Smelter review | PC Gamer - martinrivinquister52

Our Verdict

The RTS layer is modified and repetitive, but the platforming levels are well-designed and challenging.

PC Gamer Verdict

The RTS layer is small and repetitive, but the platforming levels are well-designed and challenging.

Smelter begins with the story of Cristal and Eve and the downfall of Eden, and ends with freeing an empress from a crystal prison and racing to stop a megalomaniac ogre from taking complete what I assume is a section of Hellhole. It's a side-scrolling military action-platformer with a actual-time strategy overland mapping, a column defense strategy game, and a top-down shoot 'em up, interweaving multiple indie-friendly genres—and not for its benefit.

Need to Know

What is it? 60% pixelated action-platformer, 30% real-time tower defense strategy, 10% top-down shoot 'em up.
Expect to pay: $19.99
Developer: X PLUS Company Limited
Publisher: DANGEN Entertainment, Gamera Game
Reviewed along: Windows 10, AMD FX 8350 Eight-Core, Radeon RX 580, 24GB RAM
Multiplayer? No
Link: Constituted situation

The bunglesome blending of genres is just atomic number 3 weird as the story, which transports XTC and Eve's fall from paradise into a world of postbox-attribute monsters, hidden laboratories, down empires, and a flying mask named Smeltery. He offers to unite with the displaced Eve, Venom-style. Eve wants to find Adam, while Smelter wants to restore his lost empire of 'Zirms,' who resemble darkness elves somehow. Their transformation highlights Eve's heaving underboob and six-carry abs via the armored symbiosis helium refers to A "flootipoo." The result is more battle Bikini than tiptop suit, though it does follow with lots of fun attacks and abilities, much equally electro-whips, blasters, and reflector shields.

To unlock and upgrade these abilities, I'll need to conquer the Rumbly Lands—the cheeky term Smelter uses to describe the overland map, shaped like a three-sharpened superstar. The talkative symbiote wasn't kidding about wanting to restore his Empire. While Even lounges aside a pool, completely inconsequential to the story until the very end, I control Smelter as He flies around the map, constructing buildings, hiring Zirms, and repelling enemy attacks.

The real-time strategy gameplay isn't exactly StarCraft. It's a unclothed-bones RTS that lacks direct unit management, tech trees, or not-automated resource direction. I feature access to quaternary main buildings, with an unlockable twenty percent construction later on. Orcharion Shrines produce food (apples, suspiciously), while houses use food to produce Zirms. The other deuce are defensive buildings that use melee and archer Zirms to mechanically fend murder nearby enemies. My lonesome real choices are where to place buildings, which doesn't make a lot difference if I'm smart adequate to put the houses and shrines keister the barracks and outposts.

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Smelter — (Image recognition: X Plus Company Express)

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Gradually I expand my empire into the three regions, which are further structured into three linear areas leading departed from my central pedestal. In each arena I'll need to complete objectives such as defending against waves of enemies as I power up cannons, or defensive against waves of enemies every bit I occupy stone monoliths, or defending against waves of enemies while I do something other that ultimately amounts to the exact same matter.

The tower defense strategy provides a nice break in between the meaty platforming levels, only limited buildings and repetitive objectives stopped me from having play after the first few hours. I can't directly manipulate my units, so at that place's minuscule strategy beyond building more buildings, producing more units, and running around repairing buildings and shot enemies with the same alkalic pew-church bench attack.

Once I've survived the repetitive tug defense force challenge in to each one area, I can jump into that orbit's level, transforming the simplistic loom defense RTS into a slick 2D carry out-platformer.

The side-scrolling levels are as fun and interesting as the RTS sections are bland, thanks in large part to modified raze designs and the intense skill trees that Eve can swap between to full search to each one area. Dashing behind an enemy, clinging to a wall, and jumping down to unleash a wave of rocks is satisfying in every steady, and Smeltery lets you unlock many of the best abilities, like double-jump and wall-jump, almost instantly.

Each region also feels unique, with its possess enemies, soundtrack, color palette, and storyline. Matchless equal features jumbo screen-clearing George Sand worms. In a wet jungle I own to avoid a tide of rising acid-weewe amidst a labyrinth of corridors. A technical school-themed neighborhood features walls of electricity and lightning-pooping cloud dragons that electrify a river, forcing me to stay happening a raft while dodging enemies and leaping around barriers.

To survive these hazards, Eve unlocks three science trees based on each of the three regions and can cycle through them at the press of a button—though there's a rebuff holdup, and involuntary cycle monastic order, that makes swapping mid-fighting clunkier than it should be. Each mode changes Evening's attacks and grants different traversal abilities. The first set has the pettifogging double-jump, atomic number 3 well as effectual claw attacks and a brooding screen. The second gives Eve a mid-stove electro-whip with a price multiplier and dash-jump, and the last unlocks a Mega Man-like blaster and the ability to softly glide.

The traverse abilities make exploring every false wall and hidden area fun and rewardable equally I hunt club for hidden apple cores and trials in for each one level. Apple cores promote my buildings on the strategy layer, while trials realize coins that upgrade my skills.

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Trials are short platforming challenges with a single goal, so much as not acquiring score or not being spotted, and can feature a gauntlet of spikes, enemies, rotating platforms, sentry turrets, and laser walls. Think Super Meat Son inside an odd, Tron-like simulation. Trials rarely take much a minute to complete, just are provocative sufficient that I have to rehear some of them dozens of times, with lots of cursing. Along the twitch side, I could feel the trials noticeably up my platforming skills against versatile enemies and hazards. Using the trial coins to unlock break skills, such as upgrading the Mega Man-style chargeman with wall-bouncing ricochet bullets, is a queen-sized motivator to finding and completing these trials.

Smelter is unafraid to get downright nasty towards the end, with bosses and level sequences that compel meticulous timing and memorization. The unalterable dungeon is a checklist of the most preventive elements you can experience in a platformer: timed chases, instant wipe out traps, and bosses with multiple forms. Modern checkpoints, including one at the start of each boss fight, prevented me from completely losing my intellect during these extreme recently-game challenges.

Smelter fails when information technology's stressful to stratum a compelling RTS on top of the 2D action-platformer. Thankfully the majority of it is worn-out in the pleasant broadside-scrolling levels, hunting for secrets, completing trials, and unlocking new abilities—provided you have the patience and skill to survive the challenging end game.

Smelter

The RTS stratum is limited and repetitive, but the platforming levels are well-designed and provocative.