App Army Assemble: Roto Force - "Does this retro-styled arcade shooter deliver a satisfying challenge?"

Roto Force is a frantic twin-stick shooter that demands quick reactions, or you'll quickly find yourself staring at the restart screen. With a challenge this big, we decided to hand the game over to our App Army to see how they fared.

Here's what they said:

Roto Force takes bullet hell mechanics and places them on a much smaller screen, which I foolishly thought would make it easier. I was categorically wrong. Rotating the map as you move makes things trickier to keep track of, and enemies limit the already small area you have to escape danger. Your ability to dash in most directions is incredibly helpful, but as the first boss shows, and it is worth playing the demo just for this fight, you can't just spam it and you will eventually land in fire, panic, and then be headbutted. The chaos is much more concentrated in this smaller setting, and it is so fun.

Roto Force is an arcade shooter with a limited colour pallet and pixel art. Each screen is an arena (starts off with a square) where your character is confined to the edge of the square and as you go left or right the screen rotates. You can also boost to switch sides. Boosting also destroys shields around enemies and health pickups. You also pick up new weapons like homing missiles.

The game reminds me of the Tempest and Gyruss arcade games but it’s the screen rotating and not the player. My problem with the game is the controls on a touch screen. Boosting requires a swipe up as you move left and right and firing is achieved by touching the opposite side of the screen when playing I found boosting difficult to implement as you frantically moved to avoid enemy bullets and fire back and I quickly died. This got frustrating fast. It was slightly easier when playing on an iPad. A game to be avoided if you don’t have a controller.

I’m becoming a fan of arcade-type games and this twin-stick shooter is a good one. Fast and furious and you know you’re going to die at some point, but before that, you’re going to wipe out lots of bad guys, pick up cool weapons, learn survival tactics and take on bosses. The graphics are simple and good. Controls work just fine and seem pretty instinctive after a while. I don’t normally listen to the sound on these games but I like it on this one.

I like that some of the missions are lighthearted and the play sessions are generally short. The rotating game area is also a cool twist. Aside from that, there’s nothing revolutionary about this game but it’s a good-looking and fun twin-stick shooter that satisfies my arcade love. And you can try it for free. Do yourself a favour. Try it.

This is the perfect game to pick up and play when you want to while away those spare minutes when you don’t want to be too involved. You play a rookie in the Roto Force and go on missions to collect items for your leader. Some of these are frivolous but nevertheless, you must do your duty.

There is a good tutorial and the instructions are easy to pick up. The artwork is retro pixelated and colourful while you play, although the game is played in a flurry of shooting and sliding that leaves little time to care about the graphics. The sound is normally something I turn off but this time it was as crazy as the gameplay and I left it running.

With lots of whirling worlds to conquer, many and various enemies to defeat and the constant turning and shooting, this game definitely had a frantic pace I really enjoyed and it was different enough to keep me interested.

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With its pixel graphics, arcade music and gameplay, Roto Force is pure pleasure. Gameplay modifiers, opponents, bosses, environments, and colour palettes vary from level to level. Gamepad support, and several settings, such as camera rotation, overlays, in-game control modifiers, screen shake, and vibration, among others, are available. With several colour palettes and that shaking to randomise feature, graphic options are excellent. In addition to having fun with options like immortality, aim assistance, and modifier unlockers with tasks like complete level with no damage, bosses and foes require careful planning in order to defeat.

Roto Force is a delightful time waster that will appeal to anyone who loves bullet hell shooters and retro-style graphics that look incredibly stylish. Each stage plays out on a small screen and sees you dodging and shooting the enemies that flood the battlefield. The twist? You can only walk around the edge or dash to one side, leaving the centre for your foes to float about and rain projectiles upon you. The smaller playing area makes everything feel claustrophobic, which certainly ups the tension as you run out of places to escape. It's an easy recommendation if you enjoy simple yet challenging games.

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Roto Force