Truxton Extreme ~ PS5 ~ 2026 ~ 1CC

The Tatsujin/Truxton series is famous among shmup enthusiasts for good reasons : awesome soundtrack, great visuals, simple yet functional mechanics and hard to master. This game is a great modern take on the formula. I must admit when I first saw screenshots of the game I was not confident at all : a 16:9 vertically scrolling shooter is a recipe for disaster, but with some great design choices it’s thankfully not a problem here. In fact, it works surprisingly well by allowing the player to select the ship’s movement speed on the fly, which certainly compensates for the very wide playfield. Visually, the game has nice 3D models, although they do have this ‘plastic’ aspect of modern 3D shmups, very much like R-Type Final 2 (or 3, I dunno). It’s also nice to see redesigns of classic enemies from both previous episodes. The backgrounds are great too, and each stage has its own atmosphere. The soundtrack is also really nice, but I’m biased in that I’ve always loved the soundtrack from the series, and many classic tracks are back. It just fits the game really well ! Where the game really shines is the gameplay mechanics. The player has a choice of 5 weapons and a temporary boost bar that also contributes to scoring. Balancing the usage of said bar is always fun and key to survival in some instances. It can also be very interesting for players looking into scoring. Certain enemies, if destroyed, provide extra waves and associated points. Finally, hidden point bonuses are also plenty and keep the game fresh after multiple replays. One small flaw of the game is that the multiplier is capped at x10. A x12 multiplier can be unlocked after a few more hours of gameplay. It is kind of bad in my opinion, as a player has to grind before competing with other players. A full loop runs for 70 minutes, and I do think it is too much. I think any loop over 50 minutes is a bit too long. And that’s not even taking into account the checkpoints, which are of course part of this game, and can make a loop even longer. It’s certainly the case in this run :) Overall, yes it’s a great game and a success IMHO. No, it’s not perfect, and it will probably not be everyone’s cup of tea, but taking a quick glance at recent years, it’s undoubtedly one of the very best modern shmups released ! This run is kind of a tutorial on how NOT to clear this game. Stupid deaths were plenty, and I was very close to the Game Over on way too many occasions. Consequently my score is very bad ! But I had a great time, and that’s what really matters.