Where to get it

2015 · Witch Beam · Arcade · Indie

Assault Android Cactus

Timed PlayStation exclusive

"Assault Android Cactus is a manic twin stick arena shooter for the PC with screens full of enemies, buckets of bullets and high scoring combo chains! Take on the role of Cactus, an enthusiastic police android, who responds to a stranded space freighter only to discover it under siege by its malfunctioning robot workers. Cut off from the outside and in over her head, Cactus and the androids she recruits along the way battle through the crippled Genki Star to reach the brain of the ship and put things right before it's too late."

Released: 23 September 2015
Platforms: Linux PlayStation 4 PlayStation Vita Tomahawk F1 Wii U Windows Xbox One macOS
Genres: Arcade Indie Shoot 'em up Shooter
Developers: Witch Beam
Publishers: Witch Beam
Modes: Multiplayer Single-player
Perspective: Bird view / Isometric
Themes: Action Science fiction Kids
Country: Australia
Age ratings: CERO A ESRB E10+ACB PG CLASS_IND 10 PEGI 7
Languages: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish (Spain)
Time to beat: 3.5hmain story32hcompletionist
Composers: Jeff van Dyck

About

Assault Android Cactus is a twin-stick shooter developed and published by Witch Beam. The game was released for Windows, OS X, and Linux in 2015, PlayStation 4 in 2016, Xbox One in 2017, and Nintendo Switch in 2019. An enhanced version for the Switch was released in 2019 as Assault Android Cactus+.

›Story

Assault Android Cactus is a frantic twin-stick shooter set aboard a stricken vessel adrift in deep space. The story follows Cactus, a plucky junior constable of the Interplanetary Police Department, whose patrol takes a sudden turn for the worse when her ship crashes into a massive space freighter called the Genki Star. Stranded aboard the crippled vessel, Cactus quickly discovers that its robotic crew has malfunctioned, turning the freighter's mechanical workers into hostile, rampaging machines. Armed and undaunted, the little android sets out to blast her way through the swarming rogue robots, fighting to restore order and wrest control of the Genki Star back from the chaos.

Along the way she is joined by a colorful roster of fellow androids, each with their own distinctive weapons and abilities. Battling across the freighter's ever-shifting, transforming stages, Cactus and her allies push deeper into the ship in a relentless, action-packed struggle to survive and set things right.

Players say

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Assault Android Cactus is a twin-stick shooter played primarily from a quarter-down perspective. The player takes control of one of nine Androids, the first of which being Cactus, an Interplanetary Police Department (IPPD) junior constable, who crashes her ship into a space freighter 'Genki Star'. The player must fight through hordes of rogue robots to take back control of the Genki Star. The game can be played in single-player or in local cooperative play with up to four players.

The game features four game modes: a story, campaign, a challenging 50 layer mode, Infinity Drive, daily challenges, Daily Drive, and boss rush mode. The game has nine playable androids to choose from, each of which have a different combination of primary and secondary weapons. The game includes 25 stages which morph and transform as the level progresses.

Development

Assault Android Cactus was developed and published by Brisbane-based video game development studio Witch Beam. One of the game's developers, Sanatana Mishra noted that the team's decision to not launch the game on Xbox One video game console was due to the ID@Xbox parity clause which required developers to launch their games on Xbox One the same day as other platforms.

Reception

Assault Android Cactus received "generally favorable" reviews from critics according to review aggregator website Metacritic.

Assault Android Cactus won the award for "Best Action Game" at Intel Level Up 2013.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

Platform	Released	Regions
Windows	23 September 2015	Worldwide · North America 23 September 2015
macOS	23 September 2015	Worldwide
Linux	23 September 2015	Worldwide
PlayStation 4	8 March 2016	Worldwide
Xbox One	7 November 2017	Worldwide