Earth Atlantis Review

Earth Atlantis. I must say, this game certainly caught my attention right from the start. Normally, I’m not a huge fan of the 2D bullet-hell shooter, but there was something about the idea of a vastly climate changed Earth containing tons of unique bosses that I just really found interesting. Sure enough, after playing Earth Atlantis and seeing what the title had to offer, it definitely was interesting. Of course, it was also a little disappointing too.

Starting off with the positives, I really enjoyed the variety of enemies that Earth Atlantis had on display. Not just with bosses either, but even the basic enemy types were varied in regards to abilities. Some would shock you, others would fire bubbles at you, then there were those that only attacked you if you attacked them. Honestly, the amount of creativity here is amazing to see, especially since the developers could have just as easily settled for three enemy types which would’ve been copy pasted all over the map. Not the case, thankfully, as the effort to keep things fresh in Earth Atlantis can be clearly seen in-game.

With that in mind, the visuals also deserve a special mention. I’m not over exaggerating when I say that the background in this title is absolutely gorgeous. If anything will make you come back to Earth Atlantis, it’ll be the amount of detail put into the world. The structure, the scenery, it’s all there to help bring across this larger than life feeling of emptiness. Which ends up working marvelously because of the way that the game is designed.

Unfortunately, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. Although the detail put into the game was incredibly well done in the looks department, it really lacks in vibrancy. The game basically uses two different shades of beige throughout which is pretty upsetting since everything else feels so alive. This wouldn’t be as big of a deal in most other occasions, but it just comes across as boring and soulless. Personally, I would’ve gone with variations of dark green instead, that why you can keep the deep ocean feel along with adding some pop to the world.

So with variety, visuals, and vibrancy out of the way, time to discuss one of the most important features, gameplay. Well, the nicest thing I can say when it comes to Earth Atlantis and the gameplay is that boss fights are entertaining. That’s pretty much the only thing that’s entertaining, but hey, it’s more than some other games have. Now, the reason why bosses are the only entertaining factor is in relation to something I said earlier. Near the start of the review, I had talked about the remarkable amount of variation between both bosses and basic enemies. This is still true, I’m not going back on that. The problem that arises, however, is that with all the different styles and abilities that come into play, one is bound to be better than the other. In the case of Earth Atlantis, bosses just happened to be the more interesting opponents, which made fighting the basic enemies more of a chore than a treat.

Honestly, I say the bosses made for the more interesting challenge, but it’s not all that challenging to fight them. The controls for this title are pretty simplistic, with one button to shoot and one button to turn. As soon as you figure out that shooting while going up and down gets you pretty far in the game, you’ll learn quick that you’re mostly going to each boss for their design, rather than going for any sort of challenge. I will admit though, ‘The Warrior’ boss kicked my ass thoroughly, so be prepared for that if you get this title.

So with all that being said, is Earth Atlantis worth your time? Yeah, if you can get it for cheap. The detail and design of the game is going to be the biggest selling point here, as the gameplay feels like its only there because it is a videogame, and we all know that videogames have gameplay. Again, the bosses and basic enemies are interesting by having their own unique styles, but sooner or later the bosses take top priority over all else. Not necessarily a bad thing, but fighting the standard enemy in a bullet-hell shooter shouldn’t feel like a chore. So yes, if your a big fan of the overall design that goes into a game then that’s where your bound to find Earth Atlantis’s strongest qualities.