As a kid from the 80’s I have always enjoyed the old-school run-and-gun genre of games with their fast paced action and fun characters. Spidersaurs looks to resurrect the nostalgia of a run-and-gun game inspired by old Saturday morning cartoons and the ever-popular Contra series.

The story of Spidersaurs is about an evil corporation called InGest corp that engineers hybrid spider dinosaurs or spidersaurs. Throughout the campaign, you get to know punk rocker Victoria and officer-in-training Adrian. The characters themselves were pretty likable and I enjoyed their banter while playing through each different level.

The gameplay in Spidersaurs is most similar to games such as Contra. There are a number of guns you can pick up throughout the levels and when running over the same one will result in a boost to your current weapon. Since the levels were short I did find it difficult to power up a weapon all the way and combined with the fact that if you got hit you would lose your weapon made it even more difficult. There are two characters to choose from. However, their playstyle is pretty much the same with no noticeable difference. I would have liked it if there were more than two characters from the start or perhaps maybe as unlockables.

One thing I did not enjoy about Spidersaurs was the length of the game. The main campaign was roughly 3 hours and even shorter when played on an easier difficulty. I did appreciate getting a secret ending playing on the medium or rare difficulty levels and overall the shorter length does make this game very desirable to speed runners, especially when playing the game’s arcade mode which lets you skip over the game's dialogue and puts you straight into the action. Spidersaurs can also be enjoyed as a local co-op game. However, there is no online play which was a disappointment. Where Spidersaurs does shine is in its beautiful 3D cel-shaded art. The characters and enemies are drawn beautifully reminding me of some of the best cartoons from my childhood.

Spidersaurs is a fun run-and-gun action platformer that brings back the nostalgia of Saturday morning cartoons. It’s familiar Contra-style gameplay is fun and intuitive. The characters are likeable and I generally had a good time with the story during its short campaign. Overall Spidersaurs is a solid game and fans of Contra and the run-and-gun genre will definitely want to check this one out.

SCORE: 8.0

Review copy courtesy of Way Forward