Review: Rigid Force Redux by HeadupGames and com8com1

Rigid Force Redux is a vastly improved version of the earlier Rigid Force Alpha. This fast-paced videogame combines the acclaimed original gameplay and promises numerous improvements such as ultra-smooth 60 FPS, vastly improved difficulty balancing and overhauled visuals, effects, and user interfaces. After playing Rigid Force Redux for a while on Nintendo Switch, I found myself really enjoying this space game.

Addictive Rigid Force Redux gameplay

Rigid Force Redux was earlier released as Rigid Force Alpha. This side-scrolling shoot’em got cleaned up. In this completely rebuild version, yet again you have to fly in a space ship and shoot a huge load of enemies to survive. You have a lot of control over your ship. With a simple push of a button, you can change the position of your weapons, allowing you to shoot both in front and behind you. This is necessary because regularly enemies will attack you from all the corners of this hard but enjoyable game.

Every now and then the game will give you a push in the right direction to arm yourself against enemies. During your gameplay, you will often pick up different basic attack upgrades and new weapons. They are fun to use, still, the game could use more to make the gameplay a bit more varied. An interesting mechanic is that after defeating an enemy, you can pick up a lot of green orbs. By absorbing enough orbs you can unleash a powerful attack that lets you kill almost all enemies on your screen. You also need this, because the further you get into the game, the more enemies try to make your life miserable.

Hard stages and stuffy situations

In Rigid Force Reduced you go through several extremely hard stages that bring one challenge after another. Regularly you will find yourself in stuffy situations, where you have doubts about whether you will come out unscathed. You probably won’t. You prefer not to be damaged because you only have a certain number of ships (lives) to deploy. When you are out of ships, your game is over. You have to end the game or chose a continue. If you actually die too often and run out of continues, you start all over again from the start. This feels like a throwback to the classic videogames from years ago.

Luckily the Rigid Force Redux stages are not that long, so you will not lose that much progress. Each stage takes around 10 minutes to finish. The game has 6 stages. These stages can be a pain in the ass sometimes. Sometimes Rigid Force Reduxe is frustratingly difficult. This may of course be due to my own game skills, but after only completing two stages, I already got the feeling that I was going to get stuffy in the rest of the stages. I was right. An overwhelming amount of enemies completely wiped me out, so I had to restart regularly. Still, the game was worth all those trials and errors.

Some flaws

Sometimes the game feels a bit monotonous. Those are the moments when you wonder if you want to practice even further. Still, the game somehow manages to get you back in its grip. Just in the ways that your gaming experience is crumbling, you’re faced with a boss fight. You must do everything possible to shoot an enemy and giant ship from the sky as quickly as possible. It feels like a relief when this succeeds. This game has asked a lot of my patience. Still, I was driven to progress further.

At no point did I feel that it felt unfair. Even though I was already failing in stage 3 and still had a long way to go before finishing this game. I must say that I noticed that by practicing you get better in the game anyway. In any case, I had a good time during my practice sessions. If you are good at this game, I think you can finish the whole game within an hour. Still, if you finished the main game, you can easily return to this visually very pleasing looking title. You can even challenge yourself at an even higher level of difficulty! I’m not going to succeed, but maybe you have more skills than I do?

Try Rigid Force Redux yourself

Rigid Force Redux is available on the Nintendo eShop and the Microsoft Store since last week. I would definitely recommend the game if you like this rare genre of games, and are not afraid of a huge challenge. Rigid Force Redux is available for Nintendo Switch and Xbox One for €19.99 / $19.99 /£16.99 each. A bit more expensive than the average indie game, but definitely worth the challenge!

For this review, I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect my opinion.