“If I wanted to rim MS and Bungie, I’d have applied to Gamespot or IGN.”

I hold a very special place in my heart for those small downloadable games. At least those that don't waste my time. Arcade shooters that belonged in the Dreamcast era are especially great. Classics like Borderdown, Giga Wing 2 and Ikaruga all spring to mind with high difficulty levels and rewards to match. Enter Triggerheart Exelica, late to the party but we'll give her a go.



Cost: 800 Points



From the get go you have the choice of Exelica, who likes to spread for bread, or Crueltear, the straight forward kind of girl. Exelica's fire sprays across the screen which makes it fairly easy to hit all enemies whereas Crueltear's focuses more on the enemies directly in front of you. Both have access to bombs and a unique feature in the game called anchoring. Anchoring allows you to latch onto an enemy, the bigger the enemy the longer it takes to gain control, then swing them around 360 style (pun intended) wiping all the fire and enemies heading your way. Eventually you have to release your anchored enemy and if timed correctly it can hit an oncoming foe and take them out. This unique trait is essentially to minimising your life losses and can be practised to precise timing. If you're into that kind of thing.
The trouble with most top-down shooters is that they're not 16:9 friendly. Triggerheart Exelica takes up half of your lovely widescreen displays. In a game like this it is understandable, but it contributes towards the extinction of top down shooters.
I wanted to like this game but nothing in it screamed for my affection. Hot anime chicks can usually be enough but this shooter doesn't stand on its own among the rest.



With endless continues finishing this game will take you all of 15 minutes. Unless you're an achievement junkie or high score whore theres not really much replayability here. Shooter fans can save their pennies for the upcoming release of Ikaruga, a shooter that makes you think rather than offer a quick bang for your buck.