Dead End City is a post apocalyptic vertical shooter. I have no problem with these games, even loving Shoot 1UP. I’m just not very good at them. It is not them, it is fully me and my poor hand-eye coordination. It’s why I enjoy the more relaxed puzzle-genre. Still I can recognize a good game when I see it and Dead End City is very good game. It takes its cue from the 90s, even going as far allowing you to have CRT scanlines.There are also pretty animated sequences as well. The main arcade game is broken up into sections, like the railroad or city. In each section, you have seven Galaga-like waves, a longer standard-level wave and then a multi-phase boss battle. There is also a score attack mode for each section, as well as a special highway mode that’s essentially a two minute score attack.
There are options galore in Dead End City. There are multitudes of unlockables, including 4 other vehicles, which you can either unlock by not taking damage in a boss battle, or buying from the shop. There is a story involving the gang you fight stealing your love-ones, but since when does a story actually matter in a vertical shooter? In the end, this is a very good, well made game. I cannot really find fault with it, though I’m not going to rave you run out and buy it because I wouldn’t run out and buy it (got a code from the publisher). Dead End City gets a Recommended with an eight back-end score.
Overall: Dead End City is a post-apocalyptic vertical shooter that is simply a well-made game.
Verdict: Recommended
| Release Date | 2/28/24 |
| Cost | $14.99 |
| Publisher | EastAsiaSoft |
| ESRB Rating | E10+ |
P.S. I originally thought this was the second coming of a very old game called Highway Hunter. It is not the second coming of that, but somebody should make one!
Game received for free from the publisher.
Zom
Shmup games aren’t generally my jam but, EasyAsiasoft seems to publish reasonably good games in genres I usually don’t play. Good to know this is another solid option.