Modern games are all well and good. Massive worlds to explore that take several dozen hours to complete and backed up by a deep and involving plot. But sometimes, just sometimes, you want some no-nonsense arcade action. From developer Went2Play and publisher 7 Raven Studios comes Shootvaders: The Beginning.

“The Space mission center has ordered you to fly into space and find a new planet. New planet will bring a new possibilities to humankind. The flight won’t be easy! The universe has many alien groups that want to stop you.”

The core gameplay of Shootvaders: The Beginning is nothing too groundbreaking. In fact, I’d even say that it is outdated by several decades, and this is not a bad thing. The second I began to play this one, I was transported back to the arcades circa 1981 with the likes of Galaxian and Galaga. Simple, basic shooting action. You control a ship and shoot at waves of various enemies. Said enemies can and will break formation to swoop down at you.

Shootvaders: The Beginning is basic to the point that it does feel over 40 years old. However, this is a modern take on that classic gameplay and brings with it all sorts of refinements. Using the popular rogue-lite sub-genre, you shoot enemies, earn in-game currency, die, buy upgrades and weapons and try for another run. You make little steps of progress as your ship gets stronger and more capable.

There’s quite a decent range of weapons and upgrades too. There are three different in-game currencies to maintain. You have normal money to buy human weapons, alien material to buy alien tech and then there are stars, which you use to purchase upgrades. As you shoot the many enemies in the game, they will randomly drop these currencies or even timed weapon upgrades that only last a few seconds.

Shootvaders: The Beginning is a budget title with a £6 price tag. Available to buy now for PC and all of the consoles. For £6, you really get a great game here. A game that took me back to classic arcade shooters, but with a modern twist. The graphics are bright and colourful and you even get a co-op mode too. I do have a couple of niggles. First, the font on the weapon select screen is too damn small and it’s very difficult to see how much things cost. Even playing on a large 58″ TV, I really struggled to read the font as it is so tiny. Second, there is no description of what any of the weapons do. You do get some basic stats, damage, speed, etc but that’s about it. You just have to spend your money and find out what they do and how the weapons work. Exactly what is a ‘War Melter’ or a ‘Bomb Blower’ or a ‘Fuse Cropper’? I have no idea and I’ve played the game.

Still, niggles aside, this is a simple but very enjoyable title at a great budget price too. If you have a bit of spare change doing a lot of nothing, you could do worse than buy a copy of Shootvaders: The Beginning.