Conceptually, this game does nothing to reinvent the wheel. Fortunately, that doesn’t matter, because making the wheel roll smoothly is as great an achievement as creating an original concept. Silverfish DX is one such wheel that travels buttery smooth in all its non-shmup shmupity polish. It took me less than a minute to see that the tight focus of the gameplay achieves what it sets out to do with quality (stable frame rate, beautiful aesthetic, etc.). However, it took me even less time to realize that the pinpoint controls necessary to navigate around the groups of enemies, in combination with sensitivity settings that don't seem to go quite low enough, would keep the game one step from greatness. Trying to move about with a strong sense of accuracy is an impossibility because the player never feels like they’re in total control. Navigation is analogous to being on an ice skating rink for the first time with someone pushing you continuously from behind, all while having you weave through groups of other people and simultaneously chewing gum. Essentially, the quick responsiveness of the turns is spot on for the demands of the close quarters avoidance combat, but that same responsiveness serves as a recipe for accidentally heading off in the wrong direction when it matters most. I also think that slipping off the virtual stick is an issue here as well (which is as much an inherent flaw of touch screen gaming than it is developer oversight) and is compounding the other control drawbacks. Having an option to make the stick position customized and slightly visible may be of help.
Four solid stars for being a Premium nugget in a sea full of Hodappium garbage. Excellent presentation and all the other positives the game offers, however, are marred by the aforementioned issue.
EDIT: Bumped my score from 4 to 5 stars because the music that’s used for after dying sounds like it’s straight from The Warriors 👌 I also keep coming back to play, which emphasizes how good the game is despite its shortcomings.
4.5
