If I say Stolpskott Studios, you say what? If you answered with Quad Force, you’d be correct! Quad force is the latest release from this indie game developer that incorporates guns, lasers, and robots. Is there anything not to like?
In the game, the player assumes the role of a gun-wielding robot taking on 5 waves of enemies on a single map. If this sounds easy then you would be wrong. The actually game can be quite difficult. After each wave there is a small break for you to catch your breath and prepare for the next onslaught of baddies.
[nggtags gallery=QuadForce]
To aid in battle, there are a choice of six weapons such as the machine gun, laser, shotgun, and blaster. Each come with their own strengths and weaknesses, one weapon may boast firepower but its rate of fire may be compromised. The reload function for each weapon takes a while to execute and this delay can cause an enemy to sneak up and attack while you are defenseless. The more powerful weapons such as the blaster or laser require a certain amount of stars which can be obtained by destroying enemies. Random power-ups are dropped by enemies and these include health and shields to name but a few.
Something not found in many games, but features in Quad Force, is a line of sight system. While it is a bit of an annoyance at first, players can quickly become accustomed to it. The line of sight system hides enemies or items behind walls or object that would normally not be seen from the ground. This differs from the typical bird’s eye view where players are able to survey the entire map in one glance adding an addition layer of the challenge.
The real challenge, though, comes into play though when discussing the controls of the game. While the style of the twin stick shooter is well executed, using the left stick to move and the right stick to shoot, there is one main flaw. The problem that is that when shooting, there is no type of guide to show the direction of fire. This means that when firing at enemies, you have to look at the bullet holes left on the map to judge your direction of fire. This can cause the game to be very frustrating at times given that the enemies are roughly the same size at the player.
Graphically, the game flows smoothly as does the player and the enemies being fought. This is a nice deviation from some indie games available that attempt to be smooth but suffer from jagged edges or other graphical problems. As for the background music, I honestly didn’t notice it even playing. The sound of my gunfire and other enemies’ attacks almost seemed to drown out the actual music in the background.
Overall, Quad Force has the makings to be a great indie game and at a price of 80 :MSPoints:, it is not a bad investment. However, I have a hard time looking over the fact about the aiming guide not being present, especially when taking into consideration the size of the enemy targets. If you’re still on the fence about this title though you can always download the trial and decide for yourself!
You can find more information as well as the trial and full version of Quad Force on the Marketplace.
0
