Retaliate

Retaliate is a unique, retro-inspired space shooter. In this game, the goal is to shoot down enemy ships to defend your own space. Sounds easy, right? The catch is that players start with no ammo. In order to survive and defend space, the player will have to absorb ammo from enemy ships and use that against them instead.

This means the first few levels of Retaliate require players to be quite creative. They have nothing but the physical ship itself and a shield to start with and have to take that first handful of ammo from a ship before shooting can occur.

The Story

Space shooters are almost as old as the video game industry itself. From Galaga to Raptor, people come to the space shooter for the arcade style challenge of hitting as many ships as possible—not the story.

Yet surprisingly, Retaliate manages to differentiate itself from other space games by actually trying to make something of a story available. The storyline is essentially that a mysterious force in the galaxy has stolen all of the weapons out there. Your goal is to take back weapons so there’s a more even exchange of weapons in the galaxy.

Really, the story ends up being more of a tutorial on how to play the game than a real story, but it’s surprising at all that they’ve made an effort in this area.

The Game Mechanics

Here’s where things get fun. The game really lights up with the game mechanics, which are well thought out, but surprisingly difficult to perfect. Players will not only have to find a way to get the ammo away from alien ships but assess whether that particular ship is worth taking ammo from.

Since ammo is limited, that also means the spray-and-pray method of hitting all alien vessels won’t work here. Players must budget their ammunition carefully, to do the most damage.

It definitely changes the way the game is played, but in a good way. It’s a fresh take on an old favorite, that makes the game more enjoyable to play.

The Art Design

The graphics for the game are fairly plain. The visuals aren’t bad per se, but with such a unique twist on the game design, one would think they’d have made the visuals more unique too. This is just a small detail and doesn’t affect gameplay too much.

Rating: 9/10

If you’re a big fan of this niche, this game will provide a fresh take for you. If you don’t specifically care for the genre, the price point isn’t bad but seems a bit steep for a game you’re not sure you’ll love.

Pros:

• Unique twist on an old standby
• Challenging gameplay
• Some story

Cons:

• Art could have a unique twist too