Release Date: 11 July 2019
Date Played: 8 December 2021
Introduction:
Blazing Chrome is a 16-bit inspired 2D run and gun platformer developed by JoyMasher. It wears its influences on its sleeve and draws heavily both from the Contra and the Metal Slug franchises. The game takes place in a post-apocalypic world where humanoid machines have taken over and a small resistance group of the remaining humans have set out to defeat them. If this plot sounds familiar to you, you're not alone. It's basically just the plot from Terminator 2: Judgement Day. No one is going to doubt that this is a cool premise for a game, novel, book, movie, what-have-you. After all, Terminator 2 is a beloved movie and was a HUGE hit when it came out. Unfortunately, this setting been played to death. We've seen it again and again and you can only beat a dead horse for so long. Yes, it certainly evokes a sense of nostalgia from the early 90s, but I couldn't help but feel that the developers could have picked a less cliché setting for their game to make it stand out and be something novel and unique. Give us something that serves as an ode to those games that came before it rather than serving as one of many clones that did nothing more than try to sit at the cool kid's table of game development. Take what your influences did before you, stand on their shoulders, and combine your knowledge with theirs to elevate the things you love to a new height. Give your audience a glimpse into your passion and they'll love you for it.
Sadly, the developer of Blazing Chrome didn't do this and instead pumped out what I consider to be a pedestrian and phoned in attempt at genre that is crying out for a retro-inspired masterpiece. If you played a Sega Genesis (Sega Megadrive) at any point in your life, you've played a game like this.
Presentation:
In terms of looks, Blazing Chrome knocks it out of the park for achieving that gritty 16bit look that was so prevalent in the early 90s. It has some great sprite work, nice backgrounds with cool parallax scrolling, cool boss and enemy designs, and a very nice color pallet. The game looks the part and could actually fool someone into thinking it was being played on a 16bit console. The art direction is nice and has a good focus. There levels mostly feel distinct from each other and have some memorable sections. There are also some really impressive pseudo 3D effects they do towards the end of the game. One of these is a simple on-rails shooter section that has you traveling into the background in a 3rd person view similar to Space Harrier or Panorama Cotton. It's well done, but doesn't quite live up to the high standards of those two games. But, nevertheless, is a joy to observe. In a similar fashion, there is a section of the final stage where you're teleported into a VR world and have to dispatch enemies while avoiding obstacles that scroll towards the screen. It's a really inspired idea and was the standout moment in the game for me. If only the game creators were able to put this sort of exciting and unique inspiration into the whole game, we might have seen something truly remarkable.
You're also given some screen filter options to make the game feel like you're playing on a pixelated CRT screen. Personally, as someone who games daily on an actual CRT screen, I never use these. But, if you're after that nostalgia high, maybe these will help you get a little closer.
As for the sound, it doesn't fair so well. I'm not sure if it's a bug or a poor mixing issue, but Blazing Chrome is super quiet. For a game that's all about attitude and having all guns blazing, the sound is very puny and weak. I did an internet search and heard that there is a issue with the game where only the sound comes out of the middle channel. I'm not sure if it'll ever be patched, but the music is quiet, thin, and doesn't have any bass or presence to it at all. It sounds like it's coming out of an old-timey radio with a 2 inch wide speaker. I'm not sure anyone has ever wanted to listen to some pumping and rocking music coming out of a Victrola, but that's what we were given. I basically had to crank the volume on my sound system to even have it audible. Even after that, the music was still pretty muffled, undynamic, and just generally lackluster. It certainly has the feel that the developers are striving for with a rock/metal feel with drums, distorted guitars, and the sort of composition you would expect. However, the chord changes are banal and repetitive and there's no real good sense of melody or hooks to keep you engaged. The best way I can describe it is that it is filler music that you would tolerate in between the cool sections on a soundtrack. The problem is that the game never gets to those good sections.
Gameplay:
I know, I know... I've rambled on enough about the aesthetics of the game when all anyone cares about in a 2D run and gun is the gameplay. So, how does Blazing Chrome hold up? Just fine. It plays exactly like you would expect it to and has the same control scheme as games like Contra Hard Corps and the Metal Slug games. You run and shoot in 8 directions. Holding R1 will lock your shot angle so you can maneuver around and keep firing in the locked position. You can jump, slide, and cycle through the 4 weapons available to you (provided you've already collected them). Also, if you're within range, you can melee an enemy. This reminds me a lot of Metal Slug, of course, but the attack is much stronger here and can even serve as your primary source of damage. I found myself melee attacking most of the bosses. In addition to this, you can also collect helper drones to assist you. These will provide a shield, extra firepower, or a speed increase. This provides you with a decent arsenal to help you on your way. You will also be able to enter into a vehicle/robot suit at several points in the game just like in Metal Slug (...once again). They provide some extra firepower until they take too much damage and you have to bail out. Just like always, this a lot of fun and serves to add some pizazz to the game. Unfortunately, these only appear in 3 levels and your time with them is all to brief. Lastly, there are a couple of speeder sections where you're on a hoverbike and have to avoid obstacles while shooting the enemy. These sections, while different than the rest of the game, are kind of annoying and are more dreadworthy than something you look forward to. Surprisingly, for a game called Blazing Chrome that tries too hard to inundate you with it's radical renegade attitude, it never really makes you feel like you're that powerful or awesome. The guns and explosions are... milquetoast. It's like lighting the fuse on a giant bomb only to have it give off a tiny pop with a smattering of confetti.
One hit deaths are present here, but dying only causes you to lose your equipped weapon and one of your lives. Once you're lives are depleted you're allowed to continue from the most recent checkpoint. These checkpoints are fairly forgiving and there are several in each level. You'll also earn an extra life every 20k points which helps immensely and you can accumulate quite a healthy stock of lives before too long. Still, Blazing Chrome can be pretty difficult in places and will cause some frustration in players that aren't used to this sort of game. Luckily, the aforementioned checkpoint system really makes beating the game much more manageable than the games that inspired it. There are unlimited continues on Easy and Normal mode, but Difficult limits you and is only for the most hardcore of players.
From the onset, you're given the option to select from 1 of 2 characters. Mavra, a female resistance leader, and Doyle, a converted robot. I can't tell if there's any gameplay difference between them, but they both have cool designs and are a bit endearing and likable. After you beat the game for the first time, you'll unlock 2 more characters that are a female and male ninja respectively. They only have melee attacks that can be charged but can't pick up any other weapons. They really add some additional difficulty to the game with their limited range and charge times and can take some getting used to. Still, they are fun and add a little more playability to the game.
Finally, there are some additional modes like mirror mode (where the game is reversed) that feels a little lazy for a content addition and a boss rush mode. If you truly love this game, there's enough here to keep you busy for a while.
Conclusion:
All this being said, while Blazing Chrome really works hard to feel like the games that inspired it. It just doesn't live up to those standards. A lot of the enemy placement feels poorly designed and unfair. Enemies will appear at strange angles and elevations that make it almost impossible to kill them before they fire off a flurry of bullets at you. You won't have time or room to react sometimes and basically have to know the enemies are coming before you get there. It feels more like a memorization game that I would like, but that still isn't uncommon in these sorts of games... but it does almost feel as if the enemy placement wasn't very thought out before hand and each level is just a series of tedious and sign inducing sections strung together.
All of the negatives and positives I have to say thus far aren't very grievous or alluring. The don't make or break the game. The real issue with the whole experience is that the game just feels a little... hollow to me. As I'm playing it, I'm just going through the motions of playing a 2D run and gun without really having a good time. I beat it with every character on Normal difficulty, and the sheer idea of having to learn the game well enough to beat it on Hard difficulty put a pit in my stomach. Having that sort of physical dread come over you when thinking about playing a game lets you know that it's time to move on to something else.
While Blazing Chrome is inspired by great games, it doesn't feel inspired itself. I found it to be more tedious than fun a lot of the time and I had to force myself to play it. There was nothing there that gave me that urge to keep getting better or instilled an desire in me to experience more. I would finish a single stage and be ready to put the game down. You know how a video game company will rip-off a really good and popular game trying to jump on the bandwagon of the newest trend but it always feels rushed, lazy, and not quite as good? Blazing Chrome feels like it's doing that... but to a popular game that came out 30 years ago. I know the developers weren't setting out to make a game that feels like a cash grab. Obviously, they care about this style of game and want to make something amazing. They just didn't quite get there this time. Still, they have some potential and I would like to see them improve in the future and give us something amazing. There's a fun game here, but with the renaissance of 2D indie titles that have been pumped out over the last decade (many of which not only rivaled, but surpassed the games that inspired them) Blazing Chrome can't really hang in there and go toe to toe with those games and falls short of the developer's goal.
Final Status: Beaten
Final Score: 6/10 (a little good)
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