RANDOMAX is a vertical shoot ‘em up developed by ASTRO PORT and published by Sanuk Inc. It’s a brief roguelite where no two playthroughs are the same between the weapons you receive and the bosses you face. This title is easily addictive, though it is on the short side.
Also acting as a visual novel, RANDOMAX does have a storyline, though I didn’t find it important. I enjoyed this game more as an arcade title than anything else due to the high score features, fast-paced gameplay, and quick stages. I got through all stages within twenty minutes (give or take) each time I played.
In the year 2050, the Sepulch Space Archipelago galaxy is attacked by Randomax Pirates. Three women–Cosmi, Urara, and Dariha–hop in their respective ships (along with a shipping company, ARGO EXPRESS) to fight against these marauders. The character you chose to play during that run and the boss have a quick conversation before and after the fight. Everything about the story is the same no matter who you play as. Since the game is so short, I didn’t think the story element was needed. After playing through it once, I skipped all the dialogue boxes during each run. I found the dialogue to be a bit annoying, but it’s a minor complaint.
The gameplay is where RANDOMAX truly shines. It’s bullet hell at its finest, with each ship being able to equip up to three types of weapons at once. The controls are easy enough, using the L-stick to move and holding down the X, A, and B buttons to shoot their respective weapon. There are more than seventy types of weapons you can get, ranging from homing missiles, lasers, shuriken, bubbles, and even balloons. Some weapons shoot forward, others in multiple directions, and some will shoot in the opposite direction from which you’re moving. My favorite weapons to get were the heat seeking ones (which were great for boss battles) and full-screen weapons so there was little aiming involved. I could shoot to my heart’s content and focus on collecting the items.
When defeating enemy ships, they’ll drop items that’ll help fill your health meter to give you an extra hit, your ship’s shield (for a free hit), or the extend meter (which will help give you an extra boost). To be honest, the game is so fast-paced—with the screen covered in bullets and explosions—that I didn’t often notice these meters. I shot my weapons, collected the items, and, when something good happened, I praised myself and kept going.
RANDOMAX does have some strategy involved, though. After each enemy wave, you’ll visit the ARGO EXPRESS ship which will give you the option of choosing one, two, or three new weapons at random. You can reject a weapon or assign it to one of your buttons. When assigning a new weapon, it’ll stack on top of the existing weapon in that spot. It won’t replace it, though you’ll need to use up all the bullets of the weapon on top in order to use the next in that slot.
The ship will also sometimes give you the chance to add a ship upgrade, such as a flame wall around your ship, adding extra guards around you to deflect bullets, and more. I found the guard to be the most useful since I often didn’t pay attention to the enemies’ bullets, but the enemies themselves. Or, I had my homing bullets do the work so I could aimlessly fly around the screen.
RANDOMAX has five difficulty settings, too: easy, normal, hard, insane, and ultra. I started the game on normal and promptly got my butt kicked. Once I learned more of how the game worked through the easy setting, I worked my way up each challenge. Despite the enemies’ increase in bullets, I found the game got easier as I worked my way up and improved my strategy, despite the randomness of the weapons.
After completing the easy mode for the first time in twenty minutes, I thought the game was just alright. Then I blinked and realized I had put roughly five to six hours into it. I got through all five difficulty modes with all three characters. With over seventy weapons and forty bosses to find, I didn’t quite complete the game. Otherwise, it’s a matter of beating your own high scores. There’s no online leaderboard, multiplayer, or anything like that.
So, in terms of replayability, you’ll get your money’s worth out of this title. But it is short. I can see myself going back to RANDOMAX here and there to play a quick round or two. It’s certainly a fun time and, even though I wasn’t impressed by it at first, it quickly sucked me in. Despite the story not being needed, and some brief lag when there are tons of explosions on screen, this game is addictive.
