With plenty of gamers still fans of old school shoot ‘em up action, it’s a great time for developers to bring back shmup classics for the modern era. We’ve seen all sorts of ports and remakes of the big names in shooters over the past decade, be it R-Type, Gradius, or Dondonpachi. I must admit though when Platypus Reclayed was proffered to me I wasn’t familiar with its particular brand of plasticine-based shooting, but one look at that art style had me convinced.
Originally released for Windows in 2002, Platypus was the creation of Anthony Flack. With ship and enemy models made entirely from plasticine, it had a unique art style specially by 2002 standards. Apparently it wasn’t an easy process though, because at the time there was a plasticine shortage in New Zealand so everything had to be made from the same lump of clay. The hard work was clearly worth it, as a unique and entertaining shmup was born.
Piloting the titular F-27 Platypus, it’s your job to defend a peaceful planet from less than friendly invaders. This means flying through five different areas made up of multiple stages, and shooting a whole lot of clay enemies. When starting out the Platypus will only have a very basic laser to take down foes, but as is tradition in the humble shoot ‘em up this doesn’t last long.
When you defeat a wave of orange enemies you’ll be granted a power up, and these come in all sorts of familiar and not so familiar forms. The more simple spread shots and homing missiles might be more than recognisable for fans of the genre, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t incredibly helpful. If you want something more zany though Platypus Reclayed has you covered, with power ups ranging from firing donuts to a boxing glove on a spring. Regardless of how silly your new weapon is it’ll also serve as an extra hit before death, which is just as useful as it sounds for saving those credits.
If this was a more traditional arcade experience you’d probably expect running out of credits to mean restarting the whole game, but Platypus Reclayed is more fair than that. Once you beat all five levels of an area you’ll unlock the next area to start at on any future run, which means as long as you can keep a few lives spare when a world boss attacks you’ll be safe to move forward at any time. Shmup novices also have easier difficulty options too, which I appreciated in the later stages especially.
It’s not unusual for shoot ‘em ups to start feeling a bit samey as you progress through them, but variety is both the spice of life and a plentiful spice in Platypus. Stages regularly feature all new enemies you’ll have to learn to defeat without blowing up, and some stages are even totally different. An early example of this is a stage full of mines floating on hot air balloons, which you’ll need to dodge and avoid shooting to ensure masses of bullets don’t fly across the screen. Levels like this really help keep the game fresh even when you’re replaying a tough world, and I seriously appreciated it.
There are lots of things I absolutely love about Platypus Reclayed, but the visuals are probably top of that list. The now high fidelity clay models look photorealistic on the screen, and it’s a treat for the eyes every time you blow one up. My absolute favourite visual effect though is how enemies show they’re damaged, which is by slowly becoming covered in little Swiss cheese style holes. As well as looking cool it’s a really obvious way to notice how much damage you’re dealing, bringing both function and fashion to the party.
Platypus Reclayed is a wonderful shmup that I kept coming back to for one more run, but some aspects of the game are a bit frustrating. Certain enemies are just a pain to fight, and when they appeared I’d immediately throw a bit of a strop. It can also feel particularly bad when you miss out on a power up just because you can’t shoot all the orange enemies in time, and the punishment of having to keep a basic gun when you’re struggling feels somewhat brutal. I also wish you got the weirder power ups a bit more often, because they’re way too cool to be so rare.
Platypus Reclayed is a gorgeous shmup that’s a blast to play, and I’m so glad it’s been brought back so more people can experience it. From its bizarre power ups to its clay visuals there’s just nothing else in the genre quite like it, and shooting fans young and old should make sure to give it a shot.