{"id":16805,"date":"2017-08-30T00:01:03","date_gmt":"2017-08-30T00:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/?p=16805"},"modified":"2017-08-14T16:34:57","modified_gmt":"2017-08-14T16:34:57","slug":"graceful-explosion-machine-ps4-switch-pc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2017\/08\/30\/graceful-explosion-machine-ps4-switch-pc\/","title":{"rendered":"Graceful Explosion Machine (PS4, Switch, PC)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Graceful Explosion Machine hearkens back to the days of classic arcade shooters like Defender.\u00a0 Pilot your spacecraft around continuously looping screens as you shoot everything that moves. \u00a0When there\u2019s nothing left to shoot, you win and move onto the next level.\u00a0 The game is available to download on PS4, Switch, and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.<\/p>\n

Each planet in the game has several levels, and in each level, there are phases of enemy waves that you must survive.\u00a0 When you pass all the phases in a level, you win.\u00a0 But get hit too many times and it\u2019s Game Over and you must start over at the last phase.\u00a0 Maneuver your ship around with the L stick and flip shooting direction with the L trigger button.\u00a0 The R trigger button lets you dash through crowds of enemies when you\u2019re in a pinch.<\/p>\n

Your ship comes equipped with a multitude of weapons.\u00a0 Your main zapper shoots forward about three fourths of the way to the end of the screen.\u00a0 You can shoot it rapid fire, but you\u2019ll have to be careful because it can overheat if you use it too much, and you won\u2019t be able to fire for a few seconds if it does.\u00a0 Mind the meter on the bottom of the screen so that it won\u2019t happen.\u00a0 Luckily you get three secondary weapons.\u00a0 Press the square button to unleash a laser sword that circles your ship and defeats nearby enemies and deflects bullets.\u00a0 Hold down the circle button to fire a long distance laser that can zap far away enemies.\u00a0 And the triangle button releases a barrage of homing missiles to destroy multiple targets.\u00a0 You\u2019ll have to be careful when using these secondary weapons, though, as they require power.\u00a0 Collect crystals from defeated enemies to refill your power bar so you can use your special weapons.<\/p>\n

Again, the 2-D looping screens in this shooter made me think of arcade classics like Defender (there\u2019s even a radar screen at the top that shows where everything is), and the brightly colored geometric graphics reminded me of some of the PixelJunk games.\u00a0 Aside from the high challenge, the only other problem I had with the game is that the explosions are so colorful, it made it hard to see enemies in all the chaos.\u00a0 That\u2019s really the only time I ever got hit was when that happened.\u00a0 But if you enjoy challenging arcade style gameplay, you may want to try this out anyway.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Kid Factor:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Your spaceship shoots simple shapes and graphics that explode in colorful rainbows, and that\u2019s about as violent as it gets.\u00a0 Reading skill is helpful for some of the text, but not necessary just to play.\u00a0 Younger gamers may get frustrated at the high challenge level, though.\u00a0 Graceful Explosion Machine is rated E for Everyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Graceful Explosion Machine hearkens back to the days of classic arcade shooters like Defender.\u00a0 Pilot your spacecraft around continuously looping screens as you shoot everything that moves. \u00a0When there\u2019s nothing left to shoot, you win and move onto the next level.\u00a0 The game is available to download on PS4, Switch, and PC, but reviewed on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16805"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16805\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16807,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16805\/revisions\/16807"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}