Developer: Laser Guided Games
Publisher: Laser Guided Games
Rrp: £3.99
Released: 19th March 2014
Available on Steam
Played using: An Xbox 360 Controller
Before I start I want to give full disclosure about this, I was given this game to review. I’m going to try and not allow that to colour my judgement, but please keep that in mind while reading this review.
There is also another thing to disclose about this game, actually about this whole genre. I have not really played any Shoot ‘em Ups (Shmup for short), they just never appealed to me.
In Revolution Ace you play as jet shooting the enemies as they appear on screen. I’d love to give you more than that but the game really doesn’t give me anything to work with when it comes to story. At least it doesn’t at first, after you’ve played a few missions in the campaign mode some background to the world is given.
Once you start the game proper you will likely spot that on the left and right side of the screen are two panels, the left shows what scrap you have collected, your combo rating, armour and shields which represented by red and blue bars respectively. The right panel shows what powerup is currently equipped and your special equipment.
As you destroy enemy units and buildings you will acquire scrap. You use scrap as currency spending it in the Armory (found on the main menu). Occasionally the enemy unit or building will also allow you to collect a powerup which will give you a bonus of some kind (as they vary quite widely) sometimes the effect is temporary otherwise a it isn’t.
I’ve mentioned scrap a few times now, and I imagine your wondering what it’s for. Well in this game scrap is your currency for buying new equipment. You get it from every enemy and building you destroy.
As you complete levels (or die trying) you gain experience and levels, occasionally these levels will grant a perk of the players choosing, and unlock new equipment to purchase in the armoury.
The controls are simple enough, the left analogue stick moves the jet, [A] fires on units on he ground, [X] fires in the air and [Y] performs a special move (once you’ve purchased one). Now, while playing this you could decide to be cheeky and just hold down the fire button which will just release an endless barrage of bullets or missiles. Of course the developers have developed a technique to discourage players from just doing such a tactic. You see, for as long as you’re holding down a fire button your shields will not replenish.
While the game does support a control pad, the menus and tutorial messages were not designed to detect whether of not one is plugged up. Instead Laser Guided Games have opted to allow tutorial messages to contain both controller and keyboard instructions. Which is a shame as it makes the game feel more unpolished than it should.
There are campaign, skirmish, versus and battle chain modes. Campaign as you might expect is a story mode, skirmish allows you to jump into any level within the campaign mode, versus is a local multiplayer…. Which I sadly can’t test, and finally there is the Battle Chain mode. This is essentially a challenge mode, here you can watch and take on other players challenges.
So? Is it one I could recommend? Sadly no, though I may not have actually played these kind of games before I have watched plenty of people who did. While it does try to retain much of what made those classic Shmups so great it actually feels lacking, mainly due to a lack of polish. I think this game would have been better served having not being created in Unreal 4. As it stands the engine hasn’t been optimised all that well and it really shows, affecting not only the graphics but the way the jet itself handles too.
If this interests you perhaps look at;
Ballpoint Universe: Infinite
Enemy Mind
Revolver360: Reactor
