Review – Super Time Force

Xbox 360, Xbox One: €14.99

Teased since 2011, Capybara's pixelated shooter is finally here and it's as bonkers as promised. '80s action movie puns? Check. Frenetic gameplay? Super check. Everything amped to eleven? Über-duper check. Camp and dense with jokes, the first unlockable character is named "Jef Leppard", and the tone only goes downhill from there.

The groundbreaking invention here is the time-travel mechanic (lovingly rendered with VCR tracking effects). You choose a character, fight as far and as fast as you can, and when you die or run out of time, rewind as far as you like, choose a different character and play through again, but this time you're fighting alongside the character you just played through. Hectic as the gameplay is, much of the game is strategic, working out how best to layer up your characters for optimum effect.

★★★★☆

This review originally appeared in INSIDER Magazine with The Irish Independent.