there was more to it in some places. This is definitely not to say that Drifting Lands is a bad game.

Pictured: A fairly killy, speedy ship, which certainly wonвЂ™t get into trouble around Grade 3/10 with my fat fingers.

Drifting lands review