If you are a twin-stick shooter fan like I am, you likely have a list of games that have excelled in the last few years at raising the bar of the genre. Accompanying that lis, is probably another list of things you enjoyed, liked, loved, and hated from each of those games. I think Radiangames had a very similar list when it begain creation of JoyJoy, because crammed into this game is damn near everything I ever had on my love list.
Gameplay
In terms of gameplay, JoyJoy is a standard twin-stick shooter. However, it brings to the table its own compilation of mechanics to present a unique experience to a genre whose features tend to be rather ubiquitous.
All of the gameplay of JoyJoy takes place in a single frame, similar to that of Pew Pew Pod and dissimilar to that of Geometry Wars. I find this to be the best possible format as the scrolling window of GW2 can often lead to things spawning while off screen. JoyJoy also has one more thing in common with Pew Pew Pod, it has a whole host of different weapons that can be toggled through by tapping the right and left bumpers.
In addition to the standard firing modes of the weapons there is also a charge up and release special to each of the weapons. The multiple weapons and the varying firing capabilities adds a good deal of depth to the game, as they allow you to play strategically based on what the game is throwing at you.
A strong divergence from the pack is shown in the design of the gameplay modes. Campaign is the main play mode featuring over twenty waves of enemies, swarms, and even a hand full of boss encounters. Each boss you’ll encounter in campaign mode will have its own bullet patterns and flight paths to keep you thinking on your feet.
On top of the campaign mode, there are also challenges. These challenges offer up special circumstances like limited selection of weapons, and a style of enemy attack. For instance, you may be given a couple spread style weapons to chose from to take out swarms of enemies for four minutes. These challenge modes are made available once campaign mode is cleared. There are six challenges and each of the unlocks a modifier once beaten.
Modifiers are probably the best feature of the gameplay and is something I think should become a staple of the genre. They basically behave as cheat codes that can modify anything from firing speed to invincibility. You can turn on any of them you want and play through the whole campaign mode on any of its plethora of difficulty modes.
JoyJoy is probably one of the most polished games on the XBLIG service. The game stands out even in the heavily populated twin-stick shooter genre as one of the best. The controls are tight, responsive, and intelligently designed with no major or minor points of contention. Slowdowns are almost non existent, in fact even when you enable invulnerability and let waves of enemies stack up the game only slightly begins to show slowdowns in frame rates.
There are a couple negative points to JoyJoy. I found that I enjoyed the challenge modes, so much so in fact that I wish there had been many more of them. As it is there are only a handful of challenges, though each of them does allow you to play a pretty generous variety of difficulty modes. In addition to the challenge modes, I would have loved to have seen some more crazy mods to accompany them — maybe like some really crazy unlockable weapons that are totally game breaking. Last but not least on the mode QQ’ing, the addition of an endless mode would have been a nice addition to the game.
One omission that does detract slightly from the game is the lack of an online scoreboard. I’m guessing this is a result of the modifiers system, as they would likely dramatically effect the design of such a scoreboard system.
Audio/Visual
Like candy for your eyeballs, JoyJoy is literally joyful in every aspect of its visual being. The color scheme is to receive the bulk of the culpability for the games splendor, as it features light and fluffy pastels with varying degrees of richness and are all coordinated for each wave. The colors then shift around a bit as you go through the levels and never ceases looking perfect.
JoyJoy tosses in a little gravity based movement in the background of the game with stars that swirl around your ship as you charge your weapon to full and gather around vortexes that capture enemies and hold them in place for you. Despite the star’s delightful visual display, their light creamy coloring keeps them low key enough to never become a distraction.
The audio of the game matches the visuals exceptionally well. It is light and soft-spoken but well designed and of high production quality. There is a verse in one of the songs that is frighteningly ear catching every time it comes up, I always feel as though I know the tune but can never put my finger on it. In any case the music is very good, it doesn’t make the game but it does certainly add to its over all high value.
You can listen to the music At Radiangames’ bandcamp page.
Summary
JoyJoy has quickly become one of my favorite twin-stick shooters on the Xbox Platform. Yes, that means I think it is better than Geometry Wars, if for no other reason than just being more accessible and a more fun experience. At 80 Microsoft Points, you’ve really got no excuse not to pick this game up, especially if you consider yourself a fan of the genre.
