At first glance, Hyper Meteor may appear to be little more than a stylish modern indie take on Asteroids, but as you’ll discover from our Hyper Meteor Switch review, it’s actually something a little different from that!
Hyper Meteor isn’t so much a shoot ‘em up as it is a “dodge ‘em up”, and it plays a little like Asteroids has crashed into Super Hexagon.
You can destroy the meteors that insist on getting in your ship’s way, but not with bullets, but by ramming into their weak point (the lighter parts). Your ship also comes armed with a single, solitary smart bomb that can destroy everything within its blast radius. But you’ll need to be thoughtful about when you deploy it, as you only get one to start with, and you’ll want to protect your ship for as long as possible, while also inflicting as much damage as possible to the on-screen meteors to maximise your score.
The playing field wraps around itself, so leaving from the left makes you reappear on the right, and leaving from the top makes you reappear at the bottom, etc., which really does leave you with nowhere to hide!
Your ship controls well, so if you get destroyed, you really only have yourself to blame!
The stylised graphics and thumping EDM soundtrack make Hyper Meteor a very modern gaming experience, but one that’s underpinned by retro sensibilities, which brings to mind the Game Boy Advance’s criminally underplayed Bit Generations series.
The online leaderboards and unlockable colour palettes give you plenty of incentives to keep playing, not that you really need any extra incentives, because Hyper Meteor is a joy to play without any need for such embellishments. However, the unlockable palettes are a welcome extra, giving you the chance to add a touch of Jeff Minter-style psychedelia to the game.
Hyper Meteor exemplifies video gaming at its purest. It’s the sort of game you’re still seeing in your mind’s eye as you close your eyes to sleep at night, and I know I’ll keep playing it for years to come.
The indie-rock band Superchunk once asserted “I think I’m hyper enough as it is!” And Hyper Meteor is certainly hyper enough for me! Hyper Meteor is one of the best indie games of 2023. It’s perhaps not the meatiest game in terms of content, but it’s so pure and addictive that it doesn’t need to be any “Meteor”!
I must play this!