Xbox Reviews

BLEED review

BLEED 

Originally from Bootdisk Revolution, porting work by Nephilim Studios and published by Digerati. That’s a mouthful right? BLEED is a 2D -hardcore- twin stick shooter that will require a lot of skill to master. At the same time, while mastering it you’ll be impressed by how the game works and it is a real joy to play! Find out more in this review. 

THE GOOD

  • You have exceptions, but lately my main issue with 2D games is that I never really have a memorable characters anymore. It is the exact opposite for BLEED! The playable girl named Wyrn, looks awesome with her purple/pink hair. The narrative isn’t really strong but you do get a pretty strong connection with your protagonist.
  • Gameplay is self-explanatory, you shoot enemies in a twin-stick shooter way while dodging danger and hazards. That sounds a hell of a lot easier because BLEED is a challenging game. Aiding you in surviving the game is a slow motion ability and an accurate triple jump, you will need to control both to perfection if you want to successfully complete the game. Like always, actually surviving and dodging dangers on time is the most important part in this kind of game.
  • The game really shines when you face bosses, forcing you to use all your skill and attention. It has some typical memorization parts (boss attacks) but nothing is unhandable.
  • RT to jump, it is a little weird at first but after a few minutes the controls really feel spot on. It is simply fantastic to control your character and guide the triple jump with slow motion through the fire hazards, monsters and trillion other dangers on-screen.

Mixed Feelings

  • Visually BLEED isn’t anything special, it gets the job done but nothing more. The simplistic style makes it a little bit easier to see upcoming fire from enemies. By the way, prepare to face A LOT of enemy fire.. your screen will be filled with ways to be killed.
  • Slow motion is fantastic but for such a crucial feature I hoped it would be a little bit more user-friendly to use.  On the screenshots you will see a yellow bar named “Time”, this shows how long you can use your slow motion ability. In practise actually looking at that bar while using it is an impossible task, making it a little bit hard to actually know when you are reaching your limit.

THE BAD

  • One problem for BLEED isn’t a tissue but the overall length from the Story mode. It only takes between one and two hours for finishing your adventure with Wyrn, the playable girl. The developer encourages you to replay levels but I didn’t really felt the need to do that. Replaying everything with just one life (Arcade Mode) isn’t my cup of tea anyway, it might be something for you though. Multiple difficulties and especially buying upgrades is a smart way to provide replay value but that doesn’t change the fact that you are playing the same stage over and over again.

BLEED is a challenging game that is a little bit short but fun, the controls are wonderful and the rush that you get from dodging danger is mind-boggling.

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