The lights are flashing. The bass is pumping. You're moving with a single-minded intensity but never going anywhere. 90's rave? Or DonixGames' bullet hell shooter, Helinon? In this single screen action arcade game, you zip around with the glide of your mouse as you avoid the brightly colored geometric enemies that come hurtling after you. From whence they came is not mentioned nor your quarrel with them, but then again, an electric purple spiral is just an electric purple spiral, right? Attack your glowing enemies by... wait, no need, you attack automatically. But [V] will unleash a special attack and [space] opens up the menu where you can purchase more lives, more bombs and a (limited) number of upgrades to your weapon, all for the sake of... shape-ly dominance, perhaps?
Helinon sits in the class of bullet hell shooters that open up the playing field and really make you feel like you're taking full advantage of a two-dimensional screen rather than simply moving left and right with the occasional jolt up and down as in a traditional bullet hell like Boss Slayer. With no ultimate ending to the game, the achievement list provides a nice replacement, requiring you to experience the game in both easy and hard mode. And while Helinon doesn't add anything new to the genre, the tight controls and glowing graphics will have you mesmerized for a hypnotic lunch break*.
*(Glow stick jewelry and a crowd of sweaty bodies optional.)
At the first time, this game can be felt as poor or not too much interesting but in fact many things are very good inside if we play more than 3-4 games.
Just a note, when you activate a special weapon or get a shield, you can know the duration you will keep the weapon or the shield thanks to their red circles.
Feel free to post your best scores!
Believe me when I get the shield, I explode alllll on the screen!
27225 in hard mode on 5th try.
This is really cool! I like how all the enemies make different exploding sounds, and not only are you auto-firing, but auto-aiming. The only problem with this is that the AI doesn't lead its shots, but after a while there are so many enemies on the screen that it hardly matters. It's great that you can keep your upgrades, though it's a little weird that you have to actually go into the menu to get them back. There's no shortcut that I can see to resume the game, resulting in maybe damaging your "ship" (for lack of a better word) after you buy an upgrade. Also, how do you tell how many lights you have without going into the pause menu?
Thanks for that tip Leopardmask, I wondered what I was doing wrong.
You actually have to go into the hangar and click on the bullet level you want, I just saw them purchased and assumed they were there.
In other news good looking game that sounds like Guy Fawkes night here!
Made it to level 51 on my first try!! 5/5! Great Game, but not worth replaying to me.
Level 51? woowww you are a dude :)
Actually I reached level 215 at my 2nd try. This game makes me remember a lot about Spheres of Chaos, which has similar game mechanics and experience.
My only regret, as far as I'm concerned, is that, although each different enemy has its own AI, there are just not enough enemies (at least in Easy mode) to, after the first 100 levels, to keep going at it, other than for hi scoring.
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