Raging Blasters

 

Raging Blasters - PC (2021)

Developed by Terarin Games

Published by Terarin Games

Raging Blasters is a new release by indie developer Terarin Games, also known for games such as Missile Dancer and Gemini Arms. Raging Blasters is in a similar vein of old school PC Engine shooters such as the ones from COMPILE and Inter State/Kaneko. The game also has some nice references to Image Fight from Irem, however it doesn't inherit the punishing difficulty that Image Fight is known for.

The game is comprised of 8 fast moving stages with swarms of various enemy types with relatively simple attack patterns. There are several boss fights scattered throughout these stages which are also pretty simple in design but lots of fun to fight. There are also 3 difficulties available; Normal, Hard and Expert with scoring heavily based on chaining. There are several secondary pick up weapons that players can choose from and switch between throughout a stage as pick ups are spread liberally throughout each stage. There are definitely areas where some of these weapons are more advantageous to use in particular situations. For example the laser pick up is great for making short work of certain bosses while the homing weapon or the "wheel" weapon are great for crowd control in areas where enemies surround you. Additionally, there are 3 different ship speed settings available that the player can adjust at any time.

There is also a Caravan mode in which the player is given 3 minutes to score as high as they can within that time limit. That result is then uploaded to an online leader board allowing you to see where you stand among other players who have tried it. There is a free demo of this mode available as of this writing for anyone interested in giving this game a try.

I managed to 1CC the game on hard mode in a pretty short amount of time and I would say this game is quite accessible for those either new to shmups or going for 1CCs. The game is quite generous with extends, none of the bosses are too complicated and most of the patterns are pretty easy to get down in a short period of time. The challenge is ramped up somewhat on the harder difficulties making this a worthy purchase for those with more experience in the genre as well.

I should add that the sound track for this game is phenomenal which always helps add to the replay value of a shooter for me.

On the first line is my score for my 1CC run on hard mode.