First we had the rather lovely Adventures of 2D Octopus Character
make the jump to become a native Vita title and now Dakko Dakko’s other much
loved Playstation mini has joined it. One of the best of the mini crop,
Floating Cloud God is a fun and fresh take on the side scrolling shooter and is
another great example of indie games showing simple concepts are sometimes the
best.
Floating Cloud God
has players in control of said deity as he rides a cloud around shooting
monsters and being worshipped by his followers. The pilgrims must be protected
as if all of them die it’s game over. You start the game with ten pilgrims with
the aim being to get them all to the gate at the end of the level. If they all
reach the end alive a special pilgrim will join you wearing a different hat.
You need to be very careful with the little guys as you only get one back per
level if any die so losing a few in one area can be fatal later on.
As well as effectively acting as your lives, they also
release hearts throughout their journey which
increase in size as you blast monsters. Collecting these powers you up and this
becomes a continual process as you also lose power with every shot you fire. It’s
an excellent play mechanic that works really well. If the Cloud God is hit by a
monster he will completely power down, He won’t die however so this can be used
tactically to block a stray incoming bullet from time to time.
There are seven worlds in total, each split in two stages
and a boss fight. Every stage offers something new and they soon become
incredibly difficult to get through with all your followers intact. There is a
nice variety of enemies and obstacles to overcome and each area is
significantly different from the last. It all looks rather lovely as well, with
a clean cut oriental style that gets across all the humour and magic we have
come to expect from the studio.
The bosses are a particular highlight with each one full of
personality and requiring some thought by the player in order to take down.
Once you have worked out their weakness the real challenge is to take them out
without losing any of your Pilgrims. A monster with a giant flying nose springs
to mind as a particular highlight.
In truth the game isn’t going to last you that long in terms
of completion. However, this is clearly a score attack kind of title and
getting through the levels without losing pilgrims or keeping your special
pilgrims alive is going to take a lot more time and effort. It’s such an easy
game to get drawn into and what starts out as replaying a single level will
see you staying on to try and complete more and more stages.
Overall, if there was ever a game you could describe as
delightful then this is it. It just has a lovely fun feel to it and a hint of
nostalgia that brings to mind old television shows like Monkey. It’s a game you’ll
play continually to beat your old scores, rescue pilgrims or just to have fun
for a few minutes. It just goes to show how strong the original mini was that
it only needed a graphical facelift to still feel like an excellent Vita game.
8/10