Psyvariar 3? Is it just another SHMUP (Shoot 'em up) or does it bring something new to the genre?
The team from RED ART GAMES was kind enough to send us the game a few days before its official release, so I had the opportunity to see what awaits us.
To start, the story. A classic. During intergalactic wars, Earth was destroyed and abandoned, but the space faction Psyvariar decided it was too precious to let it fade into oblivion. They decided to reclaim and colonize it. Decades have passed, and the colony on Earth is growing. Suddenly, an alien signal from space. The invaders have returned - Earth is under siege again! It's time for the Psyvariars to rise once more as the last line of defense against the space invaders.
Psyvariar 3 is a classic arcade shoot 'em up. You have 7 pilots at your disposal, each with a unique spacecraft and special weaponry, and it's up to you to choose which one you want to use to save the Earth. Besides that, you won't learn anything about them. In battle, the screen will greet you with hundreds of bullets, rockets, lasers, and other projectiles, there’s no pattern or sense. Or is there? With a hypnotized gaze, you watch the trajectories of the projectiles trying to avoid them, but unsuccessfully. You've been hit! But what is this? Instead of disappearing in a beautiful explosion, your weapon is enhanced and the bullets destroy enemies as if they were nothing.
What happened? Well, your hitbox is actually just a small square in the middle of the spacecraft. Although this isn't something innovative, Psyvariar 3 makes excellent use of the Buzz mechanic, so if you fly very close to the bullets, practically grazing them, a Buzz zone is activated that gives you XP, or Neutrino, as it's called in the game, and when you collect enough of it, you will level up and temporarily become invulnerable, which will be crucial in later missions. Thus, you are rewarded for an aggressive playstyle; you literally jump in front of the bullet instead of running away from danger and trying to avoid every projectile - because it’s impossible anyway.
As for modes, you have Arcade, Endless, Mission, Caravan, and Practice available, which will keep you busy, while different difficulty levels that offer more points encourage replayability. Psyvariar 3 has that retro arcade feel that will make you want to improve your score!
Visually, I'm not impressed. The game tries too hard to look realistic - and fails. The textures are outdated, as if taken from another game rather than made specifically for this one. You can horizontally and vertically stretch or shrink the play area, but it just stretches and compresses the textures, making it look even worse. It would look much better in a cartoon style like some of the SHMUP classics like R-Type or Aero Fighters. Also, although on the Nintendo Switch 2 you can switch from Quality, which runs the game in 4K, to Performance at 120fps, I didn’t notice any significant difference. The game runs flawlessly, with no stuttering or frame rate drops even when there’s so much happening on screen that you have no idea what’s going on.
Unlike the graphics, the audio is quite good. The sound of your weapon, projectile hits, buzzing, explosions, bombs, each has a distinct sound effect. Personally, I found the female voice that announces when you level up to be very annoying - sometimes it happens every few seconds! The background music is catchy, featuring 25 different "songs" that you can listen to in the audio menu.
In conclusion, Psyvariar 3 will likely appeal to fans of retro arcade shooters, but I am not one of them.
Nintendo Switch 2 copy of the game for review purposes was provided by the publisher RED ART GAMES.
