AIPD has that signature retro feeling. The game is a top-down twin-stick shooter where you try to fend off a wide variety of enemy artificial intelligences in an arena. As you play, you unlock different weapons and modifications. The graphics (for what the game is) are perfect and the particle effects leave you mesmerised. In fact, this game reminds me of the movie ‘Tron’ with its colours and ‘80s game style. This game also runs at a buttery smooth 60 frames per second, which for this sort of game, is definitely essential. Nothing on the graphical side of things feels out of place.
Onto the gameplay. The game plays exactly as you’d expect a co-op twin-stick shooter to play. It’s very snappy and even if you’ve never played a game like AIPD before, it won’t take you long to figure it out and get addicted. The music is also very fun and fits perfectly with this title. However, if you’re going to be playing this game day in, day out, you really might want to invest in an Xbox One Elite Controller. You may find that playing this game with the standard Xbox One Controller, when you’re moving the thumb sticks, really isn’t a nice feeling. It feels like the thumb sticks are grinding. With the Elite Controller, it feels like this game was made for it.
Throughout my time of playing AIPD so far, I haven’t found one glitch or stutter, which really is a testament to the developer, Blazing Badger. I also shouldn’t forget to add that the game allows for 4-player local co-op, which is great for a lads, or ladies night in.
Now for the content. The game mode that I found myself playing the most was just the ‘Standard’ mode…mostly because I got the feeling that this was the way the game was meant to be played. The other modes didn’t really interest me too much as they are more like add-ons. They are just ways to make the game harder, like ‘High-Tech Armada’, which means that the enemies start with all abilities. There is also an option to design your own game mode which is a nice added extra if the others didn’t interest you.
I also found that the game is really good for someone who loves achievements. I racked up 100 gamerscore out of 2 achievements in 15-20 minutes of play time, which is very rare.
For my verdict on the game. In all honesty, I wasn’t expecting much going into this review, as I previously researched a little about this game and just didn’t think I’d enjoy it. I was wrong, very wrong. It’s the sort of game where you could start at like 10 PM, and before you know it, it’s 2 in the morning. In that regard, I compare it to Viva Piñata, even though they are completely different types of games.
Summary
As a debut title, Blazing Badger really pulled it out of the bag in my opinion and I’ll definitely be trying out their other game, ‘Guardians’ and seeing how that title fairs to this one. However, is this the game that you bought your games console for? No. It doesn’t have to be. I don’t think anything is going to take ‘Halo’ off of that pedestal for me, but come on, it’s an indie game, nobody buys a games console for an indie title. Indie games are meant to supplement your experience.
What I will say is that it’s easily one of the best indies that I’ve played this generation so far, and I think that’s a huge achievement for a developer’s debut game. Props to you, Blazing Badger. The graphics are pleasing, the gameplay is addictive and it has a great soundtrack. While I was craving more unique game modes, the title still didn’t disappoint. It’s a great experience.
Tomek Zbigniew Sobieralski was a community contributor to ICXM, writing 2 articles in 2016 covering game reviews. ICXM operated as an independent Xbox and Windows gaming outlet through the run-up to Xbox One S and Project Scorpio, plus the broader Windows 10 gaming push, drawing from a rotating bench of editorial volunteers. They post on X as @Sobski117.