Sometimes I’m more tempted to talk about how someone could possibly come up with such a really rubbish and uninspired game name than I am to review the game.
Retrofit Overload certainly falls into that category. A name that’s not really inspiring and certainly not Ronseal enough to do wot it sez on the tin. However, that’s not quite what I’m here to do, dear readers.
No, instead I’m here to tell you to pretty much stop reading this review round about here because it’s not going to really go anywhere nor be anything truly exciting. Yup, stop reading it now and skip right to the part at the end where we have the little box that tells you to download the game to your Xbox360 and click the thing. That’s it, just scroll down a bit and click that button and spend 80 of your Microsoft points buying Retrofit Overload.
It may have a rubbish name, it may have rather uninspiring and bland box art, ignoring all that it’s 80 points worth of neo-retro arcade gaming lovely. Neo-retro arcade gaming lovely that you should totally buy right now.
Are you still here? Oh, alright then.
There’s not really a lot that you can write about the game. It’s a hybrid of Galaga and Galaga Legions with Geometry Wars explosions. Y’see, why I’m telling you to skip these bits is no matter how many ways I try and think of to say “it’s really great” it comes out sounding essentially uninspiring. A bit like the name. And that’s not fair because it’s really, really good.
Enemies zip in on paths, settle into wave formations and shoot lasers at you. Shoot them back before they shoot you. Simple. There’s no pretense here to be anything other than an arcade game that never quite really was, there’s not really any bells and whistles beyond XBLA Gold folks being able to upload and compare their scores with others. Oh, and a co-op mode if that’s your sort of thing.
It’s pure. It’s playable. It’s great.
Ok, it’s perhaps a little slow to get going and perhaps the enemy designs aren’t the most exciting things you’ll see this week but it’s got starfields, waves, a small amount of power ups, super massive explosions and lots of playability.
Have I mentioned you should download it yet? Ok, here’s the link. Go download it.
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One thing I didn’t realise until after reviewing it is that on later levels, there’s actually a set of bosses to battle!
And I still haven’t figured out the conditions for powerup-drops
The only caveat I have with RO is the fact that at higher levels, it’s very difficult to recover from loss of firepower: with enemies taking up to ten shots to kill, your initial pea-shooter simply isn’t up to the task. Using your shield to go thin out the crowds helps a little, but I haven’t yet found a reliable strategy for recovery.
(admittedly, I’m still working through the torrent of new releases, so haven’t had much time to spare!)
Other than this, Retrofit Overload is a nigh-on perfect realisation of the classic arcade gaming ethos and the review on xboxindiegames.co.uk (as and when I upload it) will have a Recommended stamp on it
RO is a lot of fun but I agree that it is pretty much impossible to recover if you die on higher levels. Knowing the triggers for power-ups might help but I’m not sure I’d have the skill to keep getting them anyway
Still, it is fun to play (especially co-op)
Dying on higher levels is tough, but I’ve noticed that there’s a set level the game expects you to be at in terms of firepower and will throw powerups at you until you’re there. Up to that point there’s a lot of mad dodging and spamming of the shield, but it seems survivable to me. Of course, I haven’t even cracked the top 50 yet, so maybe this changes after the first million points.
Love the game though, and I can’t wait to see what they do with the rest of the planned Retrofit lineup.