Armored Head is an arena shooter with crisp gunplay, fluid movement, and an interesting visual style. It doesn’t have an exorbitant amount of content, but it delivers a tight, polished experience that is well worth its low price point.

Gameplay

The core gameplay loop is very simple; you shoot enemies, they drop resources, then you use those resources to help kill the next wave. You periodically find new weapons, but that’s about it. Despite how bare bones it might seem, it’s executed well, especially the weapon balancing, which I found impressive. Many games are reluctant to give the player weapons that might be too strong and kill any challenge, but Armored Head gets around that by limiting your ammo, not your power. The best weapon in the game is absurdly strong and can defeat a wave in only a few shots, but its max ammo is so low that you can’t make it your main gun. This system encourages you to switch up your weapons and helps keep the combat lively and ever-changing. Some of the game’s best moments come when you’re running low on ammo for your top-tier weapons and have to use a weak submachine gun instead.

This ammo-based balancing carries over into the power-ups, namely dashes and slow motion. They are exceptionally strong and make it nearly impossible to lose, but you run out quickly if you rely on them too much. It’s a fun system that makes you save your dashes for emergencies instead of endlessly jumping around.

Enemy design is another highlight. You have the standard ones that walk/run towards you in a straight line, but then there are some that fly erratically, others that shoot at you from afar, etc. It results in a quite varied roster that’s a lot of fun to fight.

Presentation

Visually, Armored Head has a minimalist look that utilizes a muted color palette and unrefined 3D models. The result is a game that almost looks like an unfinished prototype, except that it’s clearly intentional rather than rushed graphics.

Additionally, the soundtrack comes together with the visuals and gameplay to give a high-energy vibe to the whole game. It’s not the type of music I would listen to on its own, but it fits the combat perfectly.

Verdict

Armored Head isn’t revolutionary and actually borrows heavily from games that have come before it. That being said, it’s a stellar take on the arena shooter genre, and it’s a steal for such a low price point. I didn’t notice any major flaws and loved my time with it. I would recommend it to anyone that even moderately enjoys arena shooters, provided that they don’t mind a somewhat short game.

8/10

• Egor Rezenov
• Steam
• $5