RPM – Road Punk Mayhem review

Like many examples of the genre, this vertical bullet hell shoot’em up has a tutorial. Nothing usual there, apart from the fact that it explicitly tells you to figure out a crucial mechanic for yourself. This results in a turbulent introduction phrase, not helped by the fact that RPM plays differently from many shooters out there. It also goes big on stylish presentation, with even the edge of the screen constantly pulsating. To call it an assault on the senses is off the mark, but still, it definitely takes some time to climatise.

Set in a post-apocalyptic world, we’re introduced to a trio of punkish bikers, each astride a dust churning motorbike. In lieu of different shot types, each has their own bullet formation – including homing missiles and a spread shot. You’re required to tap the attack button to fire, and there’s a reason for this: every character can emit a bright searing laser beam by holding down the same button, burning through smaller enemies. Standard shots allow for full mobility when steering, while the laser slows movement greatly.

RPM also grants infinite bombs – albeit with a limited range – that must be charged for 4-5 seconds before deployment. If that wasn’t enough convention-breaking for you, there’s the aforementioned crucial mechanic too. Namely, a warp ability activated by cancelling bombs early. It’s essential to use it regularly to glide over solid walls, energy rings, and immovable enemy formations. Until learning how to pull this move off, you’re going to blitz through your stockpile of credits quickly, and only a couple of continues are granted. To reiterate the opening paragraph, this makes for a rough first impression as it isn’t clear exactly where you’re going wrong. Work it out for yourself, eh?

It’s clear within minutes of starting that RPM favours style over clear readability. Projectiles are easy enough to avoid and your circular hit box is always visible, while the warp ability slows things down for a few seconds. All fine on that front. However, upon losing a life a character portrait appears just above your vehicle – significantly reducing visibility – and when you’re down to your last life, the screen distractingly glows red until you either die or grab a 1UP. The thick-lined comic book artwork is at least well drawn – initially, the way RPM looks is quite a big draw. There’s even a story here involving time travel, told using text-based cut-scenes.

When you finally become accustomed to the pulsating visuals and the breakneck pace, RPM finally reveals itself to be heavily based on memorisation. Stages are short, lasting a few minutes each, culminating in a runtime of just under fifteen minutes. Certain hazards such as brick walls can kill instantly, so you must memorise their locations. Power-ups also appear in the same place each time, and these are essential to grab – the main weapon can be upgraded several times over, making short work of bosses. Handily, these upgrades aren’t lost upon death. It’ll also throw an extra continue your way after reaching the midway point.

My experience with RPM entailed numerous swift and unexplainable deaths, resulting in around thirty minutes of head scratching, before finally grasping its mechanics and blitzing through the whole thing within an hour – unlocking every achievement in the process. The penultimate stage is remarkably short, and if you’re fully upgraded, the final boss shouldn’t give you much trouble.

So far so middling. But RPM has an ace up its sleeve: an online leaderboard based around the highest score gained using a single continue. I can’t say for certain if a 1CC is possible – the last two bosses lean heavily into the bullet hell aspect – but you can definitely gain quite a bit of mileage on a single try once you’ve mastered the basics and returned for additional playthroughs. Keeping in mind the multipliers and other means of boosting scores, RPM isn’t a bad little score chaser for those who want to stick around.

While RPM has a bit more going for it than the developer’s past works (Excessive Trim, Hell Well, Void Gore) odd design choices let the package slide. RPM puts stylish presentation above everything else, and ultimately, ends up paying for it. It’s perfectly acceptable for a shooter to feature a learning curve; that’s almost a given. But even for genre standards, this is a fleeting experience, abruptly ending before it has a chance to get going. Even at $6.99, you might end up feeling short changed. RPM may burn bright, but it fizzles out quickly.

Panda Indie Studio’s RPM – Road Punk Mayhem is out 17th July on all formats. Published by eastasiasoft.

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