NEXT JUMP: Shmup Tactics Reviews

I don't know how I feel about this game. On one hand it has a lot of neat elements and does some cool experimental things. On the other, it feels very clunky, the tutorial is abysmal, the UI is cluttered and confusing, and the gameplay is fairly repetitive and not very engaging. Overall, I have to say this is a cool experiment, but gameplay wise it just doesn't hold up. Jumping from combat to combat every few moves and spending so much energy on attacks makes it feel so weird and nothing like a SHMUP. The boss battles are neat, but usually pretty chaotic. And if you don't have enough upgrades by that point you're most likely not going to do well regardless of your actual tactical skills. Cool idea, but overall poor execution.

The tutorial doesn't adequately explain some very key, important gameplay details, like "your turn ends the moment you hit 0 energy, even though you can pick up more energy during that last move", and "the reason some enemies move during your turn is because they have a high energy stat", and I had to look up the very verbose manual to nail down exactly how things worked. Ultimately, every run is more or less the same because the stat upgrades are generally the most useful item to buy, and they're always for sale. The only way to die really is to get super confused about the colossal mess of stuff on the screen, not know exactly how half of the enemies work, and make a mistake, rather than any sort of tactical thing about backing yourself into a corner.

[h1]A turn-based shmup, you say? It works well, you say?[/h1] Next Jump: Shmup Tactics is a fairly unique game, it’s a turn-based shmup game with some roguelite/FTL type elements. I really wasn’t sure what to expect when I went into the game, but I was pleasantly surprised. NJST doesn’t play anything like a traditional shmup, which is great because it should make this game appealing to people who are and aren’t fans of the genre. Essentially you have an FTL-style premise where you’re jumping between systems in order to get to a mothership that you need to fight and destroy. The runs are a good length, and it’s easy to get the hang of the game. [h1]Positives:[/h1] [list][*]The core gameplay here is fairly unique, and good fun. Each ‘jump’ is set up with you at the bottom of the screen, and a varying number of enemies spread out across the rest of the screen. You take turns moving and attacking, with how much you can do being dependent on how much energy you have (this can be upgraded). Enemies drop energy and scrap when killed, and if you collect their energy then you can chain together more moves. It’s pretty straightforward, it didn’t take me long at all to get to grips with it, but it is fun. [*]The FTL-y part of the game works pretty well. Your main goal is to defeat a mothership, and to get there you have to complete ‘jumps’. You’re given a map, and you can choose what system to jump to, you can jump as many as seven at a time if your ship is upgraded. How many jumps you do in one go decides how many fight screens you’ll face before the next stop. [*]You start with four different ship types to choose from, with three more that can be unlocked. The different ships offer great variety, each one comes with different base stats (i.e. total hull, number of batteries) and they also all have different weapons that work in different ways. You can also purchase weapons at space stations along the way, and the weapons make a huge difference in how the game plays. [*]It only took me an hour and a half to beat the boss for the first time (with a 25-minute run to beat it) but there’s a good amount of replay value here. There’s a bunch of different achievements to unlock, and I’ve been enjoying trying to get them. There’s also an extra difficulty level and game mode unlocked after you beat it your first time. [*]When you beat the boss, you’re able to play another run with the same captain and ship. This means you get to keep your upgraded ship and any credits you’ve earned, which is pretty cool. You’ll accumulate a lot of credits by the end of the run, so a second run is a great opportunity to just try a bunch of different weapons or items. [/list] [h1]Negatives: [/h1] [list][*]Visually, it’s all a bit too busy for my liking and I found it a bit difficult to look at/overwhelming at times. The font choice for the game is pretty bad too, which really sucks because the tutorial is very text heavy. [*]I was often confused by how the turns worked. Sometimes things would move during my turn, and I didn’t really understand why. There were also a few times where I took damage without understanding why, and that’s frustrating in any game. [/list] [h1]Verdict: [/h1] Next Jump: Shmup Tactics is a pretty unique turn-based strategy game, the core gameplay is good fun and it’s got decent replayability for the price. It can be a bit confusing, and visually it’s too busy, but I’d recommend giving it a try, especially when it goes on sale. If you found this review helpful, please consider following my curator page: [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/33633486/]Kemo's Corner.[/url]

Oh poop this game is fun. It's going to appeal to a very specific audience. If, like be, you love, bullet hell shooters, turn based strategy games, and FTL-style rogue-lites, a.) I congratulate you on your excellent taste, and b.) you're probably going to love this, because it's at the exact overlap of the Venn diagram for those genres. If you only like one or two of those genres, give it a shot anyway. You might like it!

Too many possitive feedbacks and "like FTL" comments tricked me into trying this game., But it actually looks unfinished, the ship is useless unless batteries are bought, they cost around 700 but enemies yield 4-5 scrap. Out of nowhere, 999 scrap is granted for free after reaching some level of reputation (???). Graphics are terrible, everything looks messy, bullets look like energy or powerups, it's impossible to distinguish between going for the grab or avoid, even background has moving objects like planets that look like enemy bullets. and moving between bullets and enemies is hard to understand, sometimes hit you, sometimes don't. I find it too boring and confusing to even try to learn the mechanics of this game. And at the end of each jump, well, it doesn't really end... I can still move twice on the old jump and grab some extra scrap while the next jump is "loading". First ship Dagger unlocked without noticing and without effort, 1 out of 100 jumps are events, not even worth grabbing, I cannot recommend this game. I love FTL but this game is nothing like it. PROS: - Cheap CONS: - too complicated mechanics - terrible graphics: enemy bullets are confused with powerups - very few events, it is nothing like FTL - Unrewarding shop scrap+reputation system - The few new weapons are garbage unless you have maxed batteries Grab Into the Breach instead.

Man, do I hate Shmups. Reaction speed simply isn't my strength. And that goes for everything; games, T.V quizes, arguments, knocking over my glass and spilling beer across the table. If, like me, you can whup your friends at board games as they roll their eyes at how long you take, but then lose miserably at Mario Kart, you know what I'm talking about. Never was there ever a genre of video game less suited to the thoughtful tactition as bullet hell shoot-em-ups. Imagine the satisfaction, then, of facing off against the hordes of laser-flinging aliens on YOUR terms. Nothing compares to watching the bullets literally freeze mid-air as you take a deep breath. Now it's my turn! Next Jump: Shmup Tactics keeps a relative semblance of urgency from the bullet-hell genre by restricting the player to a strict number of turns before being forced to jump. This requires you to get the carnage rolling from the very first move, as destroyed enemies leave behind energy that extends your turn thus enabling your little pea-shooter to snake its way around the screen, smashing as it goes. The developer also needs special mention. When I first bought the game I couldn't get it to work on my desired platform, so I figured I'd leave a message explaining my problem without any real expectation of a response, never mind a solution. Not only did the developer respond almost immediately, but they sorted the whole thing out behind the scenes and simply came back with "Try it now. I think it should work". I didn't have to lift a finger! Now that's service. More importantly, however, they have marketed the game right on the money. The game is simple (but original), the graphics are basic (but oh so nostalgic), and the budget may have been light (who cares? The gameplay turned out to be brilliant), but with a starting price of £3.99 it is possibly the best value for money I've ever seen. I'm used to having to wait 3 years and then a 75% discount for other titles to reach that price, even with Indie games. Definitely worth the money. I can see myself coming back to this for a short burst time and time again, just like the much-loved FTL. And for the record, I would throw myself into space combat if someone took my booze, too.

There is no variety in tactics, you are performing the same actions every jump. There is no necessity to buy different weapons since they aren't that useful compared to your upgraded basic weapon and enemy variety had no effect on the way I played the game, it didn't force me to adjust my playstyle or tactics. Decisions where to jump next were not meaningful, there was always a shop nearby to jump to. I have cleared this game in amply over an hour and have no desire to replay it, I don't see how a second run will turn out differently. Progression doesn't make any sense and difficulty doesn't scale well with progression, resulting in poor balance. Great concept and quite original but poorly executed. What I would like to see from the developer: Stop updating this game and start a new one. I would like to see a linear vertical scrolling turn based shmup were enemies enter the screen from all sides, like Raptor or Tyrian but more tactical.

Well now, it's time to review yet another roguelike... or is it a turn-based strategy game? Bullet-hell? Yep, Next Jump: Shmup Tactics is all three of these things at once. These genres seem like they absolutely should not go together... it sounds totally nonsensical. But not only is the combination viable, but it works out really well here. In this game, your overall goal is to reach the Dragon Mothership and defeat it, because apparently they stole your space beer (???) and ran off with it. Like any good shmup, this means a long battle through about a kersquillion enemy ships on your way to fight the boss at the end. As this game is part roguelike, everything is procedural, so you'll be getting a very different experience every time. You start on the map screen, which is similar to that of FTL, though I personally enjoyed this version of that mechanic more than the way FTL did it. There is no fuel or anything in Next Jump. Rather, there is a distance limit for how long of a string of jumps you can perform in one go. Different icons represent different battle conditions, and different colors represent different events if you "land" on that spot instead of passing over it. It takes a bit of getting used to, but in the end it works out well. The map is not divided into sectors, but is instead a continuous thing. A distance marker at the top of the screen shows exactly how many jumps you need to do to catch up to the mothership. Every single jump in a string will throw you into a combat situation, and this is where the game gets very, very interesting. Combat is a turn-based affair. However, each battle is only three turns long... that's it. After those three turns, the battle ends no matter what and you are warped to the next encounter. There are ways to increase that turn count slightly, but yeah, it's a major mechanic of the game. It sounds very odd, right? But it just WORKS here. The idea of each battle isnt to defeat every enemy on the screen. It's simply to survive the encounter while collecting as much scrap as possible, used to upgrade your ship and buy new equipment. On each turn, you can make multiple moves, depending on how much energy you have at the time. Different actions cost different amounts of energy, so deciding what to do and when to do it is important. But it's a bit more interesting than just that. Enemies drop energy balls in addition to scrap when destroyed, and when you move your ship, if you grab an energy ball as you move, your energy is replenished, allowing you to lengthen your turn and chain a long series of moves together. Mastering this skill is very important, because enemies are extremely numerous, and their bullets are even more numerous. At the end of each turn, enemies take actions, move, and bullets also move forwards. Some enemies can act during your turn, which is odd at first but you quickly get the hang of how it works. Each enemy has different patterns and attacks, and they telegraph their next move well. You dont have to sit there totally guessing whether that big horrible spinning thing is going to move or fire when it next acts. One way or another though, the screen will quickly fill with bullets. An interesting thing though: Your ship actually has a hitbox. Like a bullet-hell game, it is much smaller than the ship's sprite. When you go to move, a grey band will be displayed between where you are, and where you want to move to, showing *exactly* where that hitbox will go. Thanks to this, you can actually squeeze BETWEEN bullets, just like in a bullet hell game. It makes for very satisfying dodges and movement.... in a turn-based game. It's an amazing mechanic, used well. Your ship has all sorts of tricks available to it, however you will start with only a basic weapon. As you keep going through the game, you can make your way to various shops that sell upgrades and equipment. You can upgrade your base stats, buy additional weapons, and also non-weapon equipment. Each adds to the amount of tactical options you have in battle. Which is good, as the game gets much harder as your overall run progresses. Enemies become both more numerous and more dangerous, as more powerful foes with more complicated attacks and better stats show up. More and more bullets for you to deal with. What's more, there are different types of bullets. Basic hull damage, EMP (drains your energy instead of HP), and toxic damage, the worst of all. These are color coded, as are the enemies that fire them, to make it easy to spot. Enemies themselves, however, dont deal contact damage (with certain exceptions, and those exceptions are easy to spot). You can sit right on top of them if you'd like, which is actually a useful tactic, as you can fire from that position, taking out the enemy and collecting it's scrap and energy ball at the same time. Plenty of foes have lots of HP though and require more hits, but as you go you'll find all sorts of ways to deal more damage. This overall gameplay loop of a string of battles, followed by an event or shop, followed by more battles, works out very well, and I've found it to be very addictive... I just dont get tired of it. In addition, you dont need a silly amount of time set aside for any one gameplay session. Since each battle is only a few turns, and the game saves automatically whenever you are back on the map screen (which is frequently), you can make real progress in your run even if you only have a few minutes. There is more to the game of course, with various mechanics I havent really gone into here, and things like the various hazards and special conditions that plague you in some battles (shown on your map), and even a full scoring system (this IS part shmup, after all.... of COURSE it has a scoring system). And of course, plenty of challenge. You're probably going to die alot here. But I've found that no matter what, I keep coming back to this. What it lacks: Unlocks/achievements. There are a couple of ship types to unlock, but that's about it. This is NOT a game for those that need permanent progression elements. Which is fine by me: I play games like this simply because they are good games. I dont need some obnoxious progression system to make it good. Fans of shmups in particular likely wont mind this at all, as that genre pretty much never has unlocks of any sort. This is all about winning each run, and scoring high while doing it. Overall, a fantastic game. Unique, deep, and challenging. It's one I'll be coming back to often. Aint much I could complain about here, either. I guess I could rant about my junky monitor, but I can do that elsewhere.

Judging by the lack of reviews at the time of writing this, I would guess that this game isn't selling very well, which is a damn shame. While it may not have the depth of FTL(which I assume is a partial inspiration), it is exactly what's advertised... which is a criminally hard thing to find these days. It's brutally difficult, and could use a balance patch or two in my opinion, but when you string together a X9 combo on your 1st turn? Feels good, man... John Goodman. On a personal note, on a whim a few weeks ago, I googled "turn based bullet hell", and viola, this popped up! I love bullet hell/smups, but I have a degenerative neuromuscular condition that makes it nearly impossible for me to play them. So, the fact this game even exists is cool, and the fact that it isn't a trainwreck is just awesome. Buy this game and support the developer if it looks even remotely interesting.

[b][i]NEXT JUMP: Shmup Tactics[/i] is really, really awesome.[/b] [i]You like turn-based?[/i] Check. [i]You like clever chess-like logic moves that make you feel like a boss when you pull off a slick combo?[/i] Check. [i]You like [/i]FTL[i]-like procedural generation and tough-but-fair gameplay?[/i] Check. [b]And believe it or not, they mixed bullet-hell with turn-based gameplay... And it worked brilliantly.[/b] There is some serious meat-on-the-bone for a mere five bucks. Tons of polish, too. The pixel art is beautiful, and the music is spot-on. They hold your hand to get you started, and even have a very detailed in-game manual (which, by all fairness, you will read if you want to have any chance of winning). The tutorial actually is a bit overwhelming, which is great because there is a lot of complexity here. Just dig in and you'll figure it out in time. All you need is a mouse, and the keyboard is optional. [i]Essentially, the core gameplay fighting portion of the game is puzzle with a space battle skin.[/i] There are turns with ways to extend your turns, and the goal is to gain resources while not being hurt. The enemies have interesting 'tells' about what they will be doing next. It's all very well done, and quite interesting. There are a good number of ship and weapon upgrades, a bank to store your money, and more. Think of the map progression like [i]FTL[/i], but instead of a clear end-point, you are chasing an entity so if you waste time - you are just going to have to drag yourself through more battles. It's the good ol' risk/reward system. The bullet-hell/schmup part works itself in oh-so nicely, too. The strategy you take with weaving in-between bullets is great and attention to detail pays off, for sure. [b]Pros:[/b] +Fantastically fresh new mechanic of a turn-based schmup +Strategic skill is highly valued here; this isn't a kick-the-door-down kind of gameplay +Music and artwork are great +UI is very functional and feels good [b]Cons:[/b] -This is super nit-picky, but there is some *slight* clashing of art styles I noticed, particularly the pixel art versus some of what appears to be more hand drawn/stylized artwork (like in the ship selection screen) - don't get me wrong, it's both well done, it just maybe clashes a bit -A few very minor typos/grammar errors, but who cares [b]If the genres that this game mashes together appeal to you (particularly turn-based play), go for it - I assure you that you won't be disapointed.[/b] Well worth full price.