In my journey to finally play and evaluate various Astro Port games that I own, I have finally getten around to play Zangeki Warp. My initial impressions of this game were positive and I would say that gameplay-wise, it's one of the good ones. The controls feel responsive, the overall gameplay feels very fun, and the warp ability is a nice touch. The warp mechanic is similar to the same ability from WITCH-♥♥♥ MEGLILO and as the name suggests, instantly transports you from your starting location to your designated target, while dealing damage to any enemies inbetween them (called a slash attack). I would have loved to play a lot more of the game if it wasn't for a specific problem that came back from Satazius to haunt me: The level design.

Zangeki Warp suffers from the same problem that Satazius has, and that is forcing the player to memorize level hazards through pure trial and error. As early as level 2, the game starts introducing hazards that suddenly appear from inside the terrain or from off-screen without any kind of visual or audio warning. And these hazards are one hit kills; your shield will not protect you from them.

This is such a shame, as Zangeki Warp truly shines when it's all about using the warp mechanic correctly to dodge enemy bullets, traverse the terrain or take multiple enemies out with a well-placed slash attack. The game is very fun when you get to strategize when and how to use your abilities or how to distribute your skill points, but all of that goes out of the window the moment it introduces forced trial and error. This problem would have been alleviated a bit if the shield was more useful and managed to block at least one OHK hazard, but alas, such thing has not happened.


I really cannot recommend Zangeki Warp with the state it has. It's not bad, it's just flawed and could have offered a far better experience than what it currently offers.


P.S.: Achievement hunters should be aware that a bunch of the achievements are bugged and will not unlock. This will seemingly never get fixed.

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Zangeki Warp's premise is great but the game design unfortunately lets it down because the dev wanted the game to be as punishing as possible. While using the warp to dodge enemy attacks and attack enemies is fun, what isn't fun is the game being laden with instant-kill traps that you need to warp to avoid. After the first stage the game is full of enemies and obstacles that shoot out of the terrain or from off-screen without warning, and your shield does nothing to stop contact damage from killing you instantly, so instead of the game being about using your warp to respond to incoming attacks and position yourself better, the game is mainly about trial and error of getting killed by unforseeable hazards and then avoiding them next time, since every death means going back to the last checkpoint. The game's final boss is actually what I wanted it to be; minimal contact hazards and plenty of bullets to dodge through while alternating offence and defence with your warp, and was by far the most fun part of the game. It's a shame the stage design is so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ obnoxious.

Amateurishly awful. Looks and plays like a bad mobile game port.

It has a good premise but in practice it's bad because you can only really shoot in one direction. Also the graphics are hideous.