Earth Atlantis

Earth Atlantis remains a beautiful, enjoyable shoot-’em-up under the sea, and I highly recommend taking the dive.

Even if you’re not a fan of bullet hell you should give Earth Atlantis a try, this really doesn’t deserve to sink without a trace.

Earth Atlantis does a lot of things right. The weight of controls are great and the play-by-play experience is good fun. While I wish they had evened out the bosses somewhat, they are still thrilling encounters that prove enjoyable. A couple of the bosses certainly need to be patched and this is why I can't recommend playing through Hunter Mode right now. With all due respect, dealing with a couple of those bosses is just a little too much. If you’re prepared for a few difficulty spikes and still want to go on a grand adventure, Earth Atlantis will provide a fun experience.

Even if you're not a 2D 'shmup' veteran, or are looking for something a little off the beaten, sidescrolling track, there is plenty to enjoy here - we have tight controls, plenty of unique monstrous bosses to defeat and exploration of a broken but beautiful submerged world. While it lacks a few options, has occasional boss fight difficulty spikes and is not the relentless action that some genre fans prefer, Earth Atlantis has enough old school shoot 'em up substance to back up its glorious and organic style.

Earth Atlantis is a fun, competent and very challenging shooter. The three difficulty modes will keep even hardened shmup fans occupied, while more casual players will enjoy dipping their toe into this gorgeous world just to see it in action. But if you want to see this through to the end, you’ll need to be real shmup fan.

Earth Atlantis is a game that is best played if you pace yourself. The quick boss encounters and ease with which you can find enemy mobs makes for some frantic gaming, but that high frequency also means that the experience can get repetitive. The overall mechanics are good, and the look is certainly distinct. It differs enough from normal shooters that it's worth a look, especially if you want a more exploratory adventure to go with your shooting.

While the physical limitations of its content are clear, it takes little away from the intrigue and challenge Earth Atlantis generates through its fusion of explorative design with the shoot-em-up mechanics that it unquestionably pays homage to. The variety of boss designs (and the way the hand-drawn, sharp-lined visuals give them that added bold presence) and encounters are offered in just the right doses, and while they may feel at times like a chore just to arrive at, they come across as satisfying to partake in. Everything else surrounding it, if not startling or visually depth-inducing, does complement to a sufficient manner, ultimately shaping the journey through Earth Atlantis into one that can be savored but is easy enough to resume on later playthroughs.

A game that could have been better, but doesn't manage to get higher quality peaks.

Earth Atlantis is a fascinatingly experimental hybrid of a game. While not entirely perfect in its attempt to merge the two genres it takes inspiration from, a unique art style and interesting creature designs definitely make it worth checking out. Even more so if you’re hungry for some bullet hell action on the go!

Earth Atlantis looks alluring, thanks to its unique art style it conveys the format of an old navigation chart, which is somewhat unusual for a bullet hell sidescrolling shooter. That being said, it could have certainly invested in its other elements, as the game lacks the needed sense of enthusiasm to keep the players interested for long. If the bullet hell style was grand once, it needs a bit more in order to stand out nowadays.