Bang Bang Barrage review

Bang Bang Barrage propels players into oceanic environments where strategy is just as important as reflexes. Intriguingly, the game’s twin-shooter foundations are intensified by an inventive recoil-based movement mechanic. Here, each shot doesn’t just fire a projectile at enemies. It also flings your boat in the opposite direction. Habitually, this means that you aren’t just gunning down adversaries. In Barrage, survival requires you to prioritize targets and visualize the consequences of each and every shot.

From Calm Seas to Bullet Storms

The game’s mechanic is simple when the water has a few unmoving foes. At worst, you might have to wait a few seconds to reload your gun to reload. Although your little ship is perpetually drifting about, movement in the first few minutes is leisurely enough to generate just a bit of tension. But things soon heat up across the game’s 15-minute runs, so expect to lose your cool. Even if you’re absolutely unflappable under fire, when groups of enemies are pursuing you and projectiles are filling the screen, expect to be rattled.

And yes, it gets even worse. About five stages in, there’s a giant chainsaw buzzing back and forth in the middle of the screen. When the game’s random hazards chained me to a trolly that did lethal loops around the playfield, I probably let out more profanities than your average Call of Duty rando. Yes, Barrage can be a kick in the balls. So don’t be afraid to use the game’s Assist Mode, which is available from the main menu. When activated, health will gradually respawn, saving you a bit of stress. There’s also support for up to four players, where partners can help tame Barrage’s turbulent seas.

Guns With a Kick

For better or worse, weapon variety contributes to the chaos. Bang Bang Barrage offers a respectable arsenal than ranges from a basic handgun to more outlandish tools that are unlocked once you beat a stage. Notable, every weapon has a distinctive blend of recoil strength, range, and firing rate, which will fundamentally change your approach across the game’s collection of stages.

Another element which helps to keep each run feeling fresh in the in-store shop that periodically floats down in the middle of matches. Here, you can spend any collected gems on upgrades, providing Barrage with a bit of roguelike behavior. Expectedly, the perks are randomly chosen for each visit. In one visit you might be able to purchase a power-up that increases your reload speed. In another, you might be able to buy additional heart points that might just help you survive.

These acquisitions are vital since you’ll need to adapt to the game’s unpredictable hazards. While battling enemies, hazards like environmental changes might occur. Nighttime will limit your field of vision while other variables might remove the barriers on the top and bottom of the screen, so your barrage moves like the ship from Asteroids. As such, you’ll have to constantly think on the fly, using recoil to dodge obstacles or reel away from danger. Remarkably, the hazards are more than superficial. They break your rhythm and force you to be adaptive, endowing Barrage with a welcome amount of replayability.

A Thrill Worth Weathering

Bang Bang Barrage’s blend of action and prediction feels like nothing else. When accompanied by roguelike perks, and randomized dangers, there’s plenty of incentive to return to these dangerous waters. For some, the difficulty and intensity could be daunting. Even with assist mode, some runs border on being overwhelmingly hectic. While there’s an in-game sticker collection devoted to metagame progression, some might wish that progress provided a bit more leniency. Still, that’s a small fault for an otherwise engaging experience.

Bang Bang Barrage was played on PC with review code provided by the publisher.