Welcome to our review of Cygni: All Guns Blazing, a shmup that might be taking the bullet hell moniker a little too serious?
An unrelenting onslaught of eye-popping visuals, ear bursting soundscapes and mind-melting action makes CYGNI the vanguard for the next generation of Shoot-em Ups.
Outgunned and outmanned, plunge into a sky teeming with danger in a last-ditch battle for survival. Choose to route power between weapons or shield systems and go up against unrelenting waves of ground and aerial enemies. Upgrade your ship by picking up new tech and take down colossal alien bosses in visceral combat; do whatever it takes to survive.
CYGNI is an exhilarating space shooter elevating the genre to a truly next-generation experience. Encamped within the remains of a long-lost civilization on the planet CYGNI, Earth forces are decimated by a surprise attack from a powerful, biomechanical, alien race. As one of the last pilots on the last carrier in the fleet, you are the only line of defence against the unyielding alien bombardment.
• With next generation visuals, animation and special effects, CYGNI is a cinematic shoot’em up.
• Be the lone fighter battling through intensely hostile levels filled with waves of air and ground assaults.
• Choose where to route power on the fly switching between shields (defensive) or weapons systems (offensive).
• Collect energy to power up your ship and energise weaponry from hard-hitting nukes to inescapable vortex bombs.
• Launch air-to-air and air-to-ground attacks as you traverse neon-lit metropolises, moon-like landscapes and even outer space.
• Go one-on-one against gargantuan enemies in cinematically epic boss battles.
• Full orchestral score and immersive sound design.
Cygni: All Guns Blazing is one of those games where you either hate it passionately or love it. As someone that does occasionally dabble in this genre, I have to say it is harder than you’d expect. The game pretty much pushes all your buttons straight from the start and if not for the semi-hidden tutorial, I would have been very unhappy.
I know this is going to be a very mixed review, on the one hand, I am very happy with how well it is performing. This is an amazing game and the visual ‘gasm you’d expect from a game like this. The massive onslaught of enemies and bullets, yes, it is all present and it is mostly not forgiving. There are several ways to play the game, from just straight beams to homing firing, not counting upgrades. Shields, .. all are present but without the almost hidden tutorial, this game is going to be like throwing a kilo worth of the tiniest of Lego bricks and take off your shoes and socks and walk over it. Then you walk back because you realize you forgot something and then you do it a third time, just for the fun of it.
Also, what the fudge is up with that tutorial, how damned misleading is that supposed to be? As soon as you start the actual game, you are bombarded with enemies and bullets, far from the simplistic tutorial, but hey, this is a bullet hell after all, right?
In conclusion, Cygni: All Guns Blazing is basically your worst enemy if you do not like this genre, if you like a challenge though… This might be great.
