by Amr (@siegarettes)

• Rigid Force Alpha
  
• Developer: com8com1 Software
  
• Publisher: com8com1 Software
  
• PC
  

Companies like Konami and Irem might not be making shooters anymore, but I’ll be damned if that has stopped indie devs from following their designs. Games like Gradius and R-Type are clearly beloved and efforts like Rigid Force Alpha clearly aim to remind you why.

RFA’s weapons and mechanics take heavy inspiration from Gradius and R-Type, going so far that certain bosses feel less like homage and more like bootleg reproductions of them. A version of R-Type’s psychosexual Gomander appears, complete with the phallic worm moving in and out of its orifices, and several Core type bosses appear, with one boss fight in particular feeling almost like it was ripped straight out of Gradius V. 

The general aesthetic is heavily informed by the PS2 era entries of Gradius and R-Type, particularly in the stage design and the soft glows illuminating the environment and beam weapons. RFA genuinely feels like it’s attempting to create a sequel to those games at points. Two things separate it from its inspirations: its mechanics, and its inconsistent presentation.

Let’s start with the positive: RFA makes successful use of its inspirations’ satellite style weaponry. RFA’s force shards work like a cross between R-Type’s Force Pods and Gradius’ Options. They’ll duplicate your primary and secondary shots, but they can also be moved to various formations and be used to block certain enemy fire. Up to four can be collected and each shard forms a more complete pod, which can then be separated to alter the trajectory of your shots and bombs. Using the shoulder buttons will move them back and forth alongside your ship, setting them all the way forward, on your flank pointing forwards or backwards, and pointing all the way back. Collecting forces shards–and being able to keep them–is very important, since enemy attacks can come from all sides and losing them means you not only can’t attack, but can’t block enemy fire from other directions.

Thankfully RFA’s use of layered 3D allows you to see waves of enemies approaching before they appear on screen. Enemies will appear in the background then approach the edge of the screen they’ll appear on, giving you time to move into position to intercept them or arrange your Force Shards to get a good firing angle. It helps create a more methodical pace, and leads to more strategic play.

Adding to your arsenal are your beam weapons, which build up upon collecting energy from defeated enemies. Enemies go down fast, but some do take multiple hits, so you’ll need to collect energy frequently to maximize your damage output. This results in a loop of quickly building and spending energy, rewarding efficient play with a constant stream of damage. 

Beams won’t counter enemy fire, however, so you’ll have to use the alternate sword weapon to counteract them. This uses more energy, and only covers a small area around you, so too often it either outright misses bullets, or only counters the first few shots in a sequence, making it too unreliable as a defensive measure. Basically, there’s no reason to use the sword, especially when repositioning the Force Shards is more effective.

If your defenses aren’t perfect you’ll still have a chance. Your ship can take multiple hits (the number varies depending on difficulty), and you’ll respawn on the spot unless you run out of lives. Rigid Force Alpha overall is overall reasonable on difficulty, though a few problems create frustrating deaths where they should be. Part of it is those lacking defensive options, but a big part is presentational. There’s some good use of 3D, but sometimes it creates confusion about where exactly hitboxes are or what you can collide with. On top of that the particle effects can become overwhelming and obscure parts of the screen, especially when it comes to explosions. Explosions tend to cause performance stutters, regardless of what graphics settings I set the game at, and in places where everything otherwise ran very smooth.

The presentational problems extend to the story interstitials as well. Between sections you’ll get fed narrative tidbits by and AI companion. The voicework is decent, if not inspiring, though the disembodied head representing her isn’t great to look at, and the script runs on too long for the otherwise snappy pacing. Environment and enemy design can feel a bit routine as well, with the usual set of space, fire, ice and organic themes cropping up. None of them are outright ugly, but alongside the limited color palette it give RFA a homogeneous look.

If anything, homogeneity is the strongest critique I can throw at Rigid Force Alpha. Thematically, visually, and mechanically it’s hard to differentiate it from other shooters at a glance. Its straightforward interpretations of its inspirations exasperate that feeling. Which is particularly bad in a genre that already tends to be very thematically homogeneous.

Despite that, Rigid Force Alpha is genuinely a solid shooter that I enjoyed my time with. It feels like a game that I’ve already played several times, but it captures enough of what makes its inspirations fun to sustain itself. Outside of its story sequences it’s paced fast enough to make it easy to return for another go, but it’s slow enough that I could take my time and make tactical decisions to meet each situation. There’s a good energy to it, one that makes it easy to sit down with and enjoy the push and pull between your lone ship and the hostile world ahead of it.