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What if God made you a little glowing dot and music in your head had nowhere to go but out?
Developed solely by Jonathan Mak, Everyday Shooter won three awards at the Independent Gaming Festival at the 2007 Game Developers Conference. Unlike traditional arcade shooters, the sound effects in Everyday Shooter play in musical harmony with the game’s background music. Throughout Everyday Shooter’s album of games, typical arcade sounds of destruction are replaced with guitar riffs harmonizing over an all-guitar soundtrack.
No of Players: 1UK Release: 2008 US Release:2007UK Price: £4.99 US Price: $9.99
Review – by Keith Murray
Everyday Shooter.
The name alone conjures up so many different connotations before the joy pad has even been picked up. Does it implying it is nothing out of the ordinary, or is it trying to throw potential gamers off the scent? That a title can provoke questions before even clapping eyes on it says much about Jonathan Mak`s debut on the PSN.
Essentially a shooter with more than a nod to the sublime Tetsuya Mizuguchi title Rez, but clearly forging entirely its own agenda, the premise of Everyday Shooter (ES) is that every level has a different layout and chaining system and the player is charged with finding the correct way to manipulate this to their advantage.
Each enemy shot down releases points that are added to the players score, but they also unlock different filters, single play and travel mode extras. Single play is self evident, but travel mode allows the player to experience the different levels without dying and is recommended for those who are finding the whole premise intimidating.
The tone & diverse nature that prevails throughout cannot be understated. The level of innovation that surrounds the eight different levels is hard to describe without spoiling it completely for a player coming to this title for the first time. Porco in the Sky invokes memories of Snoopy from the Charlie brown cartoon of childhood, with the red baron-esque aeroplane which crops up. Or the lunacy that Bits of Fury unleashes at the player, scrabbling to keep alive long enough to instigate the very obvious chain technique before the end of level boss fight.
The wonderful, Underworld-inspired soundtrack does a good job of adding to the experience instead of being just an afterthought tacked onto the game mechanic. Normally a shooter would suffer from the standard musical fare on offer, but ES mixes this up in a totally different manner. With guitar used as the lead instrument it manages to create a vibe which blends the visuals and game play to create a wonderful, almost Synesthesia -like experience. It could almost be described as a CD, with different moods and flavours that add to the distinctive levels and favourites will stick in the mind long after the PS3 is shut down.
It’s fair to assume Everyday Shooter will split opinion between those who “get it” instantly and those who will scratch their heads and dismiss it out of hand.
To do so is to miss one of the finest releases so far on the much maligned Playstation Network.