A mini-review of sausage based puns…
Arcade shooters have been the staple video game genre since time began. From cybernetic warfare, busting up street crime, 80s movie mash-up’s, and even animated delights, when it comes to creating a unique spin - I don’t think there’s much room to manoeuvre.
Enter, Dogfight - A Sausage Bomber Story that’s been developed by indie developer Katsu Games. While the title doesn’t do anything particularly unique - it’s oddly filled with sausage based puns. So, armed with an assortment of condiments and weaponised pork products, it’s time to strap into our aircraft and take to the skies.
As you can probably guess Dogfight doesn’t have a heavyweight narrative driving it’s on-screen story. Taking the role of one of four pilots, your charged with defending the friendly nations of Relishtopia, Dijon Terra, Fredonia, and Krautsborg from the hostile Vega Nation. Across the multiple campaign missions you’ll battle fierce resistance as the Vega Nation throws everything they have at you. From generic fighter planes, to powerful bombers, and even well crafted boss battles, there’s a lot between you and the sweet smell of sausage freedom.
Playing from the traditional vertical viewpoint, Dogfight offers all the staples that’s become traditionally associated with the genre. Starting off with basic weaponry, you’ll soon be scavenging the remains of your foes as some of them leave behind handy upgrades for you to use. These upgrades come in the form of a drone that flies near you and offers an additional attack, as well as acting as a shield. Attacks are also pretty simple and it all falls down to how quickly you can hammer the attack button. In an attempt to keep things hectic, you also have sausage bombs that can be dropped onto ground target. Hooray!
While the game is terribly generic, it does have a few sparks of light. This is mainly seen within the titles scoring system. Each mission comes with a set of stars which you’re rewarded based on performance. Do a good job means you’ll get more stars, which then unlocks additional weapons in your hanger.
This then offers an slight replay factor in order to chase a higher score, given the advantage that a new loadout could provide to then unlock more weapons.
When it comes to presentation, Dogfight offers a pleasant experience. It’s cartoon-like graphics paint quite a vibrant world, and when the bullets (and sausages) start flying, the game more than keeps up with the overcrowding. Of course, it can’t be discounted that I am playing the game on the Xbox Series X. Anyway, the titles soundtrack is also well designed with a well balanced musical score that keeps the tempo going across each level. As a fan of the humble boss battle, it’s also worth noting that Katsu Games have taken a splattering of what makes these battles great, and then added their own spin. I particularly enjoyed whittling down weak points and destroying the characters various weapons, rather than simply chipping away at an health bar.
Aside from a few difficulty settings and a speed run mode, Dogfight doesn’t offer much in a way to keep you invested once you’ve seen the credits roll. While this is a bit of a shame, it does highlight a general weak point that the plagues the genre.
Overall and Dogfight - A Sausage Bomber Story is a decent game to play on a rainy afternoon. It’s gameplay offers a solid shoot-em up experience, while it’s presentation has all the charm and whit of a Saturday morning cartoon. The real downside is that other then unlocking a few extra weapons, the world isn’t worth saving more than once.
Rating 6.5/10
A code was kindly provided by the publisher for this review.
Dogfight - A Sausage Bomber Story is available now from the Microsoft Store.
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