Developer: Retro Army Limited
Publisher: Retro Army Limited
Platforms: PC
Super Trench Attack! – Review
Super Trench Attack! from Retro Army Limited may remind you of another game. In fact, it truly should as Super Trench Attack is a revamped remake of Medal Wars. While you can compare both games, there are still some changes that make Super Trench Attack a new game such as added content, new NPCs and more. The action indie RPG is one of those games that you will simply complete in a few hours time, without taking any breaks, as it plays that well.
Story
A war has shaken up the country and the Dastardly Black Army has invaded the beaches. As the army is now low on soldiers, they’re recruiting new fellas such as yourself. Training camp is fast and after that you will be doing several missions on your own that will help save the ongoing war. The story starts simple with you having to push back the enemies and regain several bunkers. The plot starts to thicken when you find out that the enemy is interested in the nutty professor. When they succeed to find the professor, it is your job to bring him home. Except here is where the plot thickens even more when you find out he has betrayed his country and is now helping the enemy. The plot thickens even further but I don’t want to be spoiling the entire storyline to you, you’ll have to play the game if you want to find out what happened next.
Graphics
The visuals in Super Trench Attack! certainly have a retro feel to them with some very pixelated art, however it is still more refined than the classic games. The user interface is simple and straight forward as you have your character’s health at the top left, your map and stats at the bottom left and lastly your inventory at the bottom right. I did feel that the game lacked a loudout for your soldier. Now the weapons and armor that you have equipped remain in your inventory, taking up space which you could use throughout the game.
Not many will be attracted to the visuals of the game as it is very specific but I did end up liking it, although the game seems to be more for adults rather than young adolescents due to the goofy comedy visuals towards females. Some may even be offended with it but I personally had no issues with it.
Sound
The audio design goes well with the visuals of the game. It remains serious at times when it has to, such as when you are shooting off your enemies head or legs but it also maintains that comedy-feel by having utterly weird dying sounds. However, there are no voice-overs for the characters, not even the main ones and the dialogues are simply too long and boring to read – so you’ll end up missing important bits and pieces of both the storyline and the missions.
Gameplay
Super Trench Attack! is one of those games where you lose track of time. You can easily finish the game in four to five hours. The gameplay is fairly simple and easy to learn. You’ll be working with keyboard and mouse as there is no controller support just yet. You cannot remap the controls but they’re mapped fairly well.
As for the gameplay itself, you will be given a mission such as taking back control of a bunker at the beach. The map will display where you need to go and when you finish the mission, you can teleport back to the main camp where you can ‘turn in’ your mission. You can freely roam the main camp and the rest of the map whenever you want. Once you are ready for your next mission, you can return to the Headquarters and a new one will be given to you. This goes on for three acts. In the first act you’ll be mainly at the beach but once you have finished the first act, you will have access to new areas. Once in a while you will be facing a boss. The gameplay for the bosses tended to remind me of the shooters in arcade halls where the boss pops up at random places and you need to hit it several times.
The enemies have a chance of dropping gold, armor and ammo. If need you can buy more items and ammo at one of the four shops at the main camp. These shops tend to be frustrating if you require more ammo than just one clip as you are only allowed to buy one of each, if the store even has it in stock. If you require more, you’d need to leave the map or quit the game, only to come back and buy more ammo. The same frustrating system is set for the equipment. Every once in a while, you can buy new equipment that is slightly better than the previous one. This will help your character to become stronger, both in attack as in defensive stats. Additionally your character can level up, giving you several points to spend in four different stats: pistol attack, rifle attack, grenade attack and your health pool.
If it so happens to happen that you get bored of roaming the fields or beaches in search of enemies, you can always visit the camp’s very own Casino where you can play a simplified game of Blackjack. Once you finish the game you can always play in the same game, hunting down the last achievements and hunt down some of the easter eggs hidden in the game. So as far as the replayability goes, there is some but for those who are not into hunting down achievements, there is not much replayability other than playing it on hard mode.
Conclusion
Super Trench Attack is a great game for its low price although it may not be enjoyable for those who dislike dry humor. The game has enough content for you to play it at least for four to five hours, give or take, depending on how well you are good at finishing off the bosses during a one-on-one fight that resembles the arcade hall shooter games. If you are still unsure if the game will be something for you, you can always try out the demo version on Steam before deciding to buy the full game.
Super Trench Attack! - Review,
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