- Ride through a virtual grid from an '80s arcade
- Always be blasting as you're moving to fight or flight
- Get lost in the vaporwave visuals and tunes while blasting hostile polygons
Whether or not you grew up in the '80s, thanks to the overwhelming power of nostalgia, you've no doubt gotten some grasp on what style was like back then. It was also the golden age of the arcade (arguably the only age of the arcade) to the point where the average teenage-centric '80s film had at least one scene in one of them.
It was showing classics like Asteroid, Space Invaders, Centipede, and more. Sometimes, they would display screens of something completely unknown, consisting of a grid, flashing colours, and the outlines of numerous polygons. Pixeljam has taken those scenes and used them to craft the 3D shoot-'em-up, Grid Ranger. Let's see if this game can serve as an enjoyable blast to the past.
What is Grid Ranger?
Both a good thing and a bad thing about the first games is that the plot usually wasn't obvious and rarely spelt out for you. You're one thing facing against a bunch of other things, and you have to hit them before they hit you, and that's similar to what Grid Ranger has landed on. You are presumably the titular Ranger (controlling a pyramid-shaped entity), and you are exploring the titular grid. It's a neon hyperwave wonderland filled with shapes serving as decorations, obstacles, and enemies. As the Ranger, it's your job to clean up the grid by shooting at anything that's shooting at you. With enough blasting, the grid could become a vibrant, colourful, and flashing place.
Riding virtually in Grid Ranger
When it comes to shmups, you can either do too much or too little, so you need to strike a nice balance. Grid Ranger may have found that balance in creating an experience that fits comfortably in any arcade, you know, before they became totally obsolete. The first thing it has to handle is sights and sounds that remain solid no matter how long you play. It's got that whole vaporwave thing going on with long neon lines forming everything from the ground to the walls and everything in between. They can alternate in colours, flash brightly, and even pulsate if they're in the right mood. Combined with the synth jams that play as you play, it creates a similar chill feeling to a lo-fi playlist while still keeping you engaged.
And how does it engage you? Well, by giving you things to shoot. The ship (or pyramid) will move forward on its own, but won't go left or right unless dragged by your finger. Whenever that's happening, you'll constantly be shooting smaller ships (or pyramids) in front and to the left and right. It gives you decent coverage, but not enough to make it a challenge. It's also considerate to assume that the average player will constantly be pressing the fire button anyway, so combining it with the drag controls makes things more convenient.
The reason you'll be firing constantly is that everything will be crowding the grid. Obstacles like blocks and pillars will appear in your path, and you can either deftly avoid them or try to fill them with enough pyramids to force them not to be there anymore. You've also got aggressive neon polygons that will fly in from the sides and the horizon to try to take you down. They come in various shapes and formations, relying on either charging into you or firing their own flavour of colourful projectiles.
There's a spark of glee that's ignited whenever these shapes appear, and you get a chance to blast them with colour-changing effects until they burst into pieces. However, they won't go easy on you, and boss shapes will have no issue turning your smooth ride into a bullet hell.
Off the Grid Ranger
Shmups are not everyone's cup of tea, as they can tend to be too monotonous and straightforward once you get used to the patterns. While Grid Ranger works to keep things on screen, it could do more. One of the most satisfying things in any shmup is the concept of power-ups. Series like Gradius showed us just how fun it can be to turn your little ship into the ultimate source of bullets and missiles, but that's not the case here. You're stuck with your three-way standard projectiles the whole time, and it just leaves you wishing there were more sides to add to your pyramid.
The lack of power-ups also highlights another unfortunate aspect of this grid: It feels empty. Of course, there are plenty of lights, objects, and angry shapes, but those are primarily in the background. This is a prime environment to have a wide range of collectibles, but the only ones you get are small, shifting yellow squares. It's nice to get them, but all they do is recover one point of health when you collect a certain amount. It'd be nice to see future updates that add more assets with varying effects to create a fuller experience.
Become a Grid Ranger
Grid Ranger is a 3D shoot-em-up with an '80s vibe that takes you to an arcade you've likely only seen in movies. The visuals are flashy and colourful with convenient controls and a soothing beat to accompany your sessions. It definitely feels emptier than it could be and leaves much to be desired as to what can be done to make flying your ship more enjoyable and exciting. This may be your chance to get on the grid so that you can blast apart some nasty neon shapes.
Grid Ranger review - "It's the one arcade game that escaped the '80s!"
Grid Ranger lets you fly your clean neon vehicle across a glowing, colourful grid-space to blast anything in your way while you make do with your ship's base power and the few collectibles you can find.
Will Quick
Will Quick is a travelling writer currently dedicating his time to writing about the games he spends his free time playing. He's always on the lookout for the smaller and stranger of the bunch so he can shine a light on them.