Not long ago, I reviewed a shooter that held off getting into the action by running through a pretty lengthy scroll of backstory. At the time, I was honestly baffled by that since I’ve played more arcade shooters in my life than I can count, and I don’t remember pretty well any of them having a story, nor did I care. Now, maybe in the end since the gameplay was also disappointing, that made the unneeded story more noticeable, and if the game was decent, and the story handled in a more compelling way, it would have made more sense. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Truxton Extreme is a title that manages to make a case that a well-delivered narrative can help to make great shooting action at least shine a little brighter.

The first thing that genre fans will likely notice about this game is that, aside from generally looking great, it’s also a vertically-scrolling shooter that is played in widescreen. Aside from not wasting pixels with an artificial bezel on either side, this really gives the game’s graphics space to fully shine. In general everything is clean and well-defined, many of the backgrounds (at least those not in space) have a very organic look to them, and in overall the game being exclusive to the Switch 2 feels justified given the amount of bullets flying around from both you and your enemies. Once you throw in bosses that feel like they consume at least a third of the screen, it all makes for a pretty good time.

Thankfully, there’s more at work here than just the game looking good, and that’s the fact that its gameplay is also quite satisfying. At first you’ll need to get used to the flow of using your primary weapons, being more careful with your bombs, and then knowing when to lean on your EX boost which super-charges your weapons and allows them to hit much harder, but you’ll have to use it sparingly so you have it when you need it most. The other stand-out features include 3 character storylines, brought to life in the form of comic book panels that work nicely, an adjustable speed gauge to help with tricky maneuvering, and a pleasing variety of weapon types to choose from and pick up as you go. While I’d still say there’s another tier of titles in the genre sitting above this, it’s still a rock-solid option that truly has a feel all its own, making it well worth genre fans giving at least a long glance.