Nukezilla Review: Pew Pew Pod (Xbox Live Indie Games)

Every twin-stick shooter needs a twist to set itself apart from the competition. In Pew Pew Pod’s case the twist is that the player can switch between four different weapons on the fly. The four weapons broadly equate to a machine gun, a rocket launcher, a shotgun and a laser that bounces off the side of the arena. As an aid to memory, each weapon is colour-coded and corresponds to a button on the Xbox 360 controller. Much like Geometry Wars 2, Pew Pew Pod is divided up in to several different rulesets. As well as a standard “arcade” mode, where players kill waves of enemies within a time limit, there are modes of play with more specific objectives. Each of these modes accommodates up to four players.

Pew Pod does a decent job of mixing up the twin-stick shooter formula. Although some of the alternate game types feel like revisions of those found in other twin-stick shooters, one mode in particular caught my attention. Titled “Think Fast”, this particular mode introduces constantly shifting rules that must be obeyed in order to score points. It gives a sense of urgency to the action that I really appreciated. It also exposes the one main weakness of Pew Pew Pod‘s colour-coded weapons.

By tying each weapon to a face button, it makes the controls much easier to memorise. However, having to take my thumb from the right analogue stick to switch weapons means spending a brief but dangerous amount of time not shooting. Thankfully, the bumpers and triggers substitute for the trigger buttons but this negates the usefulness of colour-coding the weapons. After a while I adapted to the trigger/bumper controls and ignored the face buttons, but it added an unexpected learning curve to the experience.

My other main source of irritation during games of Pew Pew Pod was the lack of any screen-clearing weapon. It’s the one bog-standard feature of twin-stick shooters that’s been omitted from Pew Pew Pod‘s vocabulary. I found it frustrating when hordes of enemies were flocking towards me and the last ditch strategy that’s been drilled in to my head by Pew Pew Pod‘s genre peers wasn’t available. Even once I’d come to accept that I didn’t have that kind of option, I still felt a grim sense of inevitability as the crowds of enemies floated towards me.

Taken on its own merits, Pew Pew Pod is fun little twin-stick shooter with some interesting game types. As well as the aforementioned “Think Fast” mode, I enjoyed the “Waypoint” game type. In this mode, the player has to hit specific waypoints on the screen in order to progress. It’s certainly a pleasure to see an indie developer do something different with this particular genre. Unfortunately, the thing that holds this game back is its status as an indie game.

Personally, I need more than just the basic mechanics to play any shooter for an extended period of time. Achievements and a friends list full of competitors add that structure and sense of progression, something that Pew Pew Pod lacks. If you have 80 Microsoft points to spare, I’d certainly recommend that you play Pew Pew Pod. Just don’t expect to spend a long time with it

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Disclaimer: Bad Egg Studios provided a free code to download this game.