Quick Review: Zero Reflex

Ooh, closing these Quick Reviews on a pure test of skill. Yes! Why do I feel observed?

This was the first level I encountered.

A creation of Exordium Games released on November 5th, 2015, Zero Reflex (also known as Zero Reflex: Black Eye Edition) is a Bullet Hell game based entirely on a simple premise: Attacks come from an eye at the center of the screen, and the little thing you control can only move around the eye in a circle. Move with either A and D, the left and right arrows, or the left and right Crtl, that’s all the controls you need. No need for a grandiose story either, all we have is the many challenges ahead.

This one is clever: The darkness won't kill you
outright, but the bullets are the same color so
you can't see them in those shadowed areas.

Every stage sticks around for exactly 30 seconds, and you have three lives. Avoid the various bullets, hazards and other dangers, most of them coming from the eye itself, other times floating around the circle you’re moving on. A game of this type with a limited form of movement is an interesting idea, but since it’s so simple, it’s gotta have something extra outside of controls to back it up. Well, it does… if you consider colorful graphics as good enough. On the front of style, the game delivers, as every level feels special and adds a little something to the overall experience. That said, if you want the full package, you need to try and get through the Psychedelic Mode, where the background moves and serves as a greater distraction while you go around avoiding the bullets sent your way.

Those things jumping around the "planet"
were a big roadblock for me.

Two power-ups can help you, if you can manage to reach them. The first provides a shield against damage for a few seconds, while the second unleashes a shockwave that will remove all bullets in its area (but not larger hazards). On every level, you have three “Hit Points”. Doesn’t sound so bad, does it? Well, the catch here is that if you lose all three HP, you are booted back to the previous level. So you have to beat that one again. Not so bad once you’re accustomed to the game. However, some back luck and you wind up far back. Well, at least they’re gonna be in the same order.

And everything is out there for your blood. Shuriken, ladybugs, snake tongues… sometimes the circle is bigger, sometimes it’s smaller… sometimes it’s not visible, so you have to approximate where your cursor is going… A couple instances remind me of other pure skill games on Steam, like Super Hexagon.

Those damn circular saws are even harder to
avoid when the background is distracting me.

Also included are a Practice Mode accessible from the main menu, as well as a Hard Mode unlocked after beating Normal Mode, followed by an even tougher Nightmare Mode. The main difference between them is that on Normal, your three HP restock at every level and you go back 1 level, but on Hard, you only regain 1 HP at each new level and go back two levels. I assume that on Nightmare difficulty, your HP doesn’t restore at all, and you go back three levels. Good luck! At least the game puts you through only 20 levels (out of the 25 the game is made of). With the 30-second limit for each, this means a successful run takes 10 minutes at the minimum. That said, the difficulty gets intense fast, especially on higher difficulties.

This one’s fun. Catchy music, simple yet fun graphics with the possibility to add a psychedelic twist to them, and basic gameplay that’s all you need for what Zero Reflex wanted to be. It’s pretty fine, if you feel like paying 3.99$ USD for it on Steam, anyway.

Oh, that goddamned level... Yes, for the
record, the clock hands outside the circle
will hurt you as well.

The one thing that bugs me is the first negative reviews on the store page that say there may have been something scummy going on with this game on launch, with Exordium Games promising a 10K$ prize to someone going through all 60 levels (I assume all three main difficulties) and giving proof. Yet, they’d argue most submissions showing a success were done through hacking, without telling how they verified for such things, and ultimately they gave the prize to someone they left anonymous. Very suspicious. If you’re not bothered by that (after all, the “prize” was “given” on January 2016, so all that’s left is the game itself) and want a challenge… well, it’s still around.

Man, talk about a weird downer end for these Quick Reviews. Hopefully we aren’t staying in the grim and the depressing with the upcoming big reviews… Oh, right. The next one is gonna be Sonic Forces… I can probably slip in a happier one in-between… I’ll see what I can do.