Unalive 010 from Random Spin Games is a twin-stick shooter in which you’ll have to rescue your lab from being overrun by monsters. Check our Unalive 010 review!
Welcome to the captivating world of Unalive – a game where the hero must battle fierce monsters using their shooting skills. You will navigate randomly generated room labyrinths and face challenging bosses while mysterious events unfold throughout the game. Be prepared for unpredictable challenges and tests at every turn, creating an immersive atmosphere that draws the player deeper into the world’s mysteries and enigmas. Will you be able to unravel all the secrets of Unalive? Only time will tell…
In Unalive 010 from Random Spin Games, you’ll have to save your office from being overrun by monsters. You’ll begin in your base and will have to go through different rooms and clear every monster there is before moving on to the next room. This game is also a roguelike, so if you lose all your health in a run, your progression will be reset, and you’ll be back at square one.
One thing that was nice is that the levels are randomly generated, so the layout will change every time game you play. But even with the level randomization, there isn’t much variety, and you’ll have to fight the same few enemy types every time. Speaking of enemies, there aren’t many, and they are often color-swapped. At the end of each section, you’ll go up against one of the four bosses, and they honestly feel like they have too much energy and will need to be fired at again and again until they die. After each boss is beaten, your control center will magically move to the room before the boss, and you’ll be able to go there to upgrade your equipment or increase your health meter – if you have enough resources to pay for the upgrades.
This game is a twin-stick shooter, and to be honest, the controls are a mess, and you’ll need some time to get used to them. First of all, shooting is made by pressing the R1 button, which is not the standard attack button on the PlayStation 4 controller. I would have preferred being able to remap it to the standard R2 trigger. Another weird choice is that the Triangle button changes the equipped weapon instead of using the left D-Pad. There is very limited ammo for each weapon type, so I often just resorted to using the default and weak base gun.
There are many things I didn’t like in this game, but one of the worst issues I had is that there isn’t any clear indication of when you lose HP – other than an “ugh” from your character. I would have liked it to be more clear – having my character flash or a comic book-style pop-up – so that I didn’t have to check my health at all times.
As for the presentation, the atmosphere was simple and gloomy, but there were too many red elements that made some smaller red enemies harder to see. Even when playing this PlayStation 4 game on my PlayStation 5, I was disappointed by how the game wasn’t that fluid – I did not even reach 30 FPS! Every time you enter a new room, objects will magically pop in as if they couldn’t be loaded before the room was shown. There also isn’t much text in the game, and nearly all of the dialogue boxes have weird grammar mistakes. For the amount of text in this game, a professional translator could have proofread the text.
This game features a quick Platinum trophy that can be a bit tricky since one of its trophies requires you to finish the whole game in a single life. The trophies themselves are mostly unlocked as you defeat up to 130 enemies, use the upgrade system, and, as mentioned, defeat the last boss. If you’re curious, here’s a Unalive 010 Trophy Guide that could help you.
I was disappointed by Unalive 010. I liked how the levels were randomly generated, although this game lacked enemy variety and had a weird unchangeable control scheme. There’s also no clear indication about when you get hit, which often leads to surprises when watching your energy left. Finally, even on my PlayStation 5, this game wasn’t very fluid, so this is one title that would definitively benefit from a new round of fixes. It does have a Platinum trophy and is available at a low price of only $1.99.
Disclaimer
This Unalive 010 review is based on a PlayStation copy provided by Random Spin Games.
