Luftrausers

Luftrausers has just one gameplay idea but executes it in a best way possible. [05/2014, p.67]

It’s a constant thrill, one that can steal away a whole afternoon but still satisfy you even after a couple of rounds.

The near-perfect controls combined with the great soundtrack and visuals mean it’s difficult not to like Luftrausers, and its simplicity makes it accessible to everyone.

Luftrausers' success is its addictive duel between confidence and doubt; what's the best option when every choice is conceivably the best option? Providing the player with heaps of ways tackle problems is nothing new, but creating a large number of choices and making each one uniquely viable? That's special, and it's Luftrausers' specialty.

If you strip away the Rauser parts and the catchy soundtrack, Luftrausers would still stand on its own because of its excellent gameplay. But those features add so much depth and excitement that they actually pushed me to become a better player.

Daredevilry is exactly what this astonishing shooter delivers.

The sense of flight and weightlessness is as intoxicating as the build-what-you-want nature of the game's war machines. And besides, dying is just an excuse to try out a new combo of parts, and I'm mighty curious to see how an armored, cannon-firing airplane with an underwater engine would handle.

Luftrausers is a great a time-waster, a great test of your leet twitch skills, and a game that doesn’t assume too much and just lets you enjoy yourself.

Luftrausers is the Vlambeer dancing take on bullet hell genre. A constantly changing hard, satisfying and loud experience. Sepia dyed. Just perfect.

Luftrausers is a nice little getaway from the story-focused games that populate the landscape nowadays.

Luftrauser is a great game. Vlambeer create a little gem for the indie market, a perfect mixture of gameplay and style.

One of the most satisfying, enthralling shooters to hit the market in recent memory.

Fast fun and devilishly hard, Luftrausers shows once again that Vlambeer understands how to make classic arcade mechanics feel fresh and exciting. It's great in short bursts, the speed of each round often terribly brief, but lends itself to hour-long sessions of hammering on the controller to start a new game.

Luftrausers is as much style as it is substance. The retro-appearance and spectacular action complement each other greatly in a hectic arcade shooter with a unique style. The tactical addictions make this a fully fledged game you'll want to keep playing.

Another Vlambeer jewel, a game with a brilliant arcade soul, a great design and some absolutely epic moments thanks to the excellent control and huge hordes of enemies.

You will probably only get a few hours out of it before you start to feel like you are repeating yourself, but those hours will grip you fully.

Brilliant arcade shooter than just won’t let go. Looks great, plays great and practically invites you to participate in vicious dogfights. [Issue#241]

Customisation and upgrades keep Luftrausers compelling over the long-term. [June 2014, p.70]

An enthralling and time-sapping trial of nerve and persistence. [Issue#147, p.125]

Briskness and dynamics that Luftrausers use to jibe at those flying combats is matchless. If it weren't for the game's lack of content along with its hellbent in-game menu, this frenetic piece of work would get into the history books of modern arcade games.

Like the best of Vlambeer’s cannon, a simple concept executed beautifully. Limited enemy and level design, though.

Luftrausers' opacity can be a source of annoyance, but after 20 hours, I can't say it's discouraged me from leaping right back into the skies after my latest in-game death.

Despite its flaws though, Luftrausers is an entertaining blast.

Playing Luftrausers is like jumping back to a time when the only requirement for a good game was to be fun. Thanks to varied battles, customizable planes, and challenges, it manages to improve on the classic formula of simple and addictive entertainment.

Luftrausers succeeds in entertaining with its easy to learn/hard to master kind of gameplay, that can easily eat up entire hours of your day without you noticing. It may prove too simple to keep you engaged for long periods of time, but we haven't grow tired of it yet. Be warned: this game is addictive.

Luftrausers is one of those perfect little arcade games to play after a long day of work or while traveling on a train if you have the PS Vita version.

Luftrausers is a game that's easy to get lost in.

The real enjoyment in Luftrausers doesn’t really come from experimenting, it’s more about finding the right fit. It’s really about performance, not options, and the game’s longevity and value come from excellent tuning and feedback. You launch, then you thread the needle, push the envelope, curse your foes, and go out in a blaze of glory.

Vlambeer improves on one of its smaller, free releases with Luftrausers, expanding an excellent dogfighting game with a ton of customization and a great soundtrack. Short play sessions means it's the perfect game to play on the bus, between classes, or even during your boring meetings. Just don't scream out loud and pump your fist in the sky when you finally beat your high score. That's rude.

Simple in almost all respects, Luftrauser is one of Vlambeer’s biggest triumphs because it strips back everything in the name of exposing the fun at the centre of the game. It’s almost as if the designers were engineers of the rauser itself; reducing weight and tweaking fuel lines to ensure the most effective deliverer of death possible.

It’s surprisingly tactical.

Luftrausers may suffer from a few bugs and interface issues from time to time, but at its core is a magnificently modern aeronautic arcade experience.

The game play is fast and exciting, but also challenging. The presentation is, in a word, cool.

Luftrausers is a very good time and it’s nice that it shakes up the genre of arcade shooters by making creatively escaping death and blasting away at bad guys carry the same weight. But it’s also mostly a momentary distraction, a game you come back to for a few minutes when you’ve got time to kill, and for that, Luftrausers feels like its asking price is a bit too high for what’s on offer.

Often frustrating and sometimes unfair, but the glorious flight mechanics, general compelling gameplay, and attention to detail mean Luftrausers is easily worth considering.

It doesn’t have the personalization of Beat Hazard and it doesn’t have the level of content that Pac-Man Championship Edition has. In many ways for the entry point of ten dollars there are better options out there. But if any of what you’ve read sounds intriguing or if you see the game on sale, take to the skies and enjoy the ride.

Luftrausers is a nervous and exciting arcade game, and at 9$ it's a really good deal.

Luftrausers is a well-designed shooter that will most appeal to high-score chasers. Its lack of direction may mean that its appeal is relatively short-lived for some, however.

The act of flight feels natural, and the next high score is always so close that it's easy to spend hours saying, "Just one more try." It may be a simple package on the surface, but Luftrausers will have you taking to the skies again and again.

Luftrausers is a great pick-up-and-play game in the short term, with most sessions providing a few minutes of entertainment before culminating in a bloody ship-shattering climax.

Luftrausers is one of those arcade games that feel very nice, but there is not much to do.

Vlambeer’s latest offering shows a lot of potential. It mixes a lot of mechanics and adds a few good ideas to make the dogfights special. But the controls do their best to keep me away from this.

There are no secrets to Luftrasuers; it has no surprises. It comes to you with open hands, unwilling to explain if you’ll enjoy playing it because you’re reminiscing about how this style used to be cutting edge, or if you just need to see if there’s that perfect configuration that will take you all the way. It’s not about being good or bad, it just about being what it is and if that’s something you want.