Exo-Calibre

[h1]80年代後半～90年代前半のレトロSTG[/h1] ぎりぎりサムズアップ。 心情的にはサムズダウンだが「値段も安いし、チープなだけでゲームとしては完成されているしなぁ…」というサムズダウンにする決定的な理由がないという感じのもの。 [h1]操作[/h1] X：近接攻撃 RT：ショット LT：ブースト（本作におけるボムの役割） となっている。 近接攻撃は使いどころが限られているが硬めの敵を一撃で破壊出来たり、移動先へ瞬時に移動できることもあって緊急回避にも使える。またこれでなければ倒せない敵もいる。 ブーストは使用中完全無敵となり、ボタンを押し続けるとゲージが減り続けるので小刻みに使うのがセオリーか。ただ画面全体の敵弾を消すわけではないので解除直後に被弾することもあるので使いどころに気をつける必要がある。シーンによってはブーストを使わないと回避できない局面もある。 [h1]触り心地[/h1] シンプルな縦STGといった印象でツインビーに影響を受けているのがうかがえた。 弾幕はそれなりに張られるが自機の当たり判定は恐らく見た目通りなので弾幕の激しさとしてはほどほどレベル。 特定の敵か編隊を倒すことで「スクラップ」が出現し、そのまま取ると1＄、攻撃し続けて分解すると自動回収され2＄手に入るので可能な限り分解まで攻撃して2＄回収が基本な感じがした。 ゲームデザインとしては全体的に「単調さ」を強く感じるチープさがあり、同じ敵の使いまわしが全体を通して見られた。 またステージごとのスクラップの回収量も少なめで、ステージクリア時にスクラップを使った強化が行えるが自由度は少なく、育成の戦略は乏しい。 残機の仕様は変わっていて「残機」と「ライフ」が別々になっていて初期はライフが1なので被弾すると残機も1減るが、ステージクリア後の強化でライフを強化して2にすると2回被弾して残機が1減るようになるのでライフは増やせば増やすほど有利になる感じだった。また残機も強化画面から比較的安価で増やすことができるのもあって後半ステージは残機とライフばかり買っていた。 その生存戦略がわかると途端に難易度が低くなり、武器も3段階目まで強化していれば最後まで難なく突破できてしまい、STGゲームとしての歯応えは弱めで、このジャンルに慣れていれば1時間もプレイしないうちに8割の実績が取れてしまえるだろう。 [h1]まとめ[/h1] 800円のゲームの割にはちょっと物足りない。 目新しさは特になく、ゲーム全体は退屈で刺激に乏しい（ブーストの仕様も既にインディーSTGで類似した仕様が存在している）。 発売日当日の20%オフの640円で購入したのでそこまで損をした感じはしないが、満足度ははっきりいって低い。 誰にお勧めできるかといえば……レトロSTGが好きな人かもしれないが、それにしたって安っぽいんだよなぁ…。

A pretty fun and cheap game that's easy to pick up and can still pose a challenge to the player. The story is short and sweet, with the three base characters being unique in gameplay and personalities. Trying your hand at the different game modes and completing them rewards you with more characters to play, adding a sense of accomplishment and replayability. If you're a fan of simplistic yet hectic top-down shooters, I'd recommend buying Exo-Calibre.

I don't particularly like giving negative reviews (specially when my true feelings are mixed/average), but since this is getting close to 10 reviews total, I may as well help boost them. The game itself plays fine. I like the art, the characters are lovely, the backgrounds are colorful. The optional retro filter doesn't get in the way and adds charm. The music fits. It definitely hits the nail for feeling like a 90's game. It also is very polished, couldn't find any bug besides a funny incident in stage 4 boss where an enemy was stuck slightly outside the screen border and I had to get close and kill it to progress. However it feels like a 90's game with the included shallowness. And I think I was expecting a liitle bit more with all the glazing on the reviews. To put it short, if you're looking for a challenge there's nothing here. The upgrade system helps a lot for getting the rough edges out of the way, you can combo and shoot the tiny screws to get more value out of them. And even if you struggle at first, you can unlock all 3 bonus characters quickly by uploading a score to the leaderboard, not even winning. And with that you unlock a character that shoots a laser which is honestly pretty OP for most scenarios, combined with the melee dash and the boost shield. No reward for true 1CC/clear because they're unlocked with the trick I mentioned above. I think only story mode gets away with a real ending award, but it's story mode. Only one difficulty. I couldn't find any global leaderboards even though they seem to be promoted in the store description. Either it was a quirk with Linux Proton, I missed a button or it was disabled soon after release (game's last update was 8 months ago) Also, why do some enemies not increase the chain, like the metal worms? It feels like an oversight, or if intentional, it feels bad. I will admit that the Takotan cameo was lovely though. The devs enjoyed making this game, that I can tell. EDIT: I checked briefly and it seems story mode has different dialogues for the extra characters! At least the cat did. Could help replayability a bit if it interests you.

An extremely competent, short but sweet shmup with fun combat options, and a banging GBA-esque soundtrack. Not only that, it also has enough replayability and challenge to satisfy people who are better at these games than me! That's great! (For you!)

Disclaimer: I received this product from the publisher for the purpose of content creation. Edit: The frame rate issues I was having was due to my capture software, I guess. It doesn't lag for me when I'm not recording. It's weird, it must not get along with recording software. The price is fair for what it is and that's a barebones shmup. You'll beat it and get all the achievements in an hour, which is normal for a shmup. You have 3 characters to start, basic blaster girl, shotgun girl, and burst fire girl. Rather than a dodge you can make a melee attack dash through enemies and bullets, it has I frames, if you hit bullets they're deflected. So you're encouraged to dash through bullets as much as possible, it's actually a fun mechanic. There is also a fast forward button. Story and Arcade mode both have unskippable dialog, it's short but if you're playing Arcade you've probably beaten the story so it doesn't make sense for it to be there at all. When you defeat some enemies a bolt appears and if you juggle it by shooting it'll explode into a lot of money instead of just a little. This money is used to buy upgrades to your HP, weapon, speed, and Lives. Lives in story mode are pointless as when you run out you only lose 2 dollars in scrap which you'll easily make back. You can also use this to farm money, die on purpose, make 5 bucks, die again, repeat. 3+ dollar profit each time. Arcade mode gives you only one HP but lives revive you on the spot, which is fine, normal arcade mode but the story and dialog being shown again is a weird choice. Finally, my PC can play Monster Hunter Wilds at 60 FPS but not Exo Calibre. I watched others play and they're fine, maybe it's a windows 11 issue. 5 bucks is a fair deal, if you're worried about frame drops you'll see it immediately if it's an issue for you at all. It was happening to me on the second part of the first mission as soon as the background is all clouds it starts to chug. It's not something I'd buy for myself, not big on shmups unless they do something really different. Considering no one does anything different anymore, I'm not big on shmups. But if you like shmups you'll probably like it fine.

Exo-Calibre is a fun little shoot em up made by 2 people. It has some cute pixel art and story bits with some good challenge and bullet density in the late game. You have 3 characters plus several unlockable ones, an upgradable main shot and a bullet reflecting melee dash. The scoring is a bit too simple with a basic modifier but it does the job. I recommend playing the arcade mode. The story mode makes you read the dialogue scenes every time you die, arcade mode doesn't. In the world of Shoot em ups, you can do much better than this, but you can also do much worse. I had fun for a few hours and will probably attempt a challenge run or play through the boss rush again, but overall this is a cozy game that doesn't cost too much or last that long. Arcade Playthrough on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRjytcpRWjI

Recommended for anyone looking for a casual shmup with a variety of characters, game modes, and a great soundtrack!

This game is great! The art is wonderful, the story is charming, it has a bunch of modes and characters, some cool gimmicks, and the price is really generous for how much is packed in. On the negative side, you can't rebind the controls, and there's no online leader boards (or even staff scores to beat, just your own local scores). The default control scheme was unusable on my arcade stick and the keyboard layout wasn't what I would have picked but it wasn't unplayable or anything. Just be aware if you're picky about your controls you'll need to remap buttons with an external program or Steam's built-in input remapping (shift-tab to bring up the menu). P.S. Has anyone unlocked those last two characters? I've cleared story mode, 1CC'd arcade mode, and have all the achievements but still can't select them.

An incredibly charming experience with an amazing soundtrack! The story was short and sweet, but there's a few other game modes and characters you can choose from that add to the replay value. You get to blow up AI bots into Smithereeeeeens!! :D

Indie developers should take a good look at [i]Exo-Calibre[/i] as it can provide a very helpful lesson: a video game doesn’t always need a high complexity or seemingly endless content to be enjoyable. This shoot ‘em up which looks, feels and plays as if it came straight from the ‘90s, manages to be one of the finest in the genre. Without introducing a new mechanic, focusing on pleasing a niche hardcore crowd, or having tons of unlockables - [i]Exo-Calibre[/i] is simply fun to play, and sometimes that’s all it takes. [b]Cubed3 Rating:[/b] [b]8/10[/b] [url=https://www.cubed3.com/games/reviews/pc/exo-calibre][b]Read Full Review Here[/b][/url]