Developer: Amulware
Publisher: Amulware
Platform: PC
Expected release date: Q4 2014
Roche Fusion – Preview
Roche Fusion, the fast-paced shoot ’em up with an arcade touch is brought to us by the indie game developers Amulware. What started out in 2013 as a simple idea grew into a big project. The team behind Roche Fusion grew steadily, as did the game itself. In fact, Roche Fusion has been in open beta since February and is scheduled to release in the last quarter of 2014. Only a few months to go for this deadly but nostalgic game.
As mentioned before, Roche Fusion is a fast-paced shoot ’em up that will no doubt give you a pleasant nostalgic feeling when you play the game. It is a true modern version of the classic arcade space games with extra features to give you a new type of gameplay while still maintaining the basics of the traditional gameplay. Moving your space ship can be done with the arrow keys while firing can be done with the spacebar. However, the control settings can be changed to your own liking. Additionally, Roche Fusion can be played with a controller and this works like a charm. Again you can bind different keys for your controller which allows any type of player to fully enjoy the game.
While the gameplay is simple, it is not as basic as the retro games Astroids or Space Invaders. While the traditional gameplay does seem to flow from these games, Roche Fusion has extra features such as regenerative shields, a companion that will help you during the fights and random generated enemies. The latter one even has random generated flight patterns and can behave differently than the previous time you’ve encountered them. All of this adds to the replayability of Roche Fusion as each playthrough will never be completely the same.
After completing a level or a wave, you are given the choice to pick up one power-up out of the three presented to you. These power-ups can vary in every single level that you have played so you may never know what to get. To give you an idea of the large variation of power-ups, I will name a few that I have encountered but there are many more. The Wasps adds homing missiles to your primary fire mode. The Bee Hive will unleash thirty destructive missiles and is fairly similar to the Wasps. The P.E.W. is a companion that will float around you and helps you shred your enemies to little pieces – a rather helpful tool to use. Spread is another power-up that you can get which adds multi directionality to your ship. The Black Hole is something that I haven’t tried because, and I quote, “This one sucks. Watch out, friendly fire!” – a fair warning for the players!
As you can see, there are many types of power-ups in the game which will be randomly generated to add even more replayability to the game. Some of these power-ups are also hilarious. My favorite one has to be the Rainbow of Doom which deals damage to enemies that touches the rainbow – for some reason this makes me want to shout “rainbow unicorn!” but that might just be me. Since the game is still in beta, some of these power-ups may change in the near future but this also means there is room for many more power-ups and enemies.
The user UI during the gameplay looks fairly basic as it is made of simple lines and icons but it also works as you have to focus on gameplay rather than the UI. Because of its simplicity, the UI won’t be distracting either. A feature that I’m not exactly thrilled about is the fact that the UI tilts when you move your space ship to the far left or right. This can be somewhat distracting – at least it was for me at times. The dynamic backgrounds are detailed and its movement makes you feel like you are truly flying in space. It certainly beats the dull standard black backgrounds from the classic arcade space shooters. The fact that the colors often shift in the backgrounds does help overcome the general visual boredom you may have encountered in the past. Enemies and their deadly projectiles are also easy to pin-point as they use vibrant colors such as green, blue, purple and red. I do say that Roche Fusion has a very vibrant color palette but not one that is a vicious attack on your eyes.
Sound-wise, Roche Fusion has a fitting soundtrack – fast-paced techno-like music. It certainly fits the entire theme. Even the sound effects are rather fitting as each weapon has their own type of sound. Even the explosions that happen very often have their own unique sound. A great combination of audio and visual design.
Conclusion
Roche Fusion is a great arcade space shooter that can be played by any kind of gamer. There is no real learning curve to it as much of it is based upon hand-eye coordination and some luck but those that are fans of the genre will find the game rather easy while it still remains to be fun. The random generated enemies and power-ups certainly adds a fair amount of replayability to the game. All-in-all, the beta of Roche Fusion looks great so far. If you enjoy these types of games, it is certainly a good idea to check it out.
Roche Fusion - Preview,
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