Monster Shooter - Dual-Stick Mayhem Perfected! Review

Dum Dum is one mad fella. Alien octopi stole his kitty so I can't say I really blame him. I mean really, what kind of a jerk does something like that? So like any faithful pet owner Dum Dum goes on the warpath, cutting a swath of crustacean carnage through the galaxy.

Monster Shooter is a shooter, obviously. A twin-stick shooter to be precise. Each of the many, many stages (split between three different worlds) is full of increasingly difficult waves of alien invertebrates. Cash can be earned by completing levels and offing alien scum, then be used to purchase better weapons and other various items from the shop. As expected, it's also possible to buy money through in-app purchases.

I have to admit I'm rather impressed by Monster Shooter's visuals. Call it an unfair bias, but I wasn't expecting a free-to-play game to look this good. The colors are vibrant, the lines are sharp and the animations are pleasing. The over-the-top use of blood is sort of like the icing on a rather violent cake. I also find the weapons very satisfying. The various elements (sound, effectiveness, visuals and sense of impact) just come together very, very well. There aren't many paid games that have guns that feel this solid.

While the presentation, visuals and overall satisfaction to be had in Monster Shooter are top-notch, I did run into a few problems. While I love the idea of earning experience to buy "perks" (faster reload speed, etc...), I was disappointed to find that they don't carry over between levels. I get it, but it still bums me out. I also wish I could earn cash a bit faster. My big issue, though, is how easy it is to get Dum Dum hung-up on pieces of the environment. It's kind of annoying and it makes the whole "not dying" thing a bit tougher than it should be.

Despite these mostly minor issues I really enjoyed playing Monster Shooter. It can get really freaking tough, but it's a surprisingly solid game. Especially considering that it's freemium.