Habroxia 2

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Fast Facts

Habroxia 2

Developer: LILLYMO GAMES inc.
Publisher: LILLYMO GAMES inc.
Website: https://www.eastasiasoft.com/games/Habroxia-2
Genre: Shoot-em-up, Retro, Arcade
Platform: PlayStation 4
Age Rating: PEGI 12
Release Date: 03/02/2021
Price: £7.99

A code was provided for review purposes.

Ahhh, The Good Ol’ Days

Is it just me or are there not enough arcade shoot-em-ups these days? Back in the day, I used to adore these games. I needed nothing more to occupy my small child-like mind other than shooting baddies, collecting power-ups and dodging a screen full of projectiles. I miss them dearly.

Anyway, as you can probably guess this review is for a classic looking shoot-em-up or shmup as they are sometimes called, called Habroxia 2. I must admit it is the first I have heard of the game but it looked right up my street. Classic chip-tunes, pixel-art and lots of hectic shooty shooty bang bang.

Fun, Fast, Space Murder

The follow up to 2019’s Habroxia, which I also have never seen, tells the tale of a brave daughter. A daughter whose father did not return from a space mission scouting enemy territory. So guess what? Yep, that’s right, you must go and find him and space murder anything that gets in your way. While the story was not bad, per se, it was just a mere distraction from what this game really has to offer.

It’s Habroxia 2’s classic gameplay with modern twists that will keep you coming back. The shooting mechanics are very unique: Habroxia 2 plays like a twin-stick shooter that is cleverly disguised as a standard 2D shmup title. Yes, you move left to right or sometimes bottom to top and the game looks like the classic titles of this ilk but you can fire your weapons in 360 degrees using your analog stick. At the start, I found it a bit strange but as the game progressed, I rather liked this little wrinkle on the standard shoot-em-up formula.

Choose Your Own Path

As well as the normal powerups you get, you have persistent, purchasable, permanent upgrades. Instead of depending on luck and certain drops, your power, boost, fire rate and all the normal rules that govern your ship’s ability to fight, are controlled by you. It’s brilliant. You can even sell these upgrades back but you lose a little coin in the process. It means you can spec your ship how you like and it was something very different from other games I have played in the genre.

Another thing I really liked were the branching levels, I have seen this before in other shoot-em-ups but it was welcomed nonetheless. At the end of some levels you have a choice of paths, normally leading to separate bosses and opening up different levels on the world map. Being the completionist I am I had to go back and open up the alternate path anyway but the choices are there.

Astronauts and Bounties

There are other little things to achieve that try and put you off all the lovely pixel-based space death. Things like little astronauts you need to rescue and bounties on each stage but in the grand scheme of things they are only minor diversions from the never-ending waves of enemies. Again though, someone like me, when they see they have missed one of these little collectables has to redo the stage again and get them all, damn you completionist brain!

There are other things you can do once you have completed the game, it’s quite a short one but if you’re still craving some shmup action you can play new game+ or boss rush and carry on upgrading your ship. I am going to carry on and get the platinum trophy as I am really rather enjoying it. You’re looking at a few hours to finish the game and probably five hours plus for the full 100% completion. 

Hello? It’s the 1980s Calling

On the presentation side, while some people will wonder why I am playing something on my PlayStation 5 that looks like it’s from the ’80s, I adore these old-school pixel-based games. They remind me of simpler times, of times where my only worries were getting back from school for cartoons or who has my copy of Alex the Kidd. The soundtrack is also very fitting to the style of the game and again, I love these classic, crunchy chip-tunes. They just sound soooooo good!

Surprisingly, It’s All Rather Fun

All in all, I came away from Habroxia 2 very impressed. While a lot of people would not give it the light of day, what you have is a classic twin-stick shooter, masquerading as a shoot-em-up with a few modern bells and whistles. It’s fun, short and quite addictive. I have other reviews to do but to be fair, Habroxia 2 has that one more go feel, I cannot put it down and that platinum trophy will soon be mine. Mwa haha!

Rapid Reviews Rating

If you want to buy Habroxia 2 from the PlayStation store, you can here.