When Ubisoft decided to pull the rug out from under my PS4 bundle pre-order earlier this year, I was left in a difficult position. There was no single AAA game that I wanted to play any more. It would bug me too much to play Killzone, having not played the preceding games in the series. Assassin’s Creed IV would present the same issue, since I’ve still to play everything after II. Knack didn’t appeal to me to begin with, with my dislike being cemented when the reviews started to come in. Looking at everything that was available on launch day, it was clear that there were very few games I’d want to actually buy. As it happens, I’ve been playing much more of the F2P offerings on the PlayStation Store than I have of Need for Speed: Rivals (to date, the only PS4 game I’ve spent money on).

However, there was one game I wanted to play from the minute I saw it. It came for free with my existing PlayStation Plus subscription and has ended up being my favourite launch title. That game is Resogun.

Developed by Super Stardust creator Housemarque, Resogun is a PS4-exclusive side-scrolling shoot ‘em up with a difference. You choose from one of three ships, each with slightly different stats; pick a difficulty level, from Rookie to Master (with the latter unlocked after completing “Experienced”) and you begin your game. Both Arcade and Single Mission modes are available, but regardless of which you choose, levels in Resogun are cylindrical, with you piloting your ship along the outer surface, shooting left and right along its curvature. This adds literal depth to a genre which is usually – and necessarily – a mostly 2D affair. While still technically lacking a third axis along which to move, this layout allows the player to see through the level. Enemies can (and do) appear on the other “side” of the cylinder, for example, but this is only half of the gameplay that Resogun provides.

While you’re certainly tasked with defeating the seemingly endless hordes of enemy units that voip into existence right in front of you, your other – and arguably your main – objective is quite different. As the game’s female voice-over tells you at the beginning of every level (through the PS4 controller’s speaker, no less), you must “save the last humans”. At regular intervals throughout the level, special enemies called “Keepers” will appear. These need to be dealt with swiftly, as they’re often only present for a handful of seconds – doing so will release one of ten human captives somewhere in the level. A helpful green line and arrow will point you towards the equally green man, who must be taken to the nearest mothership before they’re abducted or killed.

In writing, these two gameplay mechanics might seem oddly diametrical, but in practice they work fairly well together.

It’s clear that Housemarque are much more comfortable with the shooting side of things. Your typical shoot ‘em up fare is present in abundance, with ever-increasing combo multipliers and weapon power-ups. Your ship has two other abilities to its name: boost and overdrive. Boost will make you invincible while the gauge lasts, sending you flying in your chosen direction and able to smash into enemies to extend the duration. This is a good way to get across the level to rescue a hapless human or ensure your combo isn’t broken during a lull in enemy spawns. Overdrive effectively super-powers your weapon after a small pause, turning it into a deadly laser and placing the whole game into bullet-time. You can’t move very fast or far during overdrive, but you cut through enemies like a hot knife through butter. While boost will recharge over time, overdrive requires you to collect green orbs from fallen enemies to fill its meter. The classic “bomb” is also there to save you in a pinch, clearing the screen in a most satisfying fashion, but only available in limited quantities.

When it comes to saving humans, however, there are a few things that irk me. The main problem stems from the fact that there is no tutorial for Resogun, nor is there an easily-accessible manual. Because of this, there’s no explanation as to what’s actually going on. You sort of have to figure it out on your own. I learned that killing the glowing green enemies (Keepers) released the humans and I needed to bring them to the ships to get them to safety. But sometimes, I’d just lose a human for no readily discernible reason. It was only through several replays of a level that I discovered some Keepers needed to be killed in a certain order, or the human would instantly die.

But this still didn’t account for all the humans I was losing. It turns out that, for one or two humans on later levels, you need to have a certain multiplier value for them to be released. I still don’t know what value you need, but the game does nothing to let you know that your combo is in any way related to your ability to save the humans. I could deal with failing to save them in time or accidentally shooting them into lava, but to suddenly just have a red indicator at the top of the screen with no explanation? That’s bad design.

In almost all other aspects, however, Resogun is a beautiful example of a game done well. The soundtrack is simple, yet endearing and atmospheric. Graphically, Resogun places great emphasis on its ability to run in 1080p at 60fps, while providing some spectacular lighting and particle effects. This is especially evident at the end of each level; the slightly chilling announcement of “Armageddon” comes through your controller’s speaker and the entire level explodes in a cacophony of pixels and lightning, your ship warping away to safety.

In a similar vein, the boss battles for every level show a remarkable level of detail. While the game may not be as taxing on the PS4’s hardware as some of its AAA counterparts, Resogun still demonstrates a graphical leap forward, comfortably presenting a smooth and polished aesthetic. With the inclusion of co-operative multiplayer and online leaderboards, there’s plenty to keep you coming back as well, as your friends improve their scores or you try to ascend the worldwide rankings.

Sony did the right thing making this a freebie via PlayStation Plus. Though I may have bought it anyway, this ensures that as many people as possible pick the game up, even if they’re not usually interested in the genre. Resogun strikes the right balance between difficulty and challenge – despite stumbling a little in the explanation, it never falters in its execution. If you own a PS4, you should definitely subscribe to PlayStation Plus… and if you have Plus, then you’d be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t give Resogun a shot.

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