ROCKETRON

0/10 it just doesn't work

Astro Port decided to experiment with a Metroidvania here: although less complex than other games of the genre, most of its basic building blocks are there, like a map and upgrades to enhance traversal and offensive abilities. The protagonist works for an organization first seen in [b]Steel Strider[/b] and is even assisted by the same AI, fights a cult connected to the original big bad of [b]Vulkaiser[/b] but the villain of [b]Zangeki Warp[/b] appears involved too; however, it's set a few years before the latter game, and an enemy is clearly an evil version of the ship/mecha from there, which raises a lot of questions. The player makes use of a device called Rocket Musket that works like a multi-directional jetpack as long as there is energy, quickly recharged by landing on the feet for a little while; amusingly, when out of juice a sound like a failing lighter is heard. On the front side, the device has an interchangeable arsenal that comprises, by the end, 8 different weapons including a laser drill. All of them have infinite ammo but the trade-off is that, save two, they are connected to the player's health; generally, the more powerful the currently held weapon is, the less hi…

Was alright, closer to a 5~6/10, so I'm willing to give this a thumb up. The game is actually SLOW, and a bit clunky, and somehow require you to use precious upgrade to increase your movement speed, which is not good. The weapon damage system is actually not great to be honest. Weapon break pretty easy, so it forced you to try to play perfectly, else you will spend a lot of time trying to recover the weapon. Some weapon take one hit to break, and a full "health recover" you get from a single boss wont even be enough to repair it. The aiming system can be a bit frustrating, though you have weapon that can deal with most of it, so for me it is a-ok. Other than those points listed above, you can say it is still quite a solid retro style game that give me a few fun hours. (somehow, the boss before the last is WAY easier than the final boss. In fact, the final boss is easier than some of the earlier bosses as well, which is odd). OH, though, don't expect any story in the game, cause other than the starting sequence, almost all the story related conversations are broken and will either display empty dialog box or repeat a single line with no info.

Smooth experience. The life/ammo system is pretty original and you can chose which weapons you want to upgrade, depending on your playstyle.

weirdly enough, i like this game. Just please never make music again. I would have loved a game with a lot more work on, legit it's just a good base, with interesting gameplay ideas and weird (WEIRD) controls

Fun retro game, the upgrades and gameplay loop feel super satisfying even with some odd design decisions. I would like to note that the story is clearly incomplete in English, later sections of the game have placeholder dialogue boxes including the final message of the game which you get after beating it, so that was a little disappointing. Good time though.