Every Extend Extra

Gameplay

The main difference between Every Extend Extra and the original game is the music. Much like director Tetsuya Mizuguchi's previous synesthesia-themed titles Lumines and Rez, Every Extend Extra's arcade mode sees the player advancing through stages, with each stage featuring different background and enemy designs, music, bosses and pace.

The player is unable to shoot, their only defense being to detonate their ship in the vicinity of the enemy. Enemies appear in randomized patterns, and the aim is to position and detonate at the right moment, setting off a chain reaction of explosions and earning a combo bonus. Blowing oneself up takes away from one's overall 'stock', or number of bombs, with a new bomb being gained after the player gains a certain amount of points, which increases after each new bomb. Earning a considerable combo is key to replenishing the stock of lives, and so gameplay revolves around striking the correct balance between risk and reward.

Every Extend Extra also adds varying explosion types to the Every Extend template, which can link chains in different ways, as well as a "charge" feature. By holding down the explosion button, the bomb is charged; the longer the button is held, the larger the blast radius, expanding the possibility for chaining explosions. Power-ups dropped by enemies increase the speed of both the player and the enemy, as well as the speed of that stage's music.

Each skin is played out to a time limit, with a boss character appearing at a set point towards the end. Rather than attacking the boss directly, the player relies on destroying the required number of regular enemies near the boss to cause a 'hit'.

Another mode available is called R4: The Revenge which is very different to the original game where you shoot projectiles from your player character and attacking enemies directly. Before beginning you can select two modes of firing, "Four Way", and "Spread". Four way shoots projectiles from all points of your character, and Spread shoots projectiles from one specific point of your character. You can also select your movement speed before beginning as well. at the start of the game you are given 3–4 seconds of invulnerability and are tasked with destroying a set amount of enemies, after reaching that amount you will fight a "Boss Enemy" which takes more time to destroy and will also fire projectiles at you, however the only hit that will count towards destroying the player is the green circle. Destroying any enemy will give you slight amounts of "Level" which increases the amount of projectiles that you can fire by one, to a maximum level of 20. every 25 stages, bosses 1-4 will have an extra one spawn with them, however the fifth boss has increased health instead. The final stage is 100.

The Xbox 360 version adds custom soundtrack support and online multiplayer.

Reception

Every Extend Extra has been well received. Edge magazine awarded the game 8/10 in their October 2006 issue. They cited an obtuse initial learning curve and a "defiant obscurity and the resulting barrier to entry" as its main hindrances, but concluded that, overall, the game was "an undeniably exhilarating dance".