Overview – developed by Katsu Entertainment and published by Hound Picked Games, Dogfight: a Sausage Bomber Story is a multiplayer scrolling shooter, mixing humor, action and sausages based weapons. Take on wave after wave of men in your sausage bomber, with your arsenal of unlockable weapons and upgrades. This title is available on all major platforms, with a link to each version of the game available at the bottom of this review.
Disclaimer: before I get into the review, I would like to thank PR Hound for providing the copy of Dogfight: a Sausage Bomber Story that was used for this piece. The provision of this software has not influenced the contents of this review, all thoughts and opinions contained within are my own.
Now with the introductions out of the way, let’s get into the review, starting off with the story.
Story – the mysterious Vega Nation has ambitions of taking over the world, invading the neighbouring areas and attempting to conquer all. The Sausage Bomber Corps has deployed their best team, made up of 4 talented pilots to take on the threat of this enemy. Can these brave pilots take down the nefarious plans and destroy the war machines, on a daring mission to defend the nations of Relishtonia, Krautsbourg, Dijon Terre and more.
Gameplay – Dogfight is a 4 player scrolling shooter, inspired by titles like Metal Slug, where the player takes on waves of enemies in intense shooting action. The objective of the game is to make it through each level, taking down enemies forces and defeating the bosses at the end of the each stage. To accomplish this, players must dodge and weave through a hail of enemy fire, with attacks sometimes filling the entire screen.
During the stages, the player is able to collect power-ups which can increase their fire power, provide satellites for extra support and refill the ships total health. There are also medals that can be collected which add to the players total score at the end of the stage, adding to the arcade feel of the experience. When a stage is cleared, a ranking will be provided for the player out of a total of 5 stars, with different requirements to hit the highest ranking.
While in combat, if the player takes damage, they will lose a portion of their health with the chance for instant defeat if making contact with a giant foe. But if the player loses all of their health from enemy fire, there is a chance for recovery by hitting the button prompt on screen as fast as possible. When the player successfully recovers, they are given a low portion of health to continue to play and the chance of restoring health.
Before boss battles, there are cutscenes and on screen effects that add comedic elements to the action, with interactions from the bosses. The bosses are challenging as they take up a large portion of the screen, with multi direction attacks that can fill up the remaining spaces during battles. The player must hit all of the weak points of the boss, taking out their weapons while attempting to avoid the different attack patterns.
Outside of the missions, the players are able to select their next mission from the menu, as well as the option to change the weapons that have been unlocked, including bomb and shot weapons. The stages that have already been cleared can be replayed to improve their score. There is also an option for players to speedrun the game, offering different speed settings to speed up the action to get a faster time with each subsequent attempt of the game.
Now with the gameplay covered, it is time to cover the other aspects of this release, starting with the controls.
Controls – this is an arcade style shooter, with a very simple control layout consisting of a shoot, bomb and turn button letting players fire the opposite direction. The inputs are smooth with little if any input lag, allowing for fast and intuitive action when playing the game at high speeds. This makes for a solid arcade style experience, regardless of the controller being used be it a Joy-Con, pro controller or even an arcade stick (which I would recommend as the best option).
Difficulty – the difficulty curve for this release is fair and balanced, with adjustable options for the player to set the game to their own personal skill level. There are several difficulty options to select from, with multiple settings for lives and the option to change the speed that the game moves in speedrun mode. These options make the game accessible for players of all skill levels to be able to play the game at a level that suits them.
Presentation – the visual style for this release is similar to that of a Saturday morning cartoon, which looks right at home on the Nintendo Switch. The sprite work consists of relatively simple yet detailed art, with multi-layered backgrounds that have a hand drawn look to them. The cutscenes that are used look great, which combine with the energetic soundtrack to create an overall package that has its own delightful charm to it.
Final Thoughts – when this game was announced, I was rather excited to see more of it. Then when I got my hands on this I was pulled in right from the start, as the action, pacing and overall charm of the game really pulled me in, with the multiplayer being an extra bonus. I can see where the comparisons to titles like Metal slug come from, as this has elements reminiscent of them, like the complex enemy patterns and giant bosses.
I can happily recommend this to anyone who likes action titles, as it hits all the right notes in terms of fast paced arcade action, replay value and balanced gameplay that isn’t punishing to new players. I feel that this is an excellent scrolling shooter, with a lot of potential, in terms of sequels in the future and a possible speed running/challenge community growing from this. I just wish the main game was a little longer.
In the end, I give Dogfight: a Sausage Bomber Story a final score of 4.5/5. This is an excellent acrade style scrolling shooter, with plenty of variety to the action and a charm that gives the overall package its own identity when compared to its inspirations. If you want to check this title out for yourself, a link to each version of the game will be below.
Link to Nintendo Switch version (HERE)
Link to PlayStation version (HERE)
Link to Xbox version (HERE)
Link to Steam version (HERE)
Link to EPIC version (HERE)
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