A parody history lesson

I’ll be honest with you; I have no idea what I just reviewed. What starts off as a full-on parody of the Xbox 360 dashboard and ends with a random 2D shoot ’em up, makes me think I’ve gone a little nuts. But here we are, playing Game Type DX.

MSRP: $5.99
Price I’d pay: $5

I guess I’ll start from launching the game. Players are thrown into the dashboard of what looks like a 2011 Xbox 360. The menus are filled with parody games and movies along with ads that look like they’re out of Family Guy or South Park. This is part of the game and part of the developers’ commentary – how to actually find the game. The 360 was notorious for hiding indie developed games behind multiple menus and layers that most were never even seen. They prioritize ads over actually showing off the new games on the system.

When players finally find the actual game, it is another strange adventure. Players play as a floating “hoodie girl” who shoots bullets at incoming enemies that range from standard to wacky. There are three modes of this game that up the difficulty and add a randomizer to the enemies and layout which is fine. The shoot ’em up experience is okay, and there are a few neat tricks like a slowdown ability, but at the end of the day, it’s a standard shmup affair.

It’s a short experience and I get what they were going for. I feel like after about two play sessions, most players would get everything they could out of it. There is an online leader board that players can chase for the high score, but other than that, there is not much replay value. Granted, it’s a six dollar game and one that has some easy achievements for those achievement hunters out there, but for the shmup fan, there are better ones out there. If you’re looking for a parody game with some tongue in cheek commentary, there are some here, and a decent shooter to go along with it, but let me be the first to tell you, this is a two-hour experience at best.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.