Act: Ultra Assault [by Small Rockets]

Game: Ultra Assault
Release: January, 2003
Genre: Action
Developer: Small Rockets
System Requirements: Pentium 2 400+, 64MB Ram, 120MB Hard Drive Space, Good Video Card
Price: US $19.99

Screenshots:  Screenshot Gallery

Working with a college the other day, we were reviewing many arcade games from the 80s and 90s.  One comment that was made was that there was a huge number of overhead and side-scrolling shooters.  After thinking through that discussion, one might wonder why someone would try an overhead shooter today.  I think the reason is obvious.  When you consider how far graphics have come in the last 5 years, and the fact that overhead shooters have always been about amazingly fast gameplay through beautiful environments, then it becomes obvious that now is the best time to offer a shooter to fans of the genre.

Ultra Assault delivers on all fronts by creating a memorable experience.  While initially you may look at the game and think that 6 levels is not a lot, Small Rockets has included several items that will keep you playing for some time.  First off, the game includes a level editor.  This editor allows you to edit the current levels, or to add new levels to the game.  This allows for the game to have a much greater playtime than the 6 included levels.  Those who have worked with the level editor will likely agree that it is not an easy thing to use.  Certainly it isn't for the faint of heart or those who would like to snap together a level in under an hour.  While this may turn off a beginning gamer, I think that it is a good thing in the long run.  By making the level editor take some time to use, not because the interface is difficult, but because it takes time to enter all the points of a level that can make the level enjoyable.  By making the level editor good enough to make good levels, it also has become hard enough to use that the levels created by it will take imagination and originality...along with a healthy dose of dedication.

Beyond the level editor, and the obligatory difficulty levels, Small Rockets has included another mode of game play called "Score Attack."  Score attack is a fixed difficulty setting that allows you to play and then have your high score entered into an online table so you can rank yourself against other players.  If you just scored points in Ultra Assault by blowing things up, the table would have little meaning, but as it is, the challenge is much greater.

In Ultra Assault, score multipliers play a great role in how high a score you can obtain.  While playing, you will see two circles, each rotating, with the outer circle rotating counter-clockwise the inner circle.  The circles will move from object to object as you blow up the object that they are highlighting.  If you blow up the objects on the screen in order, by following the circles, your score multiplier goes up, thus increasing the points you receive by destroying any one object on the screen.  This "Score Sequence" always occurs in the same order on each level with the objects on the level.  By playing the game multiple times, you can learn what to destroy next to maximize your points.  Of course, following the score sequence will often mean leaving an enemy around to fire at you that you otherwise would have destroyed right off.  The question is how much peril will you put yourself in to score?

The weapons in most shooters makes the game for me, and Ultra Assault has gone to great lengths to have interesting weapons.  Unlike most shooters, you don't have a wide assortment of weapons to fire.  Instead, there are different ways to fire, and some interesting defensive weapons as well.  As you go through the game, destroying certain enemies individually, or as a group will cause a power-up to appear.  At the bottom of your screen there is a power-up bar.  Each item on the bar represents a power-up that can be applied to your ship.  The bar is sequential, so that the first item costs you one power-up, the second two and so on.  Aside from speeding up your ship, the most common power-up you will likely use is Extend.  Using extend will add another laser to your ship up to 5 lasers.  This is useful of course, but in an interesting twist, the adding of the laser also makes your ship transform into a larger ship that is also slower.  Hence it is a good thing to get several speed-ups right before you get an extend so you don't turn yourself into a sitting duck.

Of all the power-ups, my personal favorite was Sentry.  The sentry will target the nearest bullet to you, with a great little graphic of a nearly square target scaling in on a bullet as your anti-bullet rocket flares off towards it.  All the weapons are beautifully drawn with wonderful effects.  This is especially true of the smart bomb, which creates an electrical field around your ship and then arcs out from there destroying enemies and enemy fire that is on the screen.

If you are good enough to get through to the last level, you are rewarded with a classic final level for a shooter, steeped in graphics running on multiple levels that make you want to put down your joystick and just watch, but of course it is the last level, and any such lapse would lead to your demise in a little less that 1 second.

Graphics: 9
Wonderful drawn state-of-the art 3D graphics are a highlight all throughout the game.  The vapor trails of the missiles and the speed at which they are drawn is amazing is look at as is the electrical arc of the smart bomb.  In addition, the lighting is something that needs to be seen to be appreciated.  Every bullet you fire emits light from your ship that becomes a bright light source, causing nearby buildings, trees, and everything else to cast shadows that coincide with your fire.  The more extend power-ups you have used, the greater the light source your ship becomes.  Frankly it was fun just to fly around firing at times when there was no-one on the screen just to see the board light up with each shot.

Sound: 8
Nothing spectacular, but definitely not distracting in anyway.  The music works very well into the background, disappearing as you become involved in a firing match with enemies, otherwise faintly coming in.  Sound effects are all well fitting of a game of this nature.

Game Play: 8
The game is easy to play, but it does take some practice.  I found the ship you control to be sluggish at first and often crashed into things accidentally.  With time I overcame those problems, and the second time I played through the game I enjoyed it immensely more than the first time I tried to play through it.  Still it is something that you have to get used to playing in order to fully enjoy it.  In addition, the game attempted to connect to the internet every time I launched it despite my attempts to set it to never access the internet.  Since I often play on a computer that is not connected to the internet, Ultra Assault would freeze when loading.  This is easy enough to get around, but was slightly frustrating.

Options: 9
The ability to edit levels is always a big plus, and Ultra Assault does a great job giving you an editor that allows your imagination to be the only limit to the types of levels that you can create.  The RocketRating system allows you to connect online and rate yourself against other players and is a great addition as well.

Concept: 9
Shooters have been around forever, and Ultra Assault adds some new thoughts with lazers that bounce off of barriers, a really cool sentry weapon, and the interesting piece of the ship slowing down and getting larger as you increase its power.  This is a very innovative shooter!

Fun: 8
This is a great game that is quite enjoyable to play after I got past my initial frustrations of crashing into walls that I didn't think I'd hit.  The only drawback here was the limited number of levels.  While I do like the RocketRating system, it can lead to frustration as you try to score the perfect sequence, and then fail over and over and over again...but then again, that is what separates the men from the pretenders.

Overall: 9
If you are a shooter fan, then this is an absolute must.  I would also recommend that you pick up, what I consider to be the prequel to this game, Star Monkey.  Both games are great!  Your money is well spent and the time that you spend exploring the many great options of this game will keep you busy for some time!Added: February 20th 2003
Reviewer: The Mole
Score:
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Language: english