Players can eventually learn these special powers to use for themselves too. Each of the opponents has their own special ability that affects the puck somehow, such as causing it to move in a non-linear path or freeze in place for a moment. Players can challenge these familiar faces to play a game that’s just like air-hockey, only it’s played on a space-age hologram table. The cantina is divided into several sections, each with its own handful of characters to meet. There are nods to a few other sci-fi franchises too, like Hitchhiker’s Guide, but it’s mostly based on Star Wars. The background music, the sound effects, the alien and droid character models are all eerily familiar, and Star Wars fans should get a few smiles out of the “Hey that guy’s dressed like Han Solo” brand of humor. Naturally, the only way to earn money for repair parts is by playing air hockey with the patrons of a local hive of scum and villainy.Įverything about the aesthetics is as close to Star Wars as the designers can get without being sued. The deliberately absurd plot puts players in control of an astronaut who crashes on a desert planet that’s a lot like Luke Skywalker’s homeworld of Tatooine. There are some slowdowns when investigating the different floors of the cantina, however.It’s a silly idea, and unabashedly so. The game by design forces repetition in terms of matches and enemies, so you'll soon be forced to mute the whole thing.Īs far as visual style is concerned, the title looks quite good, with an overall design reminiscent of sci-fi sagas like Star Wars or Firefly, and humor that draws inspiration from the likes of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The enemies, while quite varied in terms of appearance, style, abilities, or backgrounds, become rather annoying due to the constant repetition of their audio effects and animations. The design of the in-game mission system is also confusing, so you don't always figure out what you need to do in order to unlock rewards. The game also has several different currencies, which get a bit annoying, as you don't always know what you need to do in order to collect more.
![shufflepuck cantina ios shufflepuck cantina ios](http://static-3.app4smart.me/uploads/posts/thumbs/1046/original-a3bae7193e.jpg)
The speed of a puck is also sometimes reduced or increased without any plausible reason, so expect to get annoyed rather fast. Enemies are highlighted when their ability is ready for deployment, so that you can expect it, but as you progress through the cantina's floors, they begin to use their powers almost all the time.Ĭollision detection between the mallet and puck is also quite iffy, especially when it comes to the curved corners, as they don't send the puck in the direction you were hoping for.
![shufflepuck cantina ios shufflepuck cantina ios](https://onyxgame.com/img/game/shufflepuck-cantina-deluxe/shufflepuck-cantina-deluxe.jpg)
From turning around using 90-degree angles, to swerving or having a curved trajectory. You can fiddle with the sensitivity in the game's menu, but it takes a lot of time before finding the perfect settings for your own mouse and preferences.Įach enemy has a different ability that can cause the puck to move in a variety of crazy ways. Unfortunately, controlling the mallet with the mouse isn't exactly the most responsive experience. If you hit them with the puck, you can gain a variety of different abilities that improve your performance, such as an invisible shield or a bigger mallet, but also ones that help your foes, such as a shield for them or a smaller mallet for you. You face off against foes on a medium-sized table and quite often special power ups will appear. In terms of actual hockey gameplay, Shufflepuck Cantina Deluxe is a pretty enjoyable and varied experience. They also offer some pretty funny dialog, in some cases, as well as quite a few hit and miss puns relating to air hockey. This procedure, as you can tell, involves a lot of repetition, as each character has a multiple-part biography that shares all sorts of different details about them, their playing styles, their various abilities, but also their weaknesses. Components for that ship, however, are owned by various bar patrons, and the only way they'll give them up is over a game of air hockey.Īs such, you'll have to explore the bar's different levels, learn more about your potential opponents, and then challenge them to multiple games of air hockey until they give up their ship components. He's taken to a local bar by a few friendly aliens and the only way to go back home is to build a brand new ship. Shufflepuck Cantina Deluxe puts players in the space suit of an astronaut who lands on a mysterious alien world.