Blast As Many Aliens as You Can in Get Me Outta Here

Get Me Outta Here (Free) by Crescent Moon Games and The Rossman Bros. is an action-packed arena shooter that is full of aliens, cool weapons, weaponized cows, and hilarious dialogue. If you enjoy games like Soul Knight, Meganoid, and The Binding of Isaac, then you will probably like Get Me Outta Here.

When I’m under a bit of stress or just upset about something, I usually end up taking out my frustrations in the form of video games. While I prefer to relax and unwind after a long day, sometimes I just need to shoot and blow things up instead, because it’s much more satisfying sometimes. This is why I enjoy playing arcade shooter games, or duking it out in an arena-style battle and going for high scores. So when I heard of Get Me Outta Here, I was definitely intrigued, because I’m a fan of both Crescent Moon Games and arcade shooter games. Get Me Outta Here is a pretty solid release, but it does come with a few flaws as well.

Visually, Get Me Outta Here has a stunning retro aesthetic that will make any old-school gamer feel at home. The game features an awesome 16-bit pixelated look and feel to it that takes me back to the days of the SNES and Sega Genesis. And even with the pixel art style, the game manages to pack in plenty of finer details, from the textures of creatures and the alien spaceship to the various lighting and shading effects. Get Me Outta Here also features the classic dark background for the most part, which means that the vibrant neon hues of aliens and their technological weapons are nicely contrasted and easy to spot in a single glance. Animations are fairly smooth and fluid, so I did not have an issue with lag or choppiness when it came to movement. The game also has a rather heavy chiptune soundtrack and the sound effects are fun to hear. There is also voiced dialogue (though not much dialogue in total), so when you see the text on the screen, it’s also being read aloud, which just makes everything that much more ridiculous. Overall, the developers did an excellent job with Get Me Outta Here’s visual and audio design.

At its core, Get Me Outta Here is an arcade arena shooter where the goal is to chase after as high of a score as possible. This means that there is one main mode (bonus modes have to be unlocked via in-app purchase), but the game does provide players with various modifiers that they can choose to change their game in the beginning. The modifiers involve how much damage you take, how much health bosses have, and how many enemies spawn. For newbies, or a chance to get used to the game, it’s recommended to go with the easy mode modifications, though it does mean a lower score overall (less points, smaller boss bonus, and less opportunities for combos). If you want to go with the standard, just leave the modifiers in the middle option. If you want a real challenge, then go for the harder mods, which only reward you with more points and better scores.

Before you start a run, you are able to choose one of several different alien guns at your disposal. Each one has a different range, shot type, and charge attack. You can get a small demo of how each gun works when you tap on the “i” button. The game will give you a score on each gun (out of five stars), which depends entirely on your performance. This means that there is actually a reason to go back and try different play styles, especially if you’re a perfectionist.

Another thing that you find out as you start the game is that you pretty much only have two and a half minutes to kill as many aliens as you can before you can be rescued, and around the minute and 30 seconds mark is usually when a boss shows up. If you can kill the boss, then more time is added to the clock. Since you’re fighting against aliens and a clock, there is no time to waste in this game. As mentioned earlier, if you can keep up a good kill streak going, then that means a combo and more points for you at the end. There is also a power-up item at the top that you can collect for a boost (different each time), and the spawn points of every enemy will be different on each attempt, so at least that keeps things interesting.

The controls are the part that I found to be a mixed bag. In the bottom left corner is a virtual D-Pad for you to move horizontally, as well as up and down ladders. If you swipe horizontally in the right side of the screen, you’ll be able to perform an evasive dodge roll move that can help you avoid enemy attacks. Swiping up on the right side of the screen lets you do a jump, and you can swipe down to drop down platforms. To shoot your gun, just tap-and-hold in the bottom right corner, and a double tap lets you use the charge attack for your chosen gun.

The problem with the controls is that since it’s a D-Pad, you can’t exactly shoot diagonally, which I found to be annoying. To get enemies that are above you or coming at you at an angle, you’ll have to try to jump and shoot, or just be right underneath them. Another thing I noticed is that the D-Pad touch zone is a bit smaller than I’d like, so it would be better if you could at least change the size or positioning of it to better suit your needs. On the plus side, it does follow your touch, so if you tend to move your thumb while playing, it goes where your thumb is, so at least it does that. And while the swipe controls are implemented well, I think the methods for moving and attacking feel a bit clunky, and has led to my untimely death on numerous occasions. Hopefully the controls can be better optimized in a future update.

As mentioned earlier, the game provides one mode in the initial download. However, if you’re craving more, there is a $4.99 in-app purchase that gives you bonus modes (Endless Enemies, Endless Bosses, or Father Battle) and removes ads (you have to watch ads if you want to use different gun types and don’t have the IAP). There is also another $9.99 in-app purchase that provides everything that the lower tier IAP provides, but it also comes with exclusive weapon skins, but these are entirely cosmetic, and the higher tier upgrade is just to show support for the developers. However, neither one is required, as the game can be played and enjoyed for free, just with some ads.

I wanted to like Get Me Outta Here more, but at the moment, the game is a bit frustrating for me to play with the current touch controls. If the controls were better, then this would definitely be a game that I would enjoy coming back to over and over again. Still, if you think you can deal with the controls better than I did, and like a heavy retro aesthetic, then this game would be a good fit if you’re in the mood for action-packed arena shooters. The music was alright for the first few runs, but it does get a bit repetitive after a while, but unfortunately there is no way to turn the music or sound off. I hope to see that changed in an update as well, because it would be nice to just listen to my own music while playing sometimes.

If you are looking for a retro arena-based arcade shooter that has some humor thrown into the mix, then you should check out Get Me Outta Here. Just be warned about the controls, as they need to be better streamlined.

Get Me Outta Here is available on the App Store as a universal download for your iPhone and iPad for free. There is a $4.99 in-app purchase for bonus content and ad removal, while the $9.99 in-app purchase includes the previous tier but with exclusive skins.