Shooters come in all shapes and sizes. First person, third person, top down, twin stick, and even side scrollers. Devolver Digital recently released a new shooter made by Croteam. I Hate Running Backwards is a top down shooter rogue like endless runner.
The game places you as a fighter against huge bosses. As the title suggests – you must run backwards as foes charge towards you. As you take out tons of minions you can grab weapon upgrades or even more powerful weapons.
It’s an indie game that contains characters from Nuclear Throne, BroForce, Enter the Gungeon, Serious Sam and more. Each character has different stats, so you can pick the one that best suits your play style. As you are running backwards you can shoot, melee and destroy almost all of the scenery. This gives you even more targets to destroy.
Graphics are on the blocky side. When you destroy something, it shatters into smaller cubes. One thing that my son and I both noticed is that when you get to a level boss the game goes black before showing its character card. This makes you wonder, even when you know it happens, if the game just crashed. The music is good and seems to accompany the action nicely.
You are able to play solo or with a friend in couch co-op. Unfortunately, not all the features are the same. If you play solo, after you beat a boss, if you die, you can teleport to the stage directly following him. This is not an option in couch co-op. This means that no matter how far you get, you will have to restart at the beginning. Even though the levels are rogue-like it can get a bit monotonous re-doing each level.
I Hate Running Backwards is out now on XB1, PS4, Nintendo Switch and PC. With a price tag around $15 there is a fair amount of game play, but you will probably find yourself bored getting to it all.
