Behold, the PS4's most cost-effective eye candy. Here's the thing: PlayStation Plus members get Resogun free for a limited time, and the PS4 comes with a 30-day free trial of PS Plus. So really, if you want to find out if Resogun is worth your time, you might as well download it the second you crack open your fresh jet-black console. The abridged an🍎swer is yes, Resogun is a worthwhile arcade shooter--but allow me to explain why it falls short of being the PS4's Geometry Wars.

Before I delve into the nitty-gritty of gameplay, there's something you should know: Resogun is pretty freakin' beautiful. Not in a photorealistic kind of way; the visuals are mostly voxel-based (think Minecraft), dressed up with a laser light show of deadly plasma and coursing electrical beams. It's more a disbelieving "how in the frack is there no slowdown?" sensation, because there's so much flying around onscreen ꦿon a second-to-second basis. It's borderline sensory overload.

Your task is to pilot one of three ship types through a circular 2D plane, like an HD version of the arcade shooter Defender that wraps into itself. Resogun is technically a twin-stick shooter, but you can only shoot left or right; this puts much of the skill ceiling on how well you can dodge and weave, which is a boon for any good shmup. The thrill of threading the needle between two incoming projectiles or zigzagging around hostile ships keeps Res🦂ogun consistently exciting, with minimal downtime between incoming waves. It sounds like high-scoring heaven--but that euphoria is soon shattered by the primary scoring mechanic.

To rack up optimal point totals, you need to do as your commander's disembodied voice instructs: S🃏AVE THE LAST HUMANS. While fending off waves of regular enemies, destroying UFOs with green auras will free one of 10 humans from captivity. These dinky stick-figure citizens must then be scooped up and delivered to hubs around the map; save 'em all, and you'll rack up mondo point bonuses. The problem is, saving humans dictates the pace of each level, yet the visual cues for all these interconnecting parts get utterly lost in the unending neon chaos.

Time and again, I threw up my hands in confounded frustration--because unbeknownst to me, I had doomed yet another human to an undignified death. Turns out, certain ships that release humans upon death will dip into the playfield for a few precious seconds; once they're gone, that's it. The only way to avoid these demoralizing screw-ups is to keep a close eye on the HUD. And who wants to have to glance at the upper-left corner of the screen every few seconds, away from all the gorgeous twitch-sಌhooting action? Nobody. You don't need to rescue every human--or any, technically--to complete a level, but your final point tally will be pathetic if you don't.