Rouge Stormers is a twin stick 2D shooter with a light RPG element with power ups and upgrades to is core gameplay. The game from Black Forest Games is very similar to a Contra style of gameplay.
General Gameplay
The game is in its core a shooter, you have your primary gun, a secondary gun, attachment or defensive ability that you can obtain. You can jump from platform to platform and it has a co-op feature to the game. However if you die and your co-op players also die, you have to start over from the first level.
Audio
The game has it crashes, gunshots, and other sound effects that you would hear in a 2D shooter. The game does a great job on making you feel in part of the action without overwhelming you with sound. During our playtest we did notice that some of our gaming family had some issues the game sound effects being too loud, but with a simple settings check to balance out the sound it fixed the issue. The game does support 5.1 surround sound and it sounds great via headset. Again parents that have gaming family members that use the headset, please be sure to adjust the sound so they do not damage their ears. Also during our playtest we did not hear or listen to anything that would be offensive to any gaming family member.
Visuals
The game visuals are very sharp for a game that has a lot going on in the background. The enemy design, background, and character design are detailed, only when seen on a smaller screen. This is due to having up to 4 players on the screen and the gameplay. However on larger sets we did notice some issues with our gaming family trying to see what is going on while playing. This lead to some frustration in our special needs gamers as well older gamers when playing Rogue Stormers. In the sense of colors the game is very colorful and there is no colorblind mode in the game so to speak, but it did not cause any issues with any of our gaming family during our play test. One thing to keep in mind with 4 player co-op games is that with everyone that is playing the game there will be some design choices make to accommodate all the players on the same gaming scene, and shrinking down the game characters to make room for a larger space is necessary.
Controls
The controls are the shoulder buttons on the setup, you have your left trigger to shoot right trigger for special, right bumper for speed boost and other buttons on the shoulders. This at first can be a little confusing for newer players as most buttons are laid out on the X, Y, A, B settings but being twin stick style of shooter it made sense to keep all of the buttons on the location that they are. As shooters goes most of our gaming family did at first get some confusion but after playing the game for an hour or so it made more sense to have a button layout like this for this style of gameplay. During our playtest, our gaming family did have some confusion on how to use the controls but this was fixed right away after getting used to the game.
“Rogue Stormers is a great co-op game that bring back the love of local play, but with its brutal difficulty, and slow pace of progression, it may be a frustration to some gamers”
Delivery
Rogue Stormers is an interesting game as it is a shooter, but with a light RPG element. With that being said if you are in the market for a shooter, you may want to think about this one. One of the issues that we had with the game is that if you die in the game, your level progression, not your character one starts over, meaning if you reach level 3 of 7 and die on that level then you will have to start all over. Another thing is the grind of the game, in order to get more power ups you have to grind (meaning playing multiple times the same levels and game) to obtain better power ups. This is nothing new for games that are RPG (Role Playing Games) but for a shooter it is a little out of pace. Also in levels as they are more randomized in its layout (which is a good thing) it feels like you are doing the same thing over and over again which makes the repetitiveness feel dragged out for a shooter. If you are looking for a shooter that has multiple play through of the same levels then Rogue Stormers is the game that you want, but from our play test it did get very repetitive.
Family Friendly
Rogue Stormers is a game that can be hit or miss for the gaming family. The good thing that is that up to 4 players can play the game, however in order to get the extra characters you will have to grind to get them. Another thing about the game is the difficulty of the game. The game can go from being easy to very hard in a matter of waves within the level and that cause some frustration in some of our younger and older gamers. Also with dying within the level, restarting from the beginning was a big turn off for most gamers as they felt that their progression was completely lost and they did not have the desire of regrinding the level only to have to start all over. Another thing that we noticed was the fact that the amount of enemies that came onto screen at times was very overwhelming for some players to get used to. If anything, Rogue Stormers is designed for hard core shooter fans, not the casual fan or even a newer player to play. Does that make Rogue Stormers a bad game? No, however, it does make the game an acquired taste for some members of the gaming family. Also we notice with our special needs gamers that they were not happy with the need to restart the game after death back at level one, this was a major turn off for them. Again if you are looking for a shooter, Rogue Stormers is a shooter, but for the hardcore fans at heart, not for the whole gaming family to enjoy.
Closing
If you are a fan of the Contra style of shooter, Rogue Stormers is a good game for your family but with a very slow pace of upgrades and progressive continue it may be a turn off for some in your gaming family.
