So far, this game is pretty great.
I'll write down some pros and cons for you:

1. A lot of missions and seemingly endless combinations of bosses to fight
2. A lot of small stuff to do, such as small arcade games and even Kite Flying. Listening to the Characters talk casually to each other feels nice and refreshing
3. (In my Opinion) a really good Pixel-Artstyle
4. Endless mode feels great and is perfect for getting a lot of cash together
5. A huge number of outfits and weapons
6. The first boss boss (The first hand crafted boss) felt like a small challenge while still remaining fair.



1. The Game feels kinda too easy sometimes. After you upgrade your gun a lot, you'll shred through the first bosses in boss rush in no time. It'll probably change in the later levels and after a longer time in the boss rush though.
2. It gets really repetetive after a relatively short amount of time.
3. The normal "bosses" feel more like big enemies.
4. The games' endboss feels kinda unbalanced compared to the rest of the game. While the other bosses are easy and kinda "babys first bullet hell"-ish, the endboss feels like a "normal" bullet hell game and is pretty hard.
5. The Story, to me, feels uninteresting. That's probably because there's a cutscene before and after every single level. After some time I started skipping every cutscene because I just wanted to play the level. If there were less Cutscenes and more meaningful ones instead, it would probably be easier to keep me interested in the story.

I'll add more pros and cons to the list after some more hours of playing.

07/10
I haven't beaten the endboss yet, because he, like I wrote before, is WAY harder than any other boss in the game.
It's fun to play every now and then, if you like easier bullet hell games. If you search for a real challenge, the endboss is the only really hard enemy in the game.

I’ve never seen the TV series “Lost,” but from what I’ve heard about it, if I had randomly just picked it up in the fifth season – that’s about how I’d feel when starting out in Boss 101. It’s not necessarily that the story is elaborate or that the game is complex, it’s just that so much is thrown at you so quickly that it is thoroughly overwhelming. But once you get your bearings and navigate through all of the vibrant colors, it starts to be a bit more approachable.


At its core, Boss 101 is a boss rush shoot ‘em up styled game that has you taking control of a kid who befriends a robotic jetpack and uses it along with a variety of weapons to smash the robotic overlords that have taken over the planet and broken the moon in half for some reason. That’s about as straightforward as I can make it. Before Cuphead, I may have turned away from boss rush games like this, but that game proved to me that there’s some merit in their design. Much like Cuphead, it does allow the player to drop in and out of the game with short notice and without any problems. It can also be similarly rewarding as beating bosses is ingrained in any gamer as a triumphant moment. The thing that makes this so much different from other boss rush games, however, is that this seems like it’s only a portion of the game rather than the main focus.

The first moments in the game put you on a path with an informative tutorial that feels somewhat longer than it actually is. You’re bombarded with views of the main base and all of its quirky little features that include many dialogue options, mini games, and other things that I have a hard time classifying like pet selection and just plain flying a kite. Boss 101 seems work hard to establish a narrative in all of the chaos that is presented to you up front, and what it does convey is a very light hearted affair that is full of funny lines and movie references at every turn. It puts this in front of you from the onset and doesn’t seem to trail off at any point. It keeps the game endearing while it melts your brain with sensory overload.


There are many things that can overwhelm you in Boss 101. One of the most obvious things is the full palette of colors and movement that fills nearly every screen. At any given moment, there could be dozens of things moving around the screen, exploding, shooting, or just whizzing by. After some time it becomes a bit easier to focus on the foreground and the important parts, but it’s truly a visual spectacle. Continuing in the realm of excess, you have a wide collection of weapons to buy and upgrade, a half dozen or so skills to be upgraded such as health and main machine gun damage, and nearly 300 ‘hats’ (costumes) that can be purchased and worn. These hats are both cosmetic and provide stat bonuses of various sorts like lessening certain types of damage or increasing your damage. It’s also possible to separate your cosmetic appearance from the one represented by the stats of a hat, resolving something that often frustrates more fashion-focused RPG players. If that wasn’t enough to get your head spinning, when it comes to the actual boss fights, you’re required to smack a randomize button that puts together a twisted collection of parts into a ‘boss’ that has a long list of stats that make it easier or more difficult. It may be weak or strong to a certain type of weapon, or use a particular weapon/damage type. All of these things are meant to be matched up with your loadout in a way that is beneficial to you and of course gives you the largest reward. Yet here is where I found my biggest issue with the game.


Being so thoroughly overwhelmed by everything in front of me, I eventually stumbled in to the boss fights figuring I’d get my butt kicked a few times, but to my surprise I just sort of breezed through. I got stuck for a little bit, but once I got my upgrades in front of the difficulty curve, I sort of zoned out and breezed through a bunch of levels without even trying to randomize myself an advantageous boss fight. I just used the base machine gun and blasted away dodging as much as I could. I didn't expect this to be the entire game though, as I had already maxed out the majority of my skills fairly early on, but it seemed as long as I didn't go up against a boss that had a resistance to machine guns, it stayed relatively easy. That is, until the final boss battle where I finally had to equip myself properly to win. However, it is odd to me in any game when the difficulty level seems to be something that the players have to establish dynamically for themselves. Not that I am against selecting a difficulty level, but I’m one of those people that 90% of the time just goes for the suggested difficulty and hopes that the game is balanced for that. It just seemed like after a while I was on cruise control to get the next little bits of the story handed to me rather than being challenged by the gameplay.


You’re probably reading all of this and wondering why I still recommend this game. It’s actually pretty easy for me to get a sense for quality in Boss 101. There’s so much going on but as you dig through it and set it out in its respective pieces - nothing is really bad on its own. It just feels so muddled with everything in one game that I question how it is going to appeal to new players not committed to enjoying a mellow story with plenty of wholesome moments. I actually spent a fair bit of time starting out just playing the in game arcade minigames, which is odd because they’re so functional despite only being a minor sidenote compared to everything else. At the end of the day though, you’re going to have to be a fan of a more casual game than you’d expect from a shoot ‘em up and one that you’re going to have to get used to before it really appeals to you. I just hope that the developers try to focus on making the whole experience more cohesive and make it more worthwhile to face off against the walls of stats both for the player and the bosses. If the the gameplay centered more around dynamically equipping yourself to beat bosses, it might make the central gameplay loop more enticing and make the game a longer run.

If you'd like to see more of my reviews, check out my curator page here: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/28346672-Endyo-Gaming/

I don’t write a whole lot of reviews, and usually it’s for strategy or roguelike type games. Schmups, well… I’m actually quite terrible at that kind of games. Too fast. I’m getting old, I guess. But this… this is rare fun. Fun enough to pull me out of my comfort zone and have me play something that I usually stay away from.

Boss 101 is one of the most addictive game that I’ve played in recent memory. It’s lovingly crafted and brimming with content. It’s a game that rewards you for playing it, every chance it gets: with unlocks, and weapons, and pets, and hats, and mini-games, and a gameplay that just feels right. The humor is spot on, well-done and unpresumptuous – it doesn’t hit you on the head while screaming in you ears "Aint’t I funny?". The graphics are nice, detailed, but still very crisp – you’re never going to wonder at what exactly you’re looking at.

It’s just an enjoyable, ingenious, well-crafted game. Boss 101 makes me happy, as simplistic as this may sound. It does its own thing, in its own way, and it succeeds at it very well.

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Boss 101:
~~~~~~~

Here we go again, your brother Chris is back in hospital. You’re always been extremely supportive of him and his love for extreme games. The downside is . . . he seems to get hurt most of the time he enters them. On this occasion, the length of his stay will be at least two weeks, with several broken bones. Despite this set-back he is in good spirits, mainly because you have given him a camera for his birthday which can be mounted on his helmet. Finally, Chris will be able to film his future exploits at the upcoming extreme games. Still, it’s hard to lay down in bed for that long without watching thrilling homemade movies. Then, he sits up straight on his bed with his eyes fix on yours, his finger pointed towards you, saying with a loud voice “You’re the one who’s going to eliminate the Robotic Union from our Galaxy and face the ultimate Robot Boss 101! Come on, brother, can you film your exploits for me!” Your response, without a spot of hesitation, was: “Sure bro, I’ll film it all for you. Especially when I get to beat Boss 101!”

Boss 101 is an arcade / shoot’em up / adventure game where you play Max, who is located in a command centre deep in space, and whose mission is to free thirty-one cities by eliminating the Gigantic Robotic bosses and their minions who guard them.

Before you start the game, I would suggest going through the short and very well done tutorial.

The game has a few different aspects to it. First, the command centre, where Max and his talkative jetpack S.T.E.V.E are stationed. The command centre consists of five levels. The first level is the operative room where you’ll receive a call from Tanya Goodson, from Earth, via a small red telephone (part of the story), the endless boss room to catch more money, a pet storage, and arcade game and a very good Wikipedia of the game.

Levels two and three are where you can upgrade your abilities and buy guns. To be honest with you when I first browsed around and saw how much most of the items cost (in millions), I thought to myself, how am I going to be able to afford them? Especially after a few goes against the first Boss.

The forth level is where you can customize Max; how he looks and what additional abilities he will carry with him into battle. All I have to say is to look at the costumes that give you the unlimited time ability first! The rest you’ll have to discover by yourself. The last one is the Debug level; unfortunately for you, you’ll have to unlock it, but when you do, you’ll be able to buy the good stuff.

Next you’ll have to launch the game (battle phase). First, you’ll see a screen with thirsty-one Warp Gate and of course the first one will be unlock. After entering the gate, a new menu will appear where you’ll have to press a button with the description - Make a Boss -. A boss will be regenerated semi-randomly for you. Check out his vital information to see which weapons will inflict most damage and which ones won’t give him a scratch. This is going to be your last chance to give Max the right equipment to successfully win the battle.

The gameplay is fabulous; so much fun! The bosses usually have several weapons at their disposal and will fire them at will, while minions will pass through from right to left. Some of them will also fire a few projectiles towards you to make your life slightly more hectic. Another thing I really enjoy is the variety of enemy minions. To be honest, I haven’t count them, but there are plenty. Every time you shut down a minion or hit a boss, your coins gauge will increase bit by bit. The big dough comes in if you manage to destroy the boss. On top of that you’ll see small characters in flying saucers. You must grab them as there are Gopher scientists (a race) and you must collect all of them. If you do so, you’ll be rewarded with a secret project which only the Gophers can finish. In some fights, you’ll be given a mission to escort citizens too. To succeed, you must keep their transportation in the air and destroy the boss too.

I really like the retro graphics. You can play this game with your keyboard or gamepad. Personally I had a better experience with the gamepad. I try to surf every point of each game I review and I must admit that I really appreciate discovering a well written game Wikipedia. When you start to buy the good stuff, it become easier.

Positives:
~~~~~~~

- Great retro graphics
- Thirty-one levels with randomly regenerated bosses
- In-depth game Wikipedia
- Stacks of hats, pets & weapons
- Fun little story with cut-scenes between levels
- Plenty of re-playability
- Achievements and trading card

Negatives:
~~~~~~~~

- Buy better equipment and the game seems to become a bit easier
- A bit repetitive

Boos 101 is plenty of fun with lots of content. Definitely a game to check out!

7/10

Key provided by developer/publisher for review purposes. Any opinions expressed are entirely my own!

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A lighthearted adventure that doesn't take itself too seriously, Boss 101 is a great game to kill an afternoon with. Probably takes even less time to beat than what I've got logged, but i wanted to make sure I rescued every Gopher. 8/10

Amazing and unique!
Plenty of humor and a very pleasant atmosphere!

Boss 101 was painstakingly crafted by the Donley Time Foundation team. They made sure to polish the game and add every necessary detail they could think of before release. Boss 101 is a shining example of how to make a game the right way.

As for the actual gameplay, it's turned me into a SHMUP player. The genre has never really been for me, but with this game I've had so much fun. The replayability is amazing with all of the different bosses, the humor is great, and the collectibles/unlocks really hit all the right buttons for me.

By the way, this being priced at $9.99 is a STEAL.

PLAY THE GAME!

Free browser game upgraded with some chrome and a lot of dialogue. The game itself is very shallow. You shoot from left to right at one big boss and that's it. The main difficulty factor is a timer which goes down pretty fast, so a lot of repetition fighting the same bosses is guaranteed.

There are a few mini games included, but they are really not worth your time. Clones of Breakout, Combat, Wizard of Wor and Galaxian. The Atari2600 versions of these games are better.

Furthermore the advertised 'build your own boss' feature is a lie: you can roll for random bosses to fight, but not edit them.

Glad I got this at the sale price of $1.50, but I still feel ripped off. Give it a miss.

In all honestly, I walked into this game pretty blind as to what it was.

I knew it had a bullet hell type combat system and that there was something to do with hats. I had also heard from Toborprime's stream how beautiful, fun, and awesome this game was. So I gave it a shot.

Well, 10hrs and a couple cups of coffee later... I'm addicted through and through (to the game that is, the coffee addiction was pre-existing)

I loved everything from the unique type of hats you can wear (most are references to pop culture both old and new), to the dialogue you have with each boss. I mean... I killed one of the level bosses and he went down in a blaze of glory lamenting that now he'll never get to see Pitch Perfect 3. Awesome.

Just imagine flying through the air, shooting lethal smiley faces at enemies with a "friendship" gun, while wearing a garbage bin costume....and winning! Not to mention that the boss is literally an amalgamation of what is probably Dr.Robotnik's spare robot building parts.

However, there are some things that did initially affect my opinion of the game.
When you first start the game, you're given a tutorial on what each menu does, how it affects you and etc.
The problem is, once those menu tutorials are over, you're left to your own devices in the command center. With no direction on how to proceed, what you're "1st mission is" or etc. I was completely overwhelmed till I started just clicking on things and figuring it all out. In a way, this isn't so bad because it forces the player to learn what everything does, but it also serves as a point of frustration that may turn some away.
Once you find the groove, that overwhelming feeling never really comes back, cause you understand the signal and the noise (signal being the main campaign levels and progression with the noise being the kite flying, pet gathering, endless levels mode, arcade machine and varioius other things).

Not really sure how that could be lessened unless the player is given their first fight before being plunged into the command center full of options, or something to that tune.

All in all, it's a really minor frustration that didn't lessen my experience of the game as I moved forward. I loved exploring everything it had to offer. I even got all the achievements, which I almost never do for any game!

You can easily see the passion and skill the team poured into this game with every art asset, menu screen, secret achievement, music, and dialogues. It's definitely worth everyone's time.

I highly recommend Boss 101!

THIS GAME IS AWESOME. I love this game. It's fun, cute and has very good replay value. To anyone who is a fan of shoot em up's plus pixel games plus rogue like games, this will be a great pick up for you guys. I enjoyed it and will continue to enjoy it. There are a lot of easter eggs here (which some of them I already found in the video) which is absolutely great. There are lots of weapons to choose from. Hopefully there will be updates to this game in adding more content (which already has quite a ton) because this game, surely enough, is addicting as hell.

Here's a short gameplay video in case anyone is interested. https://youtu.be/sPGLrPu64VU

10/10 would spend time killing samurai heads with island bodies and illuminati eyes with dragons as weapons again.