10/4/2021
Seen this through the grapevine you see a lot gamers muse over the awesome demo earlier this year. Now, does the game meet those expectations past the brief taste of challenge and wild fun?
Well, the hype is a good reason here. You are presented with a throwback to the games of yesterday with game infusions like: Bionic Commando, Skyblazer, Contra, and Adventures of Batman and Robin to name a few. Before compares Gunstar Heroes, not this time sparky. This one aims a little more towards melee, with Batman sliding by with the description. Yes, some of the power ups have some projection, but seldom. Contra more so feels like the games main end game for its game play direction. Where a slew of enemies get tossed out at you in a usual pattern. Enemies all offering their bullet spread, causing you to constantly learning their patterns and getting the heck out of the way. The grapple hook element borrowing from a few games of old, mostly reminding me of Bionic Commando, both Arcade version and the NES game. One thing I felt had some issues at times was with the blend of timing your grapple with parts within the game, like you see in the game demonstration leaving some awkward moments of figuring where to go next. Slowing down the pace ever so slightly. Of course Speedruners would have no issue discovering work arounds for this without a hitch.
The sound direction is spectacular. Giving you the golden age of the usual chip tunes you might remember from the Amiga. Where the whole flow of the music was fantastic. The mood for each level feels intense, and or tense. The sound of destruction as you slash, bash, and grapple across the several stages all are a low letter to fans of simply a good arse music/sound production. A hats off to both Joseph “Qwesta” Bailey, Luca Della Regina for their wonderful works.
In closing, Steel Assault tackles the fundamentals of solid gameplay. All feeling fluid and stunning on the Nintendo Switch. A humble thank you to the publishers, and Developers for a copy of the game for this article and the gameplay provided. I found the game to be a absolute delight. Pick it up Today on Steam, and Nintendo Switch.
