With game developers seemingly obsessed with photorealistic visuals and cinematic plots, Sixty Second Shooter Prime on the Xbox One comes as a much welcome breath of fresh air. Developed by Happion Laboratories’s Jamie Fristrom (of Spider-Man 1 and 2, Die By The Sword and Tony Hawk fame), Sixty Second Shooter Prime is a reboot of the original Sixty Second Shooter Deluxe which made its debut on Chrome and the PlayStation Vita back in 2012. If you missed that little nugget, now is your chance to rectify that omission.
With a new console ushering in a new generation, Happion Laboratories has given the original Sixty Second Shooter, crisper sharper visuals which are ideal for large TV screens. In Sixty Second Shooter Prime, the rules are as simple as the addictive gameplay. You have a single ship, one lice and sixty seconds to destroy as many enemies as possible and rack up as many points as you can. That’s it. Simple and brilliant. Presented as a twin stick shooter, Sixty Second Shooter Prime is an unrepentant high energy, back to the old school, blast from the past for you’re a**** (hey ! – Ed).
Seriously the last time we got our hands on a decent console twin shooter, Sonic The Hedgehog was the king of the road and Fonzi was still the dictionary definition of cool.
In Sixty Second Shooter Prime, you control your ship with one stick and shoot with the other. But before you jump straight in to the carnage, its worth reading the help menu first so that you understand how everything works in this fast paced monochrome universe. I jumped straight in and, after about half an hour, I decided to go back and do some (gulp) reading. And it all became clear. Happion Laboratories has trimmed down almost every aspect of the game so that you can concentrate on just playing it and getting your name on the leaderboard. With that thought in mind, you’ll find an options menu that allows you to change colours and the music. And that’s pretty much it.
The game itself comes with two modes: a sixty second mode, which, as the name implies, allows you to play for sixty seconds to see how many points you can rack up. And there’s the infinite mode which lets you play for as long as you can survive. I managed twenty two minutes before my ship was destroyed. Which, I think, ranks me somewhere close to the very bottom of the leaderboard. It’s worth mentioning that, In the sixty second mode, you progress through portals which, as you would imagine, ramps up the action and the rewards. The game remains essentially the same but just gets progressively harder. Sixty Seconds Shooter Prime is a sheer blast to play. With just sixty seconds to destroy as many enemies as possible and just one life, you have very little room for errors and every shot counts. And as the game progresses, the enemies get tougher and more tactical in their attacks.
Graphically, Sixty Second Shooter Prime is no prom queen. The minimalist approach used on the menu options extends to the visuals. The screen is mostly black with white lines and the only concession to those addicted to eye candy is when you manage to chain attacks together to create a chain reaction. This causes everything to enter slow mo and the screen lights up like the fourth of July as every enemy within a nearby radius is turned to dust. Not only is the insanely rewarding to watch but it also helps you notch up some decent points. Excellent.
If you’ve read this far already. You’ve probably worked out that we loved this game. Not only are there not enough twin shooters on the Xbox One but, if Sixty Second Shooter Prime is the sign of things to come, then it’s a brilliant bench mark for other games in this genre to be judged by. Yes, the bare bones simplistic nature of the game belies its handheld origins, but if you’re looking for a pick up and play title, this is a perfect option. Go buy.
Score: 8/10 – Very Good
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