Black Hole (Nintendo Switch) Indie One Shot

When I first fired up Black Hole I expected a quick text-filled cutscene explaining some back story and giving purpose to the gameplay that lay ahead. Instead, from the main menu, it only took a couple button presses and I was brought right into the game. Dufgames wastes no time with this title and simply drags you right into space, where your quest of destruction begins.

You'll pilot one of three ships, traveling through multiple black holes, destroying countless space rocks and enemy ships in this free-flying twin-stick shooter. The game spans forty levels, and every single one is jam packed with nostalgia for fans of the old school Asteroids. 

Before you hop into the first level, you'll be given a choice of three ships. Each has a stat bar representing their speed, power, and armor, and each ship is stacked in one of these areas more than the others. So as far as ship choice it really comes down to your play style. Do you want to move quick? Shoot strong? Or have a good defense in place in case your flying and shooting aren't on par?

Once a ship has been selected, you'll drop right into the main game. Control ship movement with the left joystick, and shoot with the right. That's all there is too it. You can free aim your weapon, so you won't be forced to shoot in whichever direction you're facing, making it great for firing on enemies while trying to evade them at the same time. And, there's no extra button to press while aiming your shot.  You will fire continuously until you let go of the right stick.

Between levels is where you can beef up your ship to make it more powerful. While you're killing enemies and breaking up rocks, some of these will drop power-ups. This can be health, shields, momentary uses of stronger shots, and Star Points. These star points are what's necessary for ship upgrades, and will act as a currency. On the upgrade screen, you'll be able to add shots to your main weapon (by default it shoots one round, each upgrade adds an additional shot so two, then three), the power of your main weapon and the rate of fire as well.

 

You can unlock a secondary weapon which will also auto-fire alongside your main weapon, and the same upgrades can be applied to the secondary weapon as well. Lastly, the ship itself can be upgraded for more health, faster flying, and stronger armor.

Throw all this together, and take away level-by-level checkpoints, and you've got Black Hole. This game is a lot of fun and does a great job at capturing the old arcade gaming feel, especially factoring in that when you die you go back to the beginning and have to start all over with a base-level ship. There's a lot of fun to be had in this game, so don't miss out on it!

Rating : 8/10
Developed and Published by : Dufgames