Bleed 2 is a pixel art side-scrolling shooter that offers non-stop action and is available on Xbox’s Games With Gold until January 15, 2021. Developed and published by Ian Campbell, Bleed 2 has the player dodge, shoot and jump their way to a final boss, while eliminating many other opponents along the way. While the story may be short, the real fun is in the extra challenges the player can try to complete, each with varying degrees of difficulty.
Starting with the story mode, the player can choose from four difficulty settings and must fight against an attacking villainous force. Story mode is a great start for players as there are an infinite number of lives, so it can be used as a training ground of sorts. The controls are quite simple, with the right stick used to aim and fire, left stick to move and the right trigger to jump. The player has access to an infinite amount of ammo with no cooldown time and multiple jumps can be performed in succession in order to get around.
The gameplay is simple, yet challenging. Scroll through each level, shooting down enemies all the while avoiding incoming projectiles. Some projectiles are pink in colour and can be deflected towards the enemy with the right stick when timed correctly, but with so many things to be focusing on at one time these opportunities can sometimes be missed. There are multiple boss fights in a level, each with unique attacks and challenging moves to overcome.
Once the story is completed, the player can choose to replay it at a harder difficulty or select one of the following other game modes:-
- Arcade – Playthrough the story but with a single life.
- Endless – Take on a series of randomly generated levels.
- Challenge – Tackle multiple bosses at once.
At the completion of each level, the player is awarded a class rating which is judged on time, damage and style. This is where it can spark the interest of any completionist, as it may be easy to perform well in one aspect of the rating scale but with so much happening on the screen with multiple enemies and limited platforms, it is easy to fall short of a high rating. Trial and error is the keys to success in Bleed 2.
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