Zotrix

33%
Game Brain Score Based on 111 reviews
  • story
  • music
  • gameplay
Zotrix Game Cover
Fun to play with plenty of replay value, Zotrix sounds the part but the clunky interface and non-nonsensical controls prove to be frustrating.
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Zotrix is a single-player shooter game inspired by classic arcade machines, featuring brightly colored enemies and over 50 missions. Gameplay involves escorting cargo ships and avoiding enemy attacks, with rewards used to upgrade ships or purchase new ones. The game emphasizes repetitive arcade-style gameplay, requiring players to "grind" to progress.

  • Mac OS
  • PC
  • Play​station 4
  • Play​station 5
  • Windows
  • Linux
  • Play​Station
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

33%
Audience ScoreBased on 111 reviews
music10 positive mentions
story8 negative mentions
  • Zotrix offers a nostalgic experience reminiscent of classic arcade shooters, with a fun and engaging gameplay loop.
  • The game features a variety of ships and levels, providing a decent challenge and enjoyable upgrade system.
  • The graphics and soundtrack are well-executed, enhancing the overall retro feel of the game.
  • The gameplay can become repetitive and grindy, with many players finding the missions and enemy patterns dull after a short time.
  • There are significant balancing issues, making it easy to become overpowered early on, which diminishes the challenge.
  • Technical problems, including poor controller support and various bugs, hinder the overall experience and frustrate players.
  • story49 mentions

    The story in Zotrix is largely criticized for being minimal and uninspired, primarily revolving around repetitive escort missions and lacking depth in its political espionage narrative. Players find the gameplay grindy and monotonous, with many missions feeling identical and the in-game economy rendered ineffective early on. Overall, the story fails to engage, leading to a tedious experience that detracts from the game's potential enjoyment.

    • “This game took me 30 hours to beat over three months because I could only handle one or two missions at a time before succumbing to sheer boredom.”
    • “Played 7 hours and halfway through the 'story' (going from A to B and sometimes to C and D) good fun for the most part up until now, buy resources at one station and sell at another for profit.”
    • “The story is almost non-existent, and even though you can upgrade your ship via items in shops (which are different at every station), you can obtain the best parts well before you reach the 1/4 mark in the game.”
    • “The story is boring and involves nothing more than political espionage; the true motives of the titular Zotrix that you mass-murder throughout are never extrapolated upon.”
    • “Speaking of missions, there are 40 story-based 'levels' in all, but they are all the same.”
  • music23 mentions

    The music in the game is widely praised for its catchy and diverse soundtrack, enhancing the overall experience, especially in a retro-style bullet hell setting. However, some players noted that the sound effects, particularly for shooting, can be excessively loud, often drowning out the music. Despite this, many consider the music to be one of the standout features of the game, with each level featuring a unique track that adds to the enjoyment.

    • “I love the music, this is the perfect game to play high!”
    • “The music is one of my favorite parts of this game.”
    • “It's a retro style bullet hell arcade twin stick shooter with really catchy music.”
    • “Sound effects for shooting are obnoxiously loud, completely obscuring the music.”
    • “I would list the artists here, but there is a metric ton of people behind the music design, relative to how small the game is.”
    • “[Arcade mode fixes a lot of what doesn't work with story mode, solid techno soundtrack].”
  • gameplay17 mentions

    The gameplay has been widely criticized for being bland, boring, and repetitive, with many players noting that upgrades fail to enhance the experience. The controls and overall mechanics are described as lacking polish, leading to frustration and a sense of pointlessness in quests. Overall, the game does not deliver an engaging experience, particularly within the shmup genre.

    • “The gameplay is pretty much what this genre is all about; you fly a colorful collection of pixels around a black and white background, shooting squares at other collections of squares as they shoot squares back at you.”
    • “The game features Newtonian mechanics.”
    • “Horribly bland, boring, repetitive gameplay.”
    • “Most upgrades do nothing to change the gameplay in any way.”
    • “Controls and gameplay ... lacking something.”
  • grinding14 mentions

    Zotrix is criticized for its grindy and repetitive gameplay, with players often finding the combat tedious and the missions lacking variety, as they frequently require replaying previous levels. The game's simple economy and resource trading system allow players to acquire top equipment early on, diminishing the sense of progression and making the grinding feel even more monotonous. While it offers a casual and easy-to-play experience, the overall grind can lead to boredom and frustration.

    • “The difficulty varies wildly from level to level and the combat is tedious at best.”
    • “This makes completing the game tedious and boring.”
    • “The missions have you grinding through levels you've already done.”
  • graphics10 mentions

    The graphics in the game are widely praised for their superb quality, featuring beautifully colorful 2D classic arcade-style visuals that enhance the overall experience. Players appreciate the vibrant aesthetic and smooth performance, even on lower-end hardware, although some express frustration over the inability to fast forward or skip in-game dialogues.

    • “The graphics are amazing, so I have no issues there.”
    • “The game has beautifully colorful 2D classic arcade top-down graphics.”
    • “With a very nicely done techno soundtrack, colorful graphics and sound.”
  • replayability5 mentions

    Overall, the game's replayability is mixed; while some players appreciate the ability to choose different routes that affect level progression, others find the low replay value and frustrating controls detract from the experience.

    • “You can choose which route you take, which alters which levels you do and adds to the replay value.”
    • “Fun to play with plenty of replay value.”
    • “I think this game should be $4.99 or less just due to the replay value being very low.”
    • “Fun to play with plenty of replay value, but the clunky interface and nonsensical controls prove to be frustrating.”
  • stability2 mentions

    The game is reported to be highly unstable, with numerous bugs affecting gameplay, and there are concerns that the developers have abandoned it, leading to a lack of support for fixes. As a result, many users do not recommend it.

    • “Sadly, this game is very buggy and the developers seem to have abandoned it, so I can no longer recommend it.”
  • optimization2 mentions

    Users express confusion regarding the optimization of particle effects, indicating that this aspect of the game's performance may not be well-implemented or clear.

    • “The only thing I don't understand is the optimization of the particle effects.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

Critic Reviews

49% average critic score

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