Official Site: http://ares.x10studio.com/
Buy it on Steam here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/92300/
Source: Youtube Channel binxpel
Developer: Extend Studio
Publisher: ORiGO GAMES
Platforms: PC, Xbox 360
Release Date: January 19, 2011
Genre: Action Side-Scroll Shooter, Indie
Pros:
-Classic 2D side-scroll action game vibe
-Incredible 3D graphics and environment
-Fast-paced Action and large scale boss battles
-Amazing soundtrack that captures the feeling of classic side-scroll shooters such as the Megaman series
Cons:
-Faulty controls and questionable game design choices
-Very short game (takes less than an hour to beat)
-DLC should have been in the game to begin with
-Lots of frustrating moments that deters from the game
Developed in a studio in Bangkok, Thailand, this nostalgic-inducing side-scroll shooter reminded me that I don't need long dialogues, epic stories, and 100 hours of replay value to enjoy a game. It has many elements that are reminiscence of games like Megaman. It's fast-paced, mostly enjoyable, but suffers from some awkward design choices in controls, level designs, and game concepts. The game features 5 different weapons (including the Berzerker Suit), 5 challenging levels, 3 levels of upgrades to every weapon and item, and a list of achievements a player can earn to truly test the abilities of a player's perception, reaction time, and skills. Although I enjoyed playing the game, there are many things about it that left a bad impression after I finished beating it several times.
Graphics
I want to start off by saying that the art direction and detail put into the environments and 3D models is simply incredible. The level of detail in the backgrounds and levels is rich and creates an atmosphere that sets it apart from other Indie games. The effects from gunfire, explosions and fire is a spectacle to look at and gives the player a satisfying feeling after blowing up a few dozen enemies. Despite looking great visually, the game suffers from a LOT of problems in regards to gameplay. This might not happen on a Xbox 360 (or other computers), but the graphics skipped a LOT during my play through the game. It would freeze up for a second and then resume as if it's lagging behind. This has caused me to fall into bottomless pits, run into enemy fire, and caused a multitude of unsuccessful double jumps. There there's some problems with the color schemes for some of the levels and enemies. Some enemies blend in with the environment and the player won't know it until they shoot at them which by then is usually too late to react. The camera adjusts throughout the game quite frequently to fit in with the environment. The camera is generally very close up which makes it difficult to see what's around the player or what's coming next. Bullets fly towards the player off-screen, bottomless pits can't be seen until fallen into, and enemies would just run into the player out of nowhere because the player can't see them until they're up in their faces. So visually, it was pleasing, but functionally it had some problems that just couldn't be ignored. Graphics: 8/10
Audio
The team that worked on the music for the game did an amazing job. It's vibrant, exciting, has that futuristic feel, but it's still not Megaman status. It's a mix between rock and electronic and delivers an enjoyable vibe for the game when playing. Besides the visuals, the music is one of the aspects I enjoyed most out of the game. The sound effects were pretty standard, but other games have messed up on it before. And so I have to say that the work on the sound effects are pretty good too. I feel as though the game is lacking voice acting. I generally don't mind having just pictures and text, but a lot of the cinematics felt empty because of it for some reason. It was mainly the ending that caused the most confusion and oddity out of the lack of sound effects OR voice acting. Regardless, the music is definitely one of the strongest points of the game. Audio: 9/10
Story
The story is pretty basic. A gas that's taking over control of robots within human societies are quickly destroying all existence of humanity. A robot name ARES was created out of the research of the gas to resist control and be able to save the human race. Sound familiar? "The year is 20XX and maverick reploids are running through the city and destroying human society." So in similar aspects of the Megaman series, ARES, the main character of the game, goes out to rescue Dr. Carson and soon finds out that there's a weapon capable of destroying all of the humans. As you go through the 5 levels, you find out that the beings trying to destroy human existence were the ones that created humanity and want to undo their creation. All-in-all, I felt like it was a standard story that worked well with the game and its settings. What killed my mood in all of the game was the ending. I won't say what the ending is (even though it wouldn't spoil anything), but it's one of those game endings that causes the "...wtf!?" moments. It's anti-climatic and very ambiguous as what the developers want to achieve from the player reaching the end. I did say earlier that the game reminded me that I didn't need an epic story or long dialogues to be fun, and it's still true. The game is certainly fun in its own respects, but if you're going to add a story into it, don't go half-way through it and just drop everything at the most pivotal part of the game. After I beat the game once, I just played through the levels many times over to get a higher rating and upgrade all my weapons to the max level. The ending just left a bad taste to the story when it could have been good, if not decent. Story: 5/10
Gameplay
ARES Extinction Agenda is an Action Side-Scrolling Shooter that's focused on fast-paced reflexes and lots of destruction. It boasts 5 weapons, 2 different grenades, several special moves, a mega cannon used by your sidekick in space, and tons of enemies to kill. The game does capture that run and gun feeling of past games, but it felt very uncomfortable that the camera was so close (meaning very little screen space to see what's up ahead). Being able to acquire weapons throughout the games is cool, but most of them are useless and some are only useful in specific situations. The grenades could be very useful, but gathering the materials to create each one causes the player to conserve them more as a utility than a weapon (until you've beaten the game once and get an infinite amount). The player can roll/dash to dodge enemy fire and charages, but it's awkward to have it set to "hold down + Jump". It caused a lot of problem when fighting bosses or going through tricky areas when the player needs to dash but jumps instead. It would have been better if it was a dedicated button. The double jump is a cool feature too and really helps in combat situations, but it felt very clunky and caused a lot of problems when platforming up or past ledges. Adding with the weird graphics freeze lag and double jump, platforming can be a nightmare. For some of the level designs, enemies are placed and attack at places the player has to run into and thus causes the player to take damage. Thankfully, the player can create first-ad kits as long as they have the materials to recycle them into. The run and gun aspect of the game was fun after getting a weapon to their max upgrade, but a lot of the platforming and jumping was more frustrating than anything because of awkward the weight of the jump was. When I wanted to upgrade my weapons, I felt like it was more of a chore than an fun aspect to the game's upgrade mechanic. I guess it was to add to its replay value so that players would have to go through previous levels in order to get enough materials to do so. Hard mode difficulty isn't that much different from normal from what I played. I only felt the difference when I fought the final boss. So if you feel comfortable with the game right from the start, I suggest just playing on Hard Mode. There are parts of a level where the player can die instantaneously. Bottomless pits can kill you immediately, and so can getting crushed by one of the mashers on the last level. Overall, it's a decent game for its price (but I bought it for $5 from the usual $10) despite all the frustration I got out of it. I'd be lying if I didn't have any fun at all on it since I played each level 5-9 times before I called quits on playing the game anymore. Gameplay: 7/10
Replay Value
There are a few aspects that the game possesses that encourages multiple playthroughs for its replay value. There's the rating system that tells a player who well they did in terms of score, the recycle system which allows the player to use collected recycled parts to craft first-aid kits, grenades and upgrades to weapons, and achievements that challenges the player to play a certain way that is sometimes very difficult (get a perfect on a boss by not getting hit). A lot of the weapons don't really do much damage and are difficult to use against enemies past level 3, which makes one weapon useful and all the others pretty useless if a player plans on running through first time through. A player can freely go back to previous levels to gather more materials, but who wants to play level 1 five times in a row before moving onto level 3? I focused on just upgrading my laser smg since it was the fastest weapon and then beat the game with it. I then played through the game multiple time to get all my weapons to max level. Even then, I didn't really use a variety of weapons. My main attraction to wanting to play through the game again (which I did 5- 9 times) is to get a better rating on all the levels. Beyond that is just cheap entertainment by going through the game again. It'd probably be fun to play once in a while, but I'd have to deal with the frustrations as well. I accumulated 5 hours out of it, and I think it's alright that it was short; however, I probably wouldn't have mind if it was longer either. Replay Value: 6/10
Overall
I enjoyed the game, and I don't regret buying it (for $5); however, I don't think I'll be rushing back to play it again anytime soon due to all the anger and frustration I had with it. There isn't enough motivation for me to try to get a better rating on the levels either as that would be the main reason why I'd want to play it again. It was enjoyable to run through and destroy everything along the way and test my skills against the large bosses of each stage, and even more so with the visuals and music the game possesses. If you see the game for $5 again and like 2D shooters such as Contra, Megaman, Metroid, Metal Slug or any other retro game such as those, then I say give it a try. Overall 7/10
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