Square Off - Review

Given that both Xbox Live Indie Games on Xbox 360 and games on Windows Telephone use the XNA evolution environment, it'due south surprising how few indie games take made the jump from Xbox 360 to Windows Phone and then far. Twin Blades is the primeval game to have fabricated the transition (becoming an Xbox Live championship, no less). Indie gaming fans sick of puzzle games now have a more than hardcore game to play: Square Off, courtesy of Australian developer Gnomic Studios.

Square Off's story, told through a series of full screen stills in the intro and ending, involves a prolonged alien invasion of the earth. Humanity is unable to defeat the aliens for some reason, so a mad scientist comes up with a program. He splices conflicting DNA with his own brain cells, creating a squad of Square Avengers. These petty guys strap on jet-packs, grab some guns, and head out to save the planet.

While the lightheaded story sets the stage, Foursquare Off is really just about shooting a bunch of aliens. The game consists of vii levels: the first three have four regular waves followed past a boss wave, while the final level contains two waves and a big boss wave. In normal waves, a group of UFOs deed as enemy generators. They spawn numerous smaller enemies and must exist dealt with before the bad guys overwhelm you with numbers. Helpful colour coded arrows indicate the location of off-screen enemies and UFOs. Finish everybody off and it's on to the next wave.

Rocket by the break for our full review.

Jet pack hero

Players make the Square Avenger fly around in any management with a virtual left thumbstick. A virtual right thumbstick allows the Avenger to fire in any direction. Information technology's the aforementioned control setup as Rocket Riot, and it works just besides (read: excellently) here. Foursquare Off does them one better by allowing players to cull between fixed, gratis floating, and floating positions for both sticks. Free floating (a thumbstick is created wherever y'all place your fingers) worked best for me, but it's wise of Gnomic to accommodate other play styles.

Square Off as well allows the player to select from multiple weapons at any time. You start with a standard pea shooter and a few bombs. Bombs explode a few seconds afterwards they're thrown rather than on impact, but they inflict massive damage on nearby foes. Defeated enemies sometimes driblet additional guns: a very useful 3-way gun, a shotgun, and a rocket launcher - all with limited ammo. Only tap on the weapon'due south icon at the top of the screen to select it; though as an option, the game can automatically switch to weapons on pickup.

Powerups also spawn in designated spots throughout each level. These include health refills, an invincibility helmet, and a faster, red jet-pack. The player'due south wellness does not refill automatically, and then I frequently found myself flying around the powerup spots looking for health. The current arrangement works, merely I'd prefer automatic refills to scavenging.

Enemies of the state

Allow'southward face it, aliens believe in different things than us and therefore deserve to exist violently destroyed. They come in a few dissimilar varieties: standard 1-optics who attack by running into the histrion; helmeted aliens who can have a bit more damage; aliens who can shoot projectiles; enemies who explode when killed (useful for destroying groups of enemies at one time); and the UFOs that spawn them all. Smaller aliens come in a few different colors depending on the level, but most of them are green.

The get-go 5 levels feature the same boss: a giant UFO. They spawn enemies just like modest UFOs, but of course they're much more than aggressive and resilient. A new, really big dominate debuts in levels 6 and 7.

You lot'll discover I didn't exactly listing a ton of enemies or bosses. The lack of enemy variety is probably Square Off'south biggest problem. A few more types of enemies and unique bosses for every single level would have kept the game's seven levels feeling a flake fresher. They do ramp up in challenge, of course, and the stages themselves look swell.

2.5D on the go

Ah, Square Off's levels.  From snow-covered mountains to the wreckage of satellites orbiting the globe, each 3D arena shines. Multiple groundwork layers and occasional foreground objects create a great sense of depth. Little touches like rocks pouring into distant carts of the Mine and skeletons and coffins in the Jungle bear witness a lot of intendance went into the environments.

Hand-drawn second characters contrast nicely with the backdrops. The cartoonish fine art style itself is reminiscent of The Behemoth's console titles, Alien Hominid and Castle Crashers – not that that's a bad thing. The smiling Square Avengers show a lot of personality and expect great in product art. The enemies don't have quite as much flair. Some humorous animations would have given them more than character. They explode dainty and bloodily when killed though.

Audio off

Some other thing that could have helped establish character is the use of voice samples. The hero does squeal when he dies, but that's it. A few silly lines from the Foursquare Avenger and groans or taunts from bosses would add some aural punch. The game's workmanlike sound effects go the task done but they don't brand much of an impression.

Square Off'south music is pretty good though. Each stage has a unique tune, which is more than many phone games tin can say. I found myself wishing for a sound test so that I could sample the tunes outside of battle… Except for the championship/carte du jour theme, that is. Something about information technology gets on my nerves.

Solo shooting

The Xbox 360 version of Foursquare Off is a multiplayer-oriented game. The unabridged seven-level entrada supports four-role player co-op, and it also has unique death match arenas (all offline-only). Sadly, multiplayer couldn't make information technology into the mobile version. The campaign is still plenty of fun solo though.

Gnomic as well added a sort of survival mode to requite the phone version more staying power. It works a bit oddly – instead of a separate mode, players must cull to Fight On after completing the final wave of a level. Gamers tin earn trophies past surviving to the fifth, 10th, and fifteenth waves of each level. I would have liked a more developed survival style that stands out from the regular game somehow, but what's here is still a fun inclusion.

A local leaderboard tracks players' high scores. The developers plan to add online leaderboards in a future update, which will actually encourage players to reach the higher waves of Square Off's levels. The game also tracks a plethora of stats like weapon usage, etcetera, which I estimate might exist interesting for somebody out there.

Future plans

Online leaderboards are one of several improvements that will come in a futurity update. Gnomic Studios also plans to piece of work on a sequel at some signal in the futurity. I'm sure it will exist great, only I'd really like to see them tackle another genre like platformers. Square Off's 2.5D graphics and fine art style would be perfect for a longer, deeper style of game.

Update: Online leaderboards are alive!

Overall Impression

Square Off is a welcome add-on to the Windows Phone indie game lineup. What started every bit a contest entry in 2009 has blossomed into a charming lilliputian shooter. The game has transitioned from Xbox 360 to Windows Telephone amazingly well, except of grade for the multiplayer. Nevertheless, Square Off displays a level of polish that few other indie games on the platform provide. In that location's nothing else similar it on Windows Phone apart from Rocket Riot, but hey, Square Off's $two cheaper.

Square Off costs $ii.99 and it also has a free trial. To try it out, aim your sights here (Zune link) on the Marketplace.

Nighttime thrills

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Dying Light ii is an admirable attempt from Techland, following up the original game seven years later on. High-stakes night play elevates what might have otherwise been a fairly forgettable open-world zombie flick, which will likely detect itself a fond place among fans of games with co-op sandbox mayhem.

Episode 10

Enquire Windows Central: Will at that place be a Surface Duo 3?

Welcome to the 10th episode of Enquire Windows Central, a show where we reply our community'southward most asked questions effectually Microsoft, Windows, Surface, Xbox, and the full general tech industry. In today's episode, we answer questions about Windows 11, Surface Duo, Your Phone, and more than!

Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/square-review

Posted by: graysmang1975.blogspot.com

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