"Skillfully pilot the advanced Graceful Explosion Machine (GEM) fighter while blasting swarms of crystalline enemies with your ludicrously overpowered quad-weapon array!
Lost in deep space, you'll shoot, dash and combo your way through jewel-hued alien worlds, fighting to find a way home."
Graceful Explosion Machine is simple, pure arcade fun, with a level of polish and attention to detail in the design that's rarely seen. It's the sort of game that you can pick up for a quick 5 minute session, and then find yourself still playing hours later.
There's just something about these types of games that make them intrinsically addictive. After playing Graceful Explosion Machine for long enough, and getting into the flow, the experience is fast, manic, and fluid - the sort of gameplay that harkens back to the pure and simplistic joy that was the core of arcade shooters of the '90s. That being said,...
There are graphics that pop with color, and an entrancing techno soundtrack that just keeps pulling you into the frenzy.
There are a lot of great ideas found within Graceful Explosion Machine, and I can't wait to see how they're build upon in future games. I never got the itch to better my scores after completing a level (some sort of unlockable structure would've helped), but I found myself enjoying the challenge that Vertex Pop had on offer more often than not. Occasionally...
Graceful Explosion Machine is a thoroughly solid title with enough content to last. However, it lacks passion. It has an almost clinical approach to everything, which makes for a shmup that's only enjoyable with the right mind-set. This genre is designed around stoking a flame in one's heart. After spending enough time mere pixels away from death, there...
