The beat-em-up genre has taken many forms. From fighting in rage-filled streets to a band of reptile brothers fighting their fellow mutants, the genre has explored it all. But what about popping bottles, or rather, shooting soda pop itself?
Mixing up the genre with a fresh coat of paint and dabbling with mechanics usually seen in puzzle games, Popslinger arrives. With the game’s willingness to shake up a formula, does this soda have the pop needed? Or is it only suds? The answer lies somewhere in the middle.
Developer & Publisher // ARTAX GAMES SL
Platforms // Series X/S, PlayStation 5, PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Switch
MSRP & Release Date // $12.50, February 29, 2024
Reviewed On // PlayStation 5
Welcome to the 90’s – Story/Narrative
After making a deal to save someone in danger, Ria Carbon uses her newfound Soda-themed blaster to save the day. Ria and Gin team up with their abilities to fend off blob-like invaders and defeat corrupted people called ‘Corazones’. The setup is simple and what makes it charming is the back-and-forth between the protagonists.
Ria hungers for some fun and adventure in her life while Gin’s more stoic serious persona clashes with that. It results in some genuinely humorous back-and-forth and when things take a slight serious turn later on, it doesn’t feel out of place.
The narrative is told through visual novel cut-scenes and every line of dialog is fully voiced. Said voice acting feels ripped right out of a 90’s cartoon. That may come off as a negative to some, but I personally enjoyed most of it. Evoking memories of childhood 90’s cartoons, the writing only added to Popslingers 90’s charm.
Soda Covered Streets – Gameplay
The core gameplay is based on the 90’s brawler, but with a unique pop. Instead of brawling through the streets, Ria blasts her way through. Using four different styles of guns, the player shoots through hallways of color-coated enemies. In order to successfully chain high scores, the player must shoot four of the same color. By doing this, the player can get various power-ups that can help them through the challenging stages. Every kill includes a rewarding ‘pop’ sound, encouraging you to keep the chain going.
Later on in the game, special shields start appearing around enemies that require a specific gun to break through them. Keeping the challenge up, are ‘wave’ sections in each level. They typically last three or four waves, pushing the player to avoid attacks and keep the offensive.
And every stage caps off with a boss fight, pushing the player to use what they learned throughout the level to pop their heart. Bosses themselves in the early stages are very challenging, but once you get more weapons they go down significantly faster. This results in them not being the rewarding pop-off for a level, either being a challenge the player is relieved to overcome or something they brush aside next level.
One boss encounter that stood out was in Stage 6, where one of the phases involved said boss turning into a larger threat with two hands to shoot at. It reminded me of the Stone-Hand boss from Mario 64 and since all four weapons were accessible, being able to approach the boss with all options was enjoyable. This is in stark contrast to prior boss encounters where your options were limited.
Moving N’ Grooving – Controls/Game Feel
The controls for Popslinger are mostly responsive, with general movement and shooting feeling snappy to player input. Unfortunately, the dodge ability is not effective at avoiding attacks. Ria dodges in a specific direction when pressing Square/Circle and a direction with the D-Pad/Left stick, giving you a three-second invincibility window. However, since Ria’s movement is not fast enough when surrounded, the player can get hit easily.
This is a problem when ensuring chains are key to keeping a high score and getting a good rank, which is directly linked to game progression.
Wrong Lessons from the 90’s – Difficulty
The game offers two difficulty modes, the default normal and an Easy Mode that can be enabled in the options menu. The normal difficulty for the majority of Popslingers runtime is very challenging. Enemies can quickly surround the player and early on when you only have a simple blaster and shotgun, the challenge can become borderline unfair. Once you unlock all your weapons and health points by the fifth level, the challenge almost completely vanishes. Bosses across the six main levels that originally two minutes to defeat now take thirty seconds.
Easy Mode grants the player double the health, making genuinely unfair portions of levels manageable. However, the Rank at the end of a level defaults to D Rank on Easy.
Flat Tasting Pop – Progression/Design
With every completed stage, the player gets a new gun and another health point. This continues all the way to the sixth level, opening up a portal to the final level. Sounds like normal progression, until you go to the portal. When you do so, the game tells the player via story scene they need to get a B Rank or higher to access the final level.
The game has a score breakdown after every level, adding up to the Rank at the bottom. Popslinger does not disclose requirements for specific ranks. Other games, such as the Sonic series, have ranking systems themselves and the player knows exactly what is required. Get through the level within X time, get X amount of points, etc.
With Popslinger, the requirements aren’t clear. So if the player struggled and played a level on Easy, they have to play through it all over again. And with the game not breaking down what’s required, what would be a short experience is artificially inflated.
The worst aspect of the ranking system is that you are actively punished for using power-ups, with levels having a point bonus for not using them. Considering a core mechanic of the game involves you chaining color-coated kills to access said power-ups, this is a confused design decision. These progression problems got in the way, to the point I was unable to access the final level after spending many hours with the game. The final level itself, based on footage I have seen, is similar to prior ones (normal hallways to shoot through, capped off with a boss encounter).
The Ol’ VHS Tape – Presentation/Music
The strongest aspect of Popslinger is the 90’s themed presentation. Blues and pinks pop off the screen, supported by large expressive character sprites and smooth-looking character movements. Boss character movements are stiffer compared to Ria but colorful character designs make each encounter interesting on a visual level.
Levels themselves each have unique theming (with one level having different tone/visual face lifts upon revisiting it three times). My personal favorite was a TV station ran by an idol-themed Corazone.
Adding to the presentation of Popslinger is the impressive score, having groovy beats to blast too. The Dance-Genre is represented across the entire soundtrack, with a highlight being the track ‘Funky Disk’. The soft vocals, foot-tapping beats, and strong rhythm make it a stand-out track.
Final Thoughts on Popslinger
Going into this charming indie game, I was excited by the strong visual identity and musical score. But I came away feeling flat.
The strong presentation, great audio design, and unique mechanics do not make up for unfair challenges and needlessly punishing players for playing on lesser difficulties. If you are willing to give Popslinger a chance and fight back against the foam, you might enjoy the otherwise sweet soda beneath.
Note – A key was provided for the purpose of this review