I love a twin stick shooter. Their simplicity, ease, and often hectic gameplay is the perfect mix for a quick and fun gaming session. Demon Crystals is one of a number of twin stick shooters that offers all of those elements, but how does it stand up to the rest? Read on find out, or if you don’t want to read then scroll down and watch the video review at the bottom.

Demons Crystals, brought to us by Badland Games, is an anime themed shoot fest where you lead Urican demons through countless hazards to bring peace to their world.

There is no complicated plot to Demon Crystals, what you see is pretty much what you get, the action, however, has you gripped making a complex story unnecessary. Each stage sets out a particular challenge, this could be to kill a certain amount of enemies or collect a certain amount of crystals. The levels cannot be cleared unless you complete the challenge.

In true anime style, there are loads of weapon pickups that offer some crazy over the top weaponry to help you with your quest. Each pickup will only last a limited amount of time but there are plenty to grab so you’re never short of a decent weapon. It is virtually impossible to complete a level without the firepower of a pickup, so make sure you search the whole area to find the next weapon. Along with the weapon pickups are orbs that add extra firepower, pickups for extra time, health or speed. There is even a mushroom that you collect that increases your size allowing you simply walk over your enemies.

Like most game of this type, it is sometimes not about where you’re shooting and more about dodging incoming bullets or enemies. After a set number of stages there’s a boss level, these are again about dodging. It can require some perseverance but it’s still fun nonetheless.

One thing that did strike me was the awesome sound. The music is very high quality and had me humming along at times. There are four different demons to choose from but they don’t really do anything different from each other. With the basic XP system your demon will level up but this seems pointless because it is purely to take on more difficult levels and enemies. There is an option, however, to have up to three mates join in and take on the horde but this could prove to be very hectic, but worth a try anyway.

Despite its lack of depth, I had an absolute blast playing it and I think you will too. If I had one criticism then it would be that each demon could do with a super ability, a bit of a panic button if you like, to take out all the enemies on screen at once.

There is no tactical gameplay and to be honest, once you’ve had a good go at it is has the risk of sitting in your installed games all lonely and gathering dust. Demon Crystals is cheap and definitely worth a playthrough, I loved it. At just shy of £4 it’s a pocket money game but unfortunately that’s as far as it goes. It’s not horrible and it’s not amazing, what Demon Crystals is, however, is a lot of fun and worth anyone’s money.

Thanks to Badland Games and Xbox for supporting TiX