Pretty light week on the short games front. 2 games released this week which clock in around the half hour mark. With all the extra time on your hands, you might find yourself getting addicted to Space Mercenary Defense Force, my personal favorite this week.

Space Mercenary Defense Force (Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4)

Publisher: eastasiasoft
Developers: Tom Paradise, eastasiasoft
Release Date: May 1, 2024

Just the one version for Space Mercenary Defense Force on Xbox. For those on PlayStation the game is cross-buy and features a stack between PS5 and PS4 as well as an EU regional stack.

Space Mercenary Defense Force stood out as my top pick this week. It’s a super fun sci-fi survival shooter where you begin with a basic ship and a square map. As you traverse the terrain, eliminating enemies and leveling up, you can choose from various weapon mods to enhance your ship’s directional capabilities. There’s lots of replay value as you play through to unlock new ships and permanent upgrades. Be prepared to invest some time into this one, as completion typically takes around 4-5 hours. Each round demands roughly 20 minutes of your attention, but trust me, it’s worth it-I found myself hooked, succumbing to the “just one more match” mentality. I highly recommend checking this game out.

MiceGard (Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Windows)

Publisher: Desert Water Games
Developers: Game Dynasty, Aivictory
Release Date: May 3, 2024

MiceGard is coming in hot with an easy stack on Xbox and Windows. Unfortunately there is no PlayStation release for this one. Feel free to pick up the Bundle version if you’re looking for the stack, it includes both the Xbox and Windows version.

MiceGard is undoubtedly a straightforward game. If you’re primarily aiming for achievements, you can easily activate story mode in the options menu, granting you invincibility. This game blends various genres, offering elements of RPG as you gather rocks to repair your village, alongside adventure aspects where you select which levels to tackle. Some levels are pure shooters. Achieving completion doesn’t require a guide; you simply need to finish specific map levels. With story mode activated, the game becomes a breeze, and completion time should be just over 30 minutes.

Cyber Citizen Shockman 3: The princess from another world (Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4)

Publisher: Ratalaika Games
Developers: Masaya, Shinyuden
Release Date: May 3, 2024

Another single release on Xbox and another cross-buy stack on PlayStation.

Cyber Citizen Shockman 3, a re-released retro game, comes with some fantastic quality-of-life emulation features. This includes convenient cheats like invincibility, along with the ability to save whenever you want and even rewind or fast forward gameplay. When this game first released in 1992, I’m sure this game it was an absolute nightmare to finish. Thanks to the invincibility cheat this game can be an absolute breeze. Feel free to blast through every level shooting everything in sight as if you’re playing on story mode. If you choose to “cheat”, your completion time should clock in around 30 minutes to an hour.