Boiling Bolt

[h1]Introduction[/h1] Boiling Bolt started so promising, only to quickly fall flat on its face and then struggle to get up for the remainder of my playthrough in its case. I guess that its title could be considered some sort of pun to “boiling point”. There was a game called just like that, but sadly it’s not on Steam. One thing is certain, it’s not about being easy, as much as it should be about avoiding to become dreary and annoying. As the Steam debut of Persistant Studios, I think that lessons can be learned for both the dev team and by players. We must all persist in improving ourselves. Always. [h1]Story[/h1] The story within this video game is quite decent, I won’t deny it. It simulates a vibrant world, part steampunk and at least partially inspired by the dozens Sci-Fi examples of settlements on floating islands. This particular place is called “Scire” and it contains vast reserves of crystals which are sought after by a well-armed group of mercenaries. We’re talking about a fleet-sized aggressor who demands the unconditional surrender of those resources. Scire’s only hope against such banditry, lies within the capable hands of a pilot named June. Our female protagonist is controlling an overpowered small vessel which perfectly fits the definition of a “glass cannon”. Indeed, remarkable offensive capabilities but next to no defense against a foe that outnumbers and eventually, outguns you as well. A ship that’s capable of sustained fire through laser shots and unlimited access to several power-ups, which still gets blasted to smithereens in a single shot or by hitting an enemy vessel/mine/whatever. A refreshing yet still troubling departure from shmup (shoot ‘em up) subgenre norms. True, you can move around and avoid incoming fire and even dash by the press of a button, but what use do those features have, when the screen gets literally filled by foes that are shooting in your direction? Where are my shields? Can’t believe that a state of the art vessel whose primary role is a nation’s defense, ironically lacks any logical way of defending itself. This one-hit KO gameplay mechanic will not do, Persistant Studios. [h1]Graphics[/h1] At least the graphics and overall stability can be considered as worthy redeeming points for Boiling Bolt's lackluster gameplay and difficulty. Unsurpringly, Unreal Engine 4 is a saving grace once again. This title is in fact, one of the smoothest experiences I had with an indie game that eschews Unity for UE4. No crashes, glitches or frame rate drops in sight, while running it maxed out along 4K resolution. It’s not jaw-dropping in terms of its visual assets yet as far as this shooting subgenre is concerned, Boiling Bolt is among the prettiest representatives. There are 4 large levels/environments that feature all the non stop challenge you’d expect along with boss fights that almost comprise another level on their own. Sure there could have been more stages included, but lack of diverisity is Boiling Bolt’s smallest issue when compared to more glaring ones. I had no qualms whatsoever with the graphical details. The anime cutscenes were great until… [h1]Audio[/h1] …I realized that there’s no voice acting at all in this game. This is so out of place, that I almost wished for piano songs being played in the background. You can’t aim for the silent movie feeling, without proper instrumentals to set that mood on the right path. Lack of sound variety plagues this title as the soundtrack can’t sustain it, when all it has to offer apart from that, are highly repetitive sounds of weapons being fired and targets getting hit. It may not be coin-op, but Boiling Bolt sure does all in its capacity to involuntarily simulate that. [h1]Gameplay[/h1] I already mentioned that June’s ship gets blown to pieces hilariously fast. You know what adds further insult to injury? I think you can guess what makes coin-operated arcade machines so enticing and annoying at the same time. Yes, their hair-pulling difficulty which is also “non-negotiable”, naturally. Something just had to eat through your lunch money back in the day, even if the school bully wasn’t fast enough. Those hellspawned gaming cabinets were purposely programmed to force players into having to restart the same level over and over again, until you either gave up or mastered the moves through sheer willpower and became one with the machine. Or by ingesting inhuman amounts of soft and energy drinks until you couldn’t stop talking to yourself. Take your pick. My allegory refers to both the unrelenting challenge and the fact that Boiling Bolt has probably never heard of a small concept called “autosaves”. There are some upgrades which can be bought from the in-game store with crystals obtained through normal progression (thank Cthulhu that lootboxes aren’t prevalent to indie gaming just yet). They are at best, only prolonging your “agony”. Each hit you take, means one less life. If you lose that set of lives three times in a row during the same level, it’s game over. Insert another coin? Nope, just restart from scratch. That should do the trick and teach you proper evasive maneuvers! No back-up, surrounded from all sides by foes which can also shoot hovering missiles or act as kamikazes, June’s best hope of survival is to dash like crazy and hope that the Bullet Time mode activates for a few seconds. The much needed respite during which you can efficiently return fire. It gets old REALLY fast. Perhaps it may be just what you’re looking for, if you’re intested in constantly being target practice for the AI. Multiplayer might remedy that unfair difficulty, so your mileage may vary. I’ve had my fill though, thank you! [h1]Verdict[/h1] Challenges and Free Run (high score-based) might breathe some replayability in Boiling Bolt. They sure are perfect opportunities for honing your skills, since the Story/Arcade mode won’t get any easier unless you adapt to its current conditions. Consider yourselves warned. In the end, the lack of a proper autosave implementation and sound diversity, bothered me more than the difficulty. You can’t overlook all obstacles if we’re talking about features that have become near ubiquitous to contemporary gaming, but are somehow still missing from the title in question. [h1]Strong Points[/h1] + Beautiful graphics. + Steam Achievements & Trading Cards. + Several game modes represent replay value. [h1]Weak Points[/h1] - Where are the autosaves, at mid-level? - Limited sound selection. - Unbalanced difficulty. [b]Rating 65/100[/b] [quote]This review was submitted for [url=http://store.steampowered.com/curator/26170000-★-O-M-E-G-A-★-❤-T-R-A-D-E-G]OMEGA Trade[/url] through the generous contribution of [url=http://steamcommunity.com/id/Yajan_Ociathien_Official]YajanOciathien[/url] and the Steam Curator Connect program.[/quote]

[h1][b] Overcome your boiling [strike] Point[/strike] Bolt [/b][/h1] I haven't played a good Shmup in a while, There have been some, mostly ports of older games, and others so ridiculously difficult they're not within my capabilities. Boiling point sits at the right level for me, its really good and accessible game, in that its difficult in all the right ways, and even offers the option to play alone or with a friend. [b]A beautiful and at times challenging arcade style side scrolling shmup, with twin stick controls.[/b] Differs slightly from some classic titles. For instance it's Set in a 3d environment and played inside a 2D grid. Isolating the player to a smaller field of play, closer to the action, rushing enemies and bullets, with that comes some mechanics that work for what it sets out to do. Easily recommended to both fans and non fans of the genre. The latter might face some challenges, I know I did, not to the point of frustration. Due to a clear progression on how one adapts to its mechanics. [h1] Story [/h1] Fortunately enough the setting is an highlight and what contributes the most to the level design. [b]A shattered world, being held together by the power of a crystal [/b] the main objective of this story. Every level takes place in one of the many floating rocks, all of them distinct to one another. The story itself is what I would consider serviceable, it’s the usual hero saves the world ordeal. That set objective and the crystals function, is the most it cares to share. What is there is appreciated but its very little to distinguish it in terms of story. [b]Which leads us to [/b] [h1] Cutscenes, dialogue & voice acting [/h1] Essentially anything required to build a plot and characters, and the lack of it. [b]Cutscenes: [/b] As expressed above, are few and far between and mostly presented in still images. Some offer small fragments of relations between characters, in general, the little that exists is incredibly brief. [b]Dialogue: [/b] There is in-game dialogue, but its mostly regarding the objective of each mission. [b]The omission of voice acting: [/b] Pertaining to the main protagonist, whose name I even forgot. The inclusion of some small lines during gameplay sure would do wonders in giving her some character. [h1] Gameplay [/h1] Like most Arcade Shmups, there is a level of perseverance, in order to clear every level of this 5 Level campaign, without the usage of saves. Its easy to practice, there is progression, learning the map and its gimmicks, the mechanics and each enemy and how to respond as they spawn. Boiling bolt rewards taking risks. By using dash during firefights, to dodge enemy bullets which also triggers a time Slow down, giving you time to flank another group of enemies. That means faster more efficient sections, result in a higher rating and score. One difference from the old school shooters is that It doesn't penalize from dying by stripping you from your weapons and status upgrades, There is no downgrade whatsoever. The build is yours from the very start, all the way until you either finish the game or hit Game over. Nodes and abilities are brought from the store with in-game currency and then set up before starting a new run . Speaking of differences, the ship takes the middle screen while enemies can spawn from either sides of the screen. [h1] Store, Game & Ship [/h1] While playing the game, the player receives currency to use in items from the store, and equip it to his ship within a limit. The items themselves are not necessarily better than each other. items have strong points and weaknesses, and the ratio between speed, defense, and power is supposed to compliment the players prefered gameplay style. [b]My only complaint:[/b] The reward and Store system, does not play into the game for long. There is a small amount of nodes and a lack of special abilities. Currency quickly turns into a pointless reward. [h1] Game Modes [/h1] Arcade : story mode, The classic single run through all levels without hitting game over Freeplay: Single level, compare score on the leaderboard Challanges: Timed challenges, where you clear the objective using one of the abilities. There is also a really short training mode That covers the basics to a simple game, but not long enough to feel comfortable. In that aspect the challenges help more getting a feel for the controls aswell as the abilities And the option to play in Co-op that offers a new ability to use in simultanium between the 2 ships [h1] Level Design [/h1] I said it already, but the game does manage to offer some variety. For example, in the first level there is one objective, but it can be completed from both left and right path, different paths with different encounters, all of them will connect to the end boss. In that way, every level offers something distinctive, maybe you have to escape, maybe avoid lasers. And all of them, have their own end boss, which for the majority, required simple pattern recognition, for the most part, some later on, can really pose a challenge [h1] Graphics & Visual style[/h1] I like the color grading, the Backgrounds and the Boss designs...Well, the 4 bosses i've seen through my mundane efforts to beat the game. But then i also remember that gems and white enemy bullets, tend to almost pass unnoticed in some of the brighter areas of the levels. [h1] Options [/h1] It offers almost everything that is expected, plus some. Camera options, including the dynamic camera on by default Slider for controller vibration. Resolution options up to 4K window mode and various graphical settings. Its missing key and button remap. And its locked at 60fps [b] [i]SCORE: 8/10[/i][/b] [quote] This review was submitted for [url=http://steamcommunity.com/groups/gaming_until_end]Gaming Until End[/url], through the generous contribution of [url=http://steamcommunity.com/id/HellCowON]HellCow.[/url] [/quote]

Colorful, brash and difficult in all the right ways. Boiling Bolt had me yelling at my screen, but it also had me wanting to play more. Solid art style, great soundtrack, intuitive gameplay. Well worth your time. https://youtu.be/J7p2jfkYyiw

the game is awesome, easy to play and a little difficult to master. the graphic aspect is really really good and the controls are nearly perfect for the gameplay. I can really suggest Boiling Bolt to everyone. Ah, the devs are really kind and willing, so the game is absolutely alive and updated.

[h1] Стреляй или умри. [/h1] Вот чем может удивить shoot’em up? Да вот вроде как уже ничем. За четверть столетия каких только игр мы не видели в этом стиле. Однако, с Boiling Bolt все не так просто. [code][url=store.steampowered.com/curator/11769719/] Еще больше обзоров на кураторской страничке Dreams of Genesis! Подписывайтесь, с нами весело! [/url][/code] Первое что бросается в глаза при запуске, так это то что в игре есть внятный сюжет разбавленный рисованными роликами и кучей диалогов во время прохождения. На самом деле как для меня shoot’em up и сюжет как то не вяжутся. Это всегда были простые игры для выпуска пара и уничтожений толпы врагов в стиле один против всех. Но в Boiling Bolt разработчики нашли золотую середину и сюжет отлично вписывается в перестрелки. Следующее что вот прямо кардинально отличает игру от остальных представителей жанра так это сами бои и построение локации. Зачастую shoot’em up мы двигаемся с одной части карты и двигаясь по прямой, с ограничением по рамкам монитора, отстреливаем деспотов. Тут же все немного иначе. Бои проходят на полноценных 3D локациях, на которых проведена некая энергетическая лента, по которой и передвигаются корабли. Стоит ли упоминать что ширина такой ленты не очень большая и это заметно усложняет маневры? Думаю не стоит. Кстати, враги тут появляются не только спереди. Тут просто понятия “спереди” нету. А с двух сторон одновременно. Поэтому выжить в таком перекрестном огне, довольно сложно. Да, игра действительно хардкорная и может хорошенько подпортить вам нервы, ну или вам и вашему товарищу по игре, поскольку игра поддерживает кооператив. Не скажу что графика в игре прям топ, но смотрится вполне приятно. А в динамических сценах так вообще шикарно. В основе игры лежит Unreal Engine 4 и оптимизирован он вполне не плохо, во всяком случае просадок фпс заметно не наблюдалось. [h1] Итог [/h1] Игра вышла вполне удачной. У неё затягивающий сюжет, приятная графика и конечно же она может кинуть вызов игроку. Музыкальное сопровождение меня не сильно впечатлило. Музыка тут просто не совсем вписывается в то что происходит на экране. В остальном, это неплохой shoot’em up который затянет на пару вечеров и больше.

boiling bolt est un bon jeu, amusant et divertissant je le recommande

parecia interesante, bastante, pero cuando empiezas a jugar es bastante aburrido

Game has all the fixin's for a great title like multiple modes and the ability to collect crystals from fallen enemies to upgrade but the game play itself bounces back and forth between dull and frustrating. I blame it on being confined within a ribbon that wraps back and forth in 2.5D and the bullet-time system

https://youtu.be/6fsu9jTxUGA

I got bored really fast.