0 to Z of Playstation 1 Games - Assault Retribution

  

Assault Retribution known as just Assault in Europe is a run and gun side scrolling sometimes top down shooter developed by Candle Light Studios the game was published by Midway Home Entertainment in North America while Telstar Electronic Studios published the PAL version of the game.

The game released first in Europe in September of 1998 with the North American release coming a couple of months later on the 31^st of October. One of the games designers Dean Betton would later go on to be lead artist in the 2004 Star War Battlefront from Pandemic, back when Battlefront was actually good.

Other notable mentions Jonathan Eggelton would work as an artist on the Wipeout series as well as MotorStorm Pacific Rift. Chris J. White who worked on the code for Assault Retribution would be a support programmer on the 2006 Call of Duty 2. While Duncan Chambers another coder for Assault Retribution would lend his technical support to the 2004 Mega Man Anniversary Collection.

The player has the choice of two characters either the heavy weapons veteran in Sgt Reno J Washington or the less experience sniper Major Kelly Doyle. No matter which character you choose you will have access to four weapons for each character, Sgt Washington uses weapons like the P-420 Multi-Phase Pulse Rifle and the Cutter, while Major Doyle prefers the heavy weapons with a verity of Homing Missiles, a Beam Laser and the D-16 Magnetic Bolt Accelerator.

During the course of the players progression they will pick up gun items this will fill the characters next tier gun slot, each gun can be upgraded a maximum of three times, these upgrades increase the number of shots fired per trigger pull however they will cause in increase in energy drain.

Energy as well as health can be replenished by picking up the corresponding item, the player is also able to store addition health or energy for later however they are limited to just the one addition at a time with the player having only one item slot to use.

Additional bonuses are available for the player to pick up during the course of the levels such as energy spheres that provide a temporary invulnerability unlike health and energy pick ups these can not be stored, a lightning barrier as well as bonus lives.

In addition to the side scrolling movement the players are able to aim upwards and downwards as well as various angles the player is also able to strafe and side step their way through the seven levels of the game, is that is not enough a 2 player co-op mode is also available.

The year is 2198 and the city of Arcadia was destroyed in a blink of an eye. An alien object fell from the skies destroying the city, leaving the majority of the cities inhabitants dead, the survivors injured or seriously wounded.

These wounded civilians had more to contend with than just a destroyed city and injuries, the alien craft that had crashed into the city began spewing alien creatures into the ruins of the city. Marines dispatched by the government are sent into the city with one aim eradicate any and all forms or alien life.

The player assumed the role of either gruff marine veteran Sgt Reno J Washington or the young sniper Major Kelly Doyle as they infiltrate the Arcadia streets, charge their way through the jungles of Zeeva in their mission to destroy the aliens vessel and eradicate the alien hive.

Critically while having several average or below average review scores the game did have some fans with review scores reaching a high on an 81/100 with a few above average review scores as well, but as usual we will start with the best the 81/100 from Absolute Playstation.

Who praised the games fine visuals and damn good shooting mechanics, however the game is not without issues according to the reviewer, with the various obstacles the player has to traverse over the course of the level the review found themselves having to slow to a crawl in order to negotiate these obstacles because it was so hard to judge the exact location of the players character.

With the review finding the bulk of his lost lives during the course of the game were not his fault but the awkwardness of negotiating the various bottomless pits and crumbling platforms, even with these minor issues they they concluded with a very positive, This aside, if what turns you on is an all out blast feast then look no further than Telstar's Assault.

NowGamer were the second highest review score for the game coming in at just under Absolute Playstations 81 with a 78/100, the reviewer calling the game a kind of Werthers Original with It too reliant on what games use to be like and failing to add anything new to make them stand out from the crowd.

While the game will likely appeal to older games it is less likely to acquire the attention of the younger audience, they did praise the game for having enough napalm related nonsense to place gamers of all ages with a decent enough 2 player experience concluding with, this blood bath is a perfectly tastleless entry into the blast-’em-up genre.

German publication pair of Video Games and Mega Fun were the next two highest review scores with a 74 and 70 respectively, starting with the 74 from Video Games first. Who were critical of the game graphics especially the explosions, they were also critical of the mission scenarios which they called sterile and the over use of the same sprites as well as bosses that lacked innovative tactics. They did  praise the game concluding with the long stages fun to just go around shooting aliens.

Mega Fun scored the game at a 70 and praised the game for filling the Contra gap adequately, with Konami’s only offering on Playstation so far is the less than successful  Legacy of War, concluding if you are looking for a shoot through title you should be happy here.

They also had praise for the 2 player co-op mode as well as the general level designs however the games lack of veriaty and refined ideas as well as those surprise moments that stand out were somewhat lacking resulting in the lower score of just 70.

Dropping to the bottom of the review scores now we find the lowest review score coming from Adrenaline Vault who scored the game at a 40/100 saying Assault Retribution can be viewed as a sort of test of exactly how nostalgia crazy our society has become,  saying also the game seems like it should have been released several years ago. Concluding with the game would have been popular, however the world has moved on, and titles like this are simply not up to the standards that have been set.

GameSpot rated the game two points higher with a 42, they said the basics sound playable enough but aesthetically the game is a mess, with the level locations varying and changing style they still remain chunky and unappealing with the game looking like an early Playstation game as well as repetitive grunts and aliens shrieks

Dutch publication Power Unlimited were next up with a below average 48, they did have praise for the weapons calling them good, but the alien enemies they called wimps and were also highly critical of the game controls with negotiating ledges and jumping over cliffs their main issues. IGN summed up their 55 rated review with once sentence, Assault is a good rental if you want to shoot lots of alien bugs for a while but that is as far as it goes

This is the part of 0 to Z where is visit four online retailers and see what the availability of the title is, and what price you would be looking at if you wanted to pick this title up, the sites that I will be using for this are Amazon.com, eStarland.com, retrogames.co.uk and Gamedude.com I know the last one is very location specific, but from a podcast I listen to, I’ve heard they have a huge stock of older games, Ebay has now been dropped unless the game is unavailable at other retailers.

So lets get down to business with Gamedude who will give you $3 if you are looking to trade in your copy of Assault Retribution, if on the other hand you are looking to buy a copy of the game you will be looking at a $8 outlay for a copy form Gamedude.

Retrogames.co.uk up next who have the PAL version listed this is the one just called Assault, they currently have one copy of the game available, they describe the game as hard to find, the copy that they have on sale is a used copy in excellent condition with a disc rating of 10/10 and is priced up at £15.

Heading over to eStarland.com next where we find two copies of the game available, the first is a complete used copy of the game which can be picked up for $8.75. The second copy available at eStarland.com is a brand new copy of the game which can be picked up for just $12.95.

eStarland.com also offer a trade in for the game if you are looking to get rid of your copy of the game, and will pay up to $3.50 for a copy. This price will fluctuate depending on the completeness of your copy, if you are missing both the manual you will get up to $1.22, if you are missing the case you can get up to $2.28, while if you are missing the manual you can get up to $2.45.

Finally we move on to Amazon.com where we find a decent supply of the game available, where a good condition copy of the game can be picked up for $7.97 once shipping has been added in, this is for a complete copy of the game.

If you are looking for a very good condition and complete used copy of the game you will be looking at around the $10 mark for a copy with prices reaching as high as $21 for a very good condition used copy of the game. If you are looking for a like new copy of the game don’t bother as it is priced beyond that of a new copy of the game, with prices for a new copy ranging from $31.97 up to about $34.

Written by

P J Gibbon