Like side-scrolling platformers and roguelikes, space shooters are getting a resurgence on Steam. Whether they're "bullet hell" affairs, twin-stick, top-down or side-scrolling, there has been an influx of shooters that have either beautifully captured what is great about the genre or, at the very least, been average examples of what players expect from them. Occasionally, some defy expectations by being bad examples, and sadly, that's the case with Pilot Crusader.

From the moment you boot up the game, you can tell that things aren't going to be as good as you had hoped. For some reason, the game runs in full-screen mode but maxes out at 1280x720. That's fine when you start up, but the settings screen provides no way to change this. The options screen is rather sparse, as you can only toggle music and effects and activate explosions and screen shaking. Admittedly, those last two options aren't actually options since turning them off still leaves them on during gameplay. No matter what, you're stuck at 720p with a keyboard-mouse configuration.

Before you begin, you're given a chance to select one of three ships to pilot. Only the first ship is available at first, a craft with a single gun and average speed. Unlocking the other two requires that you defeat the motherships, but it doesn't seem like a really satisfying reward since both ships have traits that make them worse than the default ship. For example, the second ship has two guns, but they have a much shorter range that requires you to use your slightly better speed to get close to your foes. The third ship has three guns in a spread pattern, and that ship moves the slowest of them all, making you an easy target for enemy fire. Neither of the ships has guns that deliver stronger firepower, so your default ship with its good range and maneuverability is really the only viable option.

Once you choose a ship, you'll be sent into combat. Stages are based on waves, with you having to clear a set number of enemies per stage before you can move on. For the most part, the ships won't give you much trouble since their firing rate is normal. Every third stage, you face a mothership that has a large bombing cannon, and that suddenly turns the game into a bullet hell shooter; it's very bad news for you since you only have one life, and it only takes one shot to kill you. Your gun does have infinite ammo, and hitting enemies enough times will build up a meter that lets you use a screen-clearing nuke in case things get hairy.

With the understanding that Pilot Crusader is an arena twin-stick shooter (minus the ability to actually use dual analog sticks) without the benefit of a story to prop it up, there isn't much that should go wrong. However, the game messes up a few important elements. For starters, there is some really bad hitbox detection that gives the enemies a huge advantage. While your shots generally need to hit the body of the enemy for it to count, their shots don't always need to do that. In most cases, any laser fire that is close to your ship is enough to down you. Since your craft goes down in one hit while enemy craft take several shots to take out, it can be easy to get frustrated. Explosions also end up being a detriment since they're large, lack transparency and last a long time. As a result, you'll often find enemies using it as cover to sneak up on you and tag you with a laser blast.

If you've already marked Pilot Crusader as a classic arcade game built for high score runs, you'll be disappointed to learn that the title doesn't make it easy for you to acknowledge your good run. For starters, it isn't clear how you enter your name for the high score table. We found out by accident that simply typing your name is good enough to fill out the User Name field; lots of people online haven't figured that out yet, as evidenced by the fact that the online high score table only had the developers' names on it before we started to populate it. Even then, you'll quickly discover that the leaderboard only supports six entries, so unless you're good enough to knock out the top six, you'll never see your name there. Then again, there's no indication about whether this is an online leaderboard, so you might only see your name listed anyway.

All of this builds into the game's cardinal sin: being boring. Enemies have no interesting patterns, and they don't change as you progress. The unlockable ships are also rather unexciting, so you never see anything different. Add that to the bad hit detection and explosions hiding enemies, and you soon fall into a rut where you don't care about what's going on. That's a death knell for a genre that's supposed to be all about excitement.

Graphically, the game looks cheap. The ship designs want to look busy, but nothing moves with any flair, making them all look like paper cutouts moving on an invisible stick. They look fine but aren't particularly memorable. Backgrounds are static with the exception of a bunch of moving stars to provide a feeling of movement. None of the backdrops change, no matter how far along you are in the game. The only things that are animated with any care are the explosions, which look very cartoonish. Although explosions make things more difficult since they hide enemies, they are still the best-looking part of the game.

The feeling of extreme frugality bleeds over into the sound, which can best be described as minimalistic. Pilot Crusader only features one musical track; it plays on and on at a rather low volume, but it blends into the background, so you're easily able to ignore it. You've got sound effects for your gunfire and explosions, which also come across with low fidelity, but enemy sounds are completely absent. Whether they're firing regular shots or a large cannon, everything they do is silent and unexciting. The only voice you hear is of the system's computer telling you when it is time to engage the enemy and when your nuke is ready, but like the music, the voice isn't booming enough to seem important. It all exists but is very unexciting.

Pilot Crusader's shooting mechanic would've been slightly enjoyable if it weren't for dodgy hitboxes and explosions that seem to work against you. The task of unlocking ships would've been more exciting if they weren't weaker than your default craft. It also would've been nice if there were more options and the presentation weren't as basic as possible. The only saving point is that it's inexpensive, but even spending a few more dollars would get you a shooter that's much more satisfying. Unless you're getting Pilot Crusader as part of a bigger indie game bundle, there isn't much reason to grab this title, even if you're really into high score runs.

Score: 3.0/10