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REVIEW

Strafe Review

by Will Fidler, May 9th, 2017
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I have a weird relationship with the 90’s, as someone born too late to be a part of the pop culture, yet still young enough to vicariously live it through the 20 year nostalgia cycle. It’s like I was there, without ever living through No Doubt, cassette tapes, and optimism. The idea that fashion and music recycles every 20 years has become slightly irrelevant since the internet made memes the dominant form of human communication. Nobody seems to have told Pixel Titans that though. Rocking a 90’s shooter aesthetic, Strafe, explodes onto the scene drinking a bottle of hooch and playing air guitar.

Strafe’s presentation as a mid to late 90’s shooter runs deep. Just check out the launch trailer. From the live-action tutorial videos, to the MS DOS menu to access other modes, Pixel Titans show a lot of love to the period. Pixelated textures and blocky environments harks back to early 3D level design. Strafe strips back everything superfluous to the experience of running and gunning.

Pixel Titans have taken a rare decision to not lay all the games mechanics on the table. As a rogue-like FPS, Strafe is utterly brutal. The difficulty curve is damn steep to begin with. It took hours of experimentation to work out the inner workings of the games finer points. While this does encourage experimentation, at times Strafe is obfuscating critical info. Not being told all ammo remaining in a clip is lost on reload took a few too many failed attempts to figure out.

Violence in Strafe is a pro-longed, draining affair. It wants you to kill everything. Fast. Right now. It measures the blood sprayed over the levels in gallons. After taking the first shot the music ramps up, enemies pour out from every hallway, and it’s on until the level’s finished, or you’re dead. There is no reprieve from combat. Arms, legs, and faces are regularly found removed from bodies, with appropriately bloody outcomes. Only a few enemies to be found in the starting area, but as I progressed the variety mounted up. Prioritizing targets becomes more difficult when everything is hyper lethal.

Death comes fast in Strafe. A thirty minute run can be crippled within a few bad seconds. Every hit was a massive loss, with health and armour being difficult to regain, usually costing heaps of valuable scrap or cash. The initial barrier of getting past the first areas in one go was a daunting task to begin with. The repetition of the cold grey corridors and the same enemy set is a harsh Drill Sergeant to bludgeon players into shape with. It can take a while for the game to click, but when it does it begins to unfurl, become more rewarding as I away from the opening section.

 

Mastery is the lofty goal Strafe wants you to aspire too. Each area has its secrets and speed targets to beat. Optional modes twist the formula, challenging you to kill 90% of enemies within a time limit, or beat a selection of challenge rooms. After getting past the opening hurdles, Strafe opened up into a buffet of addictive gibbing.

The weapon selection is relatively small. Given the immediate and unrelenting nature of combat however, that’s probably for the best. There’s no time to pick your favorite gun when legions of Not-Doom-Imps march forward. Each run starts with the choices of shotgun, assault rifle, or a railgun. After that it was making do with whatever I found. Rocket launchers and the like are liberally strewn across levels. Extra weapons are 100% disposable and can’t be reloaded in a use them or lose them fashion. Your best friend is always your starting gun. Anything else is a bonus. Ammo becomes a precious commodity, so letting off a clip draining alt-fire attack is a potentially costly choice.

Contrasting to its 90’s extremeness, Strafe is a rather conservative rogue-like. Apart from which starting weapon to use, there isn’t much in the way of drops. There are power-ups and weapon upgrades to find, as well as a shop. Unlike similar titles, Strafe doesn’t want your ability to double-jump taking away from the murder. It takes a long time before the powers accumulate into interesting builds.

Shuffled collections of pre-fabbed rooms and random enemy placement make up every level. Some have acid pits and gravity lifts, some are just a maze of hallway. Seeing the majority of a theme only takes a handful of visis. But it takes dedication to learn how to maximize each space. Strafe’s combat is highly agile, and it’s easy to become flustered and become trapped in a corner. Each of the areas have a distinct look with the claustrophobic corridors of The Icarus eventually give way to the orange glow of a rocky Canyon. Essentially you’re trading one brand of corridor for another.

Unfortunately Strife’s performance suffers a few hiccups. Stutter and frame-drops were common place. Every level transition is accompanied with the games performance tanking. On my rig Strafe generally held a solid 60FPS, but more than one failure was caused by heavy stutter or falling through the geometry.

Pixen Titans described Strafe as a “balls-to-the-wall straight-up action game“. They certainly delivered on those words with enough bullets and blood to fill an Olympic sized pool. However, it feels like the game is holding back until the later stages. There’s just substance to go with those 90’s stylistic trappings and the high skill ceiling may turn many players off. Performance issues took away from my enjoyment somewhat, but if you’re willing to power through it can be a rewarding, gruesome obsession.

8
A surgical strike of nostalgia ridden violence

Filed under: Devolver Digital FPS PC pixel titans PS4 strafe

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