Review: Aqua Kitty DX: Milk Mine Defender

Another graduate from the school of PSM, Aqua Kitty (trailer) gets a gameplay and graphically up-rated version for the big league PSN on Vita and PS4. The premise is simple and a well-trodden one for Defender fans, scoot left or right around the level, protecting your milk mining kitty buddies from the nasty robo-enemies.

Your ship can get a couple of upgrades, to boost its power but whatever you have, wave after wave of robots will be on your case. They get bigger, nastier and the screen gets busier as you dodge, weave and try to protect your buddies. With a mix of modes including Normal, Arcade and Infinity, there's plenty to play but its the same challenge, and there's a distinct lack of the DX-Factor to grab you for longer play.

What is there is very good, with great chip-tune music, chain kills to boost your score and local co-op (for the PS4 only). In game explosions are pretty and the visuals are clean and striking, but it feels like Aqua Kitty could deliver a little more.

For a start, the radar is tiny and the indicators are smaller still, looking up in a busy moment means near certain death. It wouldn't be too hard for some big arrows, more strident sounds or other indicators to help find your miners in distress. The weapons also feel a bit under powered, DX should mean power-up-up-up and add a little insanity in the game.

With leaderboards and trophies added its well worth adding to your Vita's list of shooters, but isn't quite up there with TxK, Gravity Crash or Pixel Junk, which give you that little bit more pizzazz and oomph. Still, definitely worth your time and perfect for quick blasts of nostalgic shooting action.

Score: 7.5/10
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Price: £5.49
Dev: TikiPod
Progress: Enough milk for a latte