REVIEW : Bartlow’s Dread Machine (PC)
Bartlow’s Dread Machine drives us back to the more naive times when arcade engines were more power-driven filled with gears, pulleys and arms. This twin-stick shooter injects a small dose of style and imagery which we quite greeted. While not perfect, Bartlow’s Dread Machine does hold our attention long enough, taking us through a story filled with mystery, intrigue and suspense.
Bartlow’s Dread Machine, as we said earlier, is a twin-stick shooter displayed in the form of an ole timey engineering arcade engine from the initial 1900s, the rise of the electronic age. You play as a member of the Secret Service thrust into a charge of extreme value as President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt is abducted. The abduct is made even stranger as now you will have to fight through the hordes of otherworldly creatures of the Anarcho-Satanists, which is shrouded in secrecy, to rescue the Commander in Chief. The play will take you across six levels spanning from New York, San Francisco, on trains and ships and utilising weapons common and futuristic.
If you are familiar with twin-stick shooters, you’ll be at home. One stick controls your character’s movement, while the other stick commands where you shoot. Your movement is restricted to different paths on the present board, think like a game like Pac Man. As you clear the goals from section to section, which might include a puzzle mechanic, the board sometimes flip, open, and rearrange. Some of the climax of the stage with a boss battle which might change the angle of perspective.
We did want to point out something about the controls which was kind of frustrating as we played. While only having fixed paths of travel, sometimes when the game throws many enemies and bullets at once, being able to quickly switch to another path at an intersection becomes very imprecise. This causes your character to maybe not go in the direction you wanted or worst get stuck on the corner of the intersection. Beyond this, switching weapons, deflecting and using your elixirs or items, worked like a charm.
Levelling up your character is very important as it can be the difference between a smooth challenging stage or a hair-pulling couple hit death. You have three lives to start with, as well as be able to be hit several times. If you made it to a checkpoint, great because if you died, you would start at the checkpoint. Once all your three lives have been used up, it’s game over. Every time you defeat an enemy, they will drop a money bag. Be sure to hurry and collect it, because it will disappear after a couple of seconds. At the begin and in midway games, you will be ready to obtain various items such as weaponry, hats, coats, pants, and potions. Caps, jackets, pants and elixirs offer boosts to strength, increase injury resistance, give speed boosts, increase the amount of cash you can pick up, etc. Mixing and matching can guarantee your success so be sure to find the right combo that matches your play style.
Along with levelling up your character, you’ll be able to find hidden characters that each have special attributes and weapons as default. While you are not able to switch between characters once you start a new game, playing as these hidden characters do offer a bit of replayability once you have completed the game.
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