Take a simple top down shooter, add lots of color, 4 enemies vs one ship, trying to survive and reach the best score that you can, then do it again, this is InkSplosion.
General Gameplay
Gameplay is simple, survive waves of 4 enemies per level while your weapon changes from level to level and see how high you can get your score. There are three modes, your standard mode, arena, and a hard mode to choose from once you get past a score of 10K from the other levels. The Game Visuals are very simplistic, but this style does well for the game. The characters are in 8-bit styling and the game background fills with vibrant colors of blue, red, green yellow and other colors. There is a dashed line which will damage you if you cross it. The game does not support a colorblind mode, however in our playtesting, we did not see the need for it. Also, in our playtesting we did not see anything that would be offensive, as the game is a shooter it is more of what you would see in a space shooter and InkSplosion is very family friendly. Audio in InkSplosion is very basic as well. You have a general background music which is a very catchy techno style that fits the game. The game and the announcer that will announce what weapon that you will have for the wave. The game also has the basic shooting sounds as well ships being destroyed, again nothing that you would expect from a shooter. The game does not support surround sound but is not needed as it sounds fine in any speaker setting that you use. In our playtesting, we did not run into any issues with the sound, announcer or anything with the audio, this game is very family friendly. Controls in InkSplosion are very basic and easy to get use to. As the game is a twin stick shooter, you use both thumb sticks to move and shoot the enemy, also there is a slow down button to slow enemies down. The controls are set up in a way to make it very easy to pick up the game and play it without too much trouble. As the game does not need a special controller, the standard controller is fine to use when playing the game.
“To say that InkSplosion is a basic game is an understatement. Take a shooter, add a addicting style of beat your high score and rinse, wash, and repeat and you have this gem here!”
Family Friendly
I will have to admit that when I saw this come across my desk that I was a little taken back by the nature of the game. At its core it is a budget shooter with a basic model to it and I at first did not think that it would do well in our family gaming testing, boy was I wrong. InkSplosion has a very addicting nature to its gameplay and quite honestly it is a lot of fun. It takes a simple formula of just waves of waves of enemies, shooting them and trying to get the best score that you can. The fun come into seeing if you can beat your highest score. In our playtesting all our gamers were playing the game from young to old and having a blast. It is one of those simple but fun party games that everyone loves to play. If you have a family that is a little competitive, this is the game for your family. The game is simple to play, control and the fun factor is through the roof. Also it is a causal enough of a game that even if you are not a shooter fan you will still have fun playing the game. In our special needs game testing, we did not run into any issues with the game graphics, audio or even controls and found that all gamers of all ages were able to play the game without any trouble. If you are looking for a fun, casual shooter for either yourself or your gaming family, InkSpolsion is the game to play. The only bad thing, if you can even call it that is for gamers that are looking for a more hardcore shooter, this may not be the one for them.
Closing
Take a simple formula, add addicting gameplay, and the feature that makes you want to go back and play more and you have this gem of a title, a must have for any family gaming library!
