Roto Force is a twin-stick shooter that does not feel like a twin-stick shooter.
It feels new and weird and - at first - rather claustrophobic.
This is so quick it feels almost like teleportation.
It’s great and there’s loads of nuance to how it works.
Roto Force review
Second one.
Roto Force has made the transition beautifully.
I realise now that I didn’t actually see much of Roto Force on my first playthrough.
I don’t mean I skipped bits or missed entire levels.
I learned how to distinguish bullets I could dash through safely from bullets that would still harm me mid-dash.
All of this I learned, but I didn’t see much.
It was gone in a friendly blur.
We’re in the world of Game Boy Player 8-Bit here: four colours and chunky, deckle-edged sprites.
There’s a level where it’s all about birds - penguin guys spawn and lob fish (?)
at you, while the boss fight takes place in a nest.
There’s a level that’s all about…slime…I guess?
Those are just early levels.
It’s so fast, so deadly, so punishing - and so creative!
Unlike marginalia, though, all of this stuff can kill you.
And in amongst the visual chaos there’s so much to learn.
How best to position yourself to chug away for a multiwave boss or a devilish mini-boss.
Ignore the changing colour schemes that are there to dazzle and unsettle.
But it’s broken up into waves and there’s a generous checkpoint system.
Also, each level gives you a new weapon to choose from.
And here Roto Force started to remind me of Treasure, of all developers.
There’s wild ingenuity to the weapons you unlock, and they each require learning.
They can toggle whether achievements unlock with assists.
The last of these is great: real power coupled to a short reach.
It’s pure Treasure.
Marginalia, food processors, the Treasure back catalogue.
Roto Force is one of those games that challenges you to understand its various moods and components.
And then you press the big red button and everything erupts outwards.
