Introduction
Retaliate is a shoot ’em up for Steam. It was published and developed by Romans I XVI Gaming. On behalf of the Handheld Gaming Community I would like to thank Romans I XVI Gaming for the review code. You can buy Retaliate on the Steam Store here. It is currently selling for $9.99 and was released on July 15, 2024.
Overview
When I first picked Retaliate to review I expected a run of the mill shoot ’em up. However I was pleasantly surprised to find something that was a little different. First of all I couldn’t shoot my weapon. Then when I used my shield to defend my ship from certain death, I could shoot. I will go over more of how Retaliate is different than other entries in this genre in the next section.
Gameplay
As I began in the overview Retaliate stand out from the rest of the shoot ’em up games out there by making your ammo a limited resource. You have to absorb any bullet, missile, or anything you are going to fire. This makes you think about which enemies you will destroy, and which you will just get out of the way of.
While you are playing Retaliate you will die a lot. Before long you can get through big chunks of the stage without dying …as much. Speaking of dying, one thing I didn’t like is that when you re-spawn you are translucent and usually that grants you a few seconds of invulnerability. That doesn’t happen in Retaliate. You are translucent when you re-spawn, but you are vulnerable to any threat around you. This was annoying on the Steam Deck as it was a little hard to see on a smaller screen.
Retaliate also has an Arcade mode, and that randomly generate a level and you can see how high of score you can get before you die.
The one thing Retaliate could use is a way to upgrade your ships capabilities.
Graphics/Performance
The graphics in Retaliate are very nice. The game has a retro looking art style. Playing on the Steam Deck I was able to stay at 60 fps at all times.
Sound
Retaliate has a nice electronic music soundtrack. However if you want to play with the sound off, you won’t miss anything. I ended up wanting to play more and more with my headphones on because I really liked the music.
Story
You are a space person who runs out of ammo and gets the concept of regaining more ammo explained to him. Sadly he doesn’t live in the golden age of shoot ’em ups where they had unlimited ammo. Do you really need more of a story in this genre of game?
Value
If you like what you have read so far you can buy Retaliate on the Steam Store for $9.99. I have spent hours just playing and trying to pass the first area. I think you will get plenty of gameplay for your money. Add to that the Arcade mode, and you will play this game for quite a while if you want to.
Conclusion
Retaliate is a retro-styled shoot ‘em up developed and published by Romans I XVI Gaming. You can purchase Retaliate on Steam for $9.99. I liked that it changed up the gameplay that are very common with other shoot ‘em ups. It is a very challenging, fun game. You will spend hours just trying to get through the first level. This makes Retaliate a very good value.
