Friv2Online Games Studio roguelike shooter Orbital Bullet recently left early access. On this occasion, we have prepared a review of the project, which differs from its competitors in a unique feature - circular arenas, on which skirmishes take place.
Orbital Bullet has the most banal plot line I've ever seen. Evil aliens have invaded the inhabited worlds and brought humanity to the brink of destruction. You are a member of the Resistance, at the last moment before death, who transferred his consciousness into the body of a cyborg. Now you have to push back the invaders.
The path of the hero runs through many planets occupied by alien forces. On each, of course, there is a boss with whom the warrior will fight in the final journey. So gradually he will move towards the complete liberation of humanity, dying - and, according to the laws of roguelike, reborn again and again, a little stronger than before.
The key "trick" of the friv game is the levels, which are cylinders divided into sectors; between them the character moves vertically, like on an elevator. It looks impressive, but does not bring anything unique to the gameplay, except, perhaps, the ability to shoot in the back of the enemy, being directly in front of him: if you take a long-range cannon and shoot, turning away from the enemy, the projectile will go around the arc and hit him directly. By the way, it helps against front-protected shields.
Otherwise, this is a good old "shooter" with elements of a platformer. The hero is armed with trunks found in the chests and begins to exterminate all life within reach. Each type of weapon has its own range and effect: the submachine gun fires a lot of bullets in a short time, the plasma cannon deals damage over time, and the grenade launcher shells fly in a special trajectory, which must be taken into account when firing. And if you run out of ammo, you can always jump right on the enemy and trample him, like in some Super Mario Bros.
By destroying monsters, the character receives skill points that can be invested in passive upgrades that operate as part of the run. For example, you will increase the damage from jumping on enemies, activate a satellite drone that will shoot at aliens at the same time as you, increase the effectiveness of projectiles, and so on.
If the protagonist dies, these skills will "burn out", and he himself will be thrown back to the beginning of the journey. Nevertheless, the experience gained will allow you to acquire abilities that will remain active in future adventures. These include a permanent increase in damage, a random drop of weapons at the beginning of a new run, an expansion of the assortment of merchants, a constant increase in health, and much more. The list of these bonuses is impressive, as is the amount of points that you need to invest in their purchase: you will have to spend a lot of time and attempts to beat the game in order to develop the character to the maximum level.
However, Orbital Bullet is designed for this. Short levels and fast loadings allow you to play in small sessions, while leveling between runs gives you a sense of progression. By the time the friv game leaves Early Access, it can offer gamers a considerable amount of content, although its authors still have work to do - localization is lame in places, and some types of weapons are frankly unbalanced.