Steel Storm: Burning Retribution

 PC
User Score
5.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 73 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 73
  2. Mixed: 20 out of 73
  3. Negative: 27 out of 73

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  1. Annihilism
    Oct 14, 2012
    8
    This game is not nearly as bad as some people make it out to be. Sure its not superb in any way or original but its still a decent. I got it on a steam sale for 3 euro inclusive the DLC. You can't really go wrong for that kind of money.

    If you like games like Raiden that have top down view and weapon upgrades then this is a pretty decent game. I give this game a 6.5 but my grade is    This game is not nearly as bad as some people make it out to be. Sure its not superb in any way or original but its still a decent. I got it on a steam sale for 3 euro inclusive the DLC. You can't really go wrong for that kind of money.

    If you like games like Raiden that have top down view and weapon upgrades then this is a pretty decent game.

    I give this game a 6.5 but my grade is an 8 because of some people giving it a 0 (really people, i can understand that you don't like this game.. but a 0?, thats just pure trolling).    … Expand
  2. Grez1
    Oct 13, 2012
    8
    I'm surprised by the number of negative reviews about this game. I actually found it to be quite fun, and the DLC add-on weapons are pretty cool as well. I've experienced none of the performance issues reported by some people, so I'd love to hear the specs on their so-called performance machines. Mine runs this game smooth as glass, as does my son's. We've played multiplayer with noI'm surprised by the number of negative reviews about this game. I actually found it to be quite fun, and the DLC add-on weapons are pretty cool as well. I've experienced none of the performance issues reported by some people, so I'd love to hear the specs on their so-called performance machines. Mine runs this game smooth as glass, as does my son's. We've played multiplayer with no lag issues. This game certainly isn't deep, but that's not what I'm looking for when I pick up a bargain-priced top-down shooter. The gameplay itself IS fun and the level design is generally quite interesting. Sure, there are ways that the publisher could improve this game (including the oft-mentioned plot and improved sound), and hopefully we'll see something like this in a sequel. In the meantime, if you're looking to kill some time blowing stuff up for five bucks, you could do a whole lot worse than Steel Storm.… Expand
  3. tane100
    Jun 9, 2011
    8
    Very enjoyable and well executed old-time evoker top-down shooter. Nice graphics, many destructible elements in the enviroenment, missions, ... recommended.
  4. HarryWebbinger
    Oct 14, 2012
    10
    Got the game today & played already 2-3 hours and I just like it. Nice graphics & sounds !, and even my 3Ghz HT Pentium with a 1Gig 3650 Ati Card has a good gameflow. Like some people say it has no cinematic story, but I prefer a good little shooter without a poor story than a poor shooter with an idiotic storytelling. The huge colorful maps are not poor at all. I´m luck y to get itGot the game today & played already 2-3 hours and I just like it. Nice graphics & sounds !, and even my 3Ghz HT Pentium with a 1Gig 3650 Ati Card has a good gameflow. Like some people say it has no cinematic story, but I prefer a good little shooter without a poor story than a poor shooter with an idiotic storytelling. The huge colorful maps are not poor at all. I´m luck y to get it for 3 bucks cause it´s worth at least 10. And bet I´m playing it more than 20 hours ! It´s seem to be some of the universal gems like Lava Mortus or RIP I hope... & It´s a game where you soon find out it´s made by fans for fans and not for earning cheap money… Expand
  5. xX_Renegade_Xx
    May 26, 2011
    10
    I bought this game on release and it is fantastic value for money.

    The gameplay is nice and smooth and it reminds me a lot of the old-school shoot-em-ups, plenty of levels to play and a good variety of aliens you'll meet on each map, some of those aliens are very sneaky and will duck behind cover to avoid your fire. Nice weapons to use and good level design too. Highly recommended    I bought this game on release and it is fantastic value for money.

    The gameplay is nice and smooth and it reminds me a lot of the old-school shoot-em-ups, plenty of levels to play and a good variety of aliens you'll meet on each map, some of those aliens are very sneaky and will duck behind cover to avoid your fire.

    Nice weapons to use and good level design too.

    Highly recommended and a very enjoyable game!    … Expand
  6. snaken
    Jul 14, 2011
    10
    I am so impressed with this game I created an account on here to post this short message. I'd like to commend the authors for an awesome piece of work they did. This easily is one of the best games I've ever played, and let me tell you, I've played some games. Nice missions, superb environment (good ideas, like elevators), gameplay smooth as it can me, flawless graphics, good AI, greatI am so impressed with this game I created an account on here to post this short message. I'd like to commend the authors for an awesome piece of work they did. This easily is one of the best games I've ever played, and let me tell you, I've played some games. Nice missions, superb environment (good ideas, like elevators), gameplay smooth as it can me, flawless graphics, good AI, great personalization capabilities. If you like horizontal/vertical shooters (think old-style arcades) you're going to love this game because apart from the pure motoric skill component you get mission goals. I can't overstate how much it hit the spot for me.… Expand
  7. Necrodoom
    May 16, 2012
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I got this game during the humble indie bundle 3, so i had quite a lot of time trying out the game. the game. in overall, done nicely, though theres a fair share of problems, but not enough to ruin the game. gameplay - 8, smooth and nice, though once you get to the later levels it turns bland. while most of the weapons are balanced, once you get either the laser beam or the homing missiles, you destroy the enemies easily. the AI is not helping either, since the AI is most of the time forward into you, making circling, hide poking and homing missles techniques very easy to execute. editor- 7, better than most 2.5D games due to level editor being user friendly, sadly the map editor is completely different and lacking many stuff, including multi selection and instructions. added with AI and pathing bugs, brings this score down to 7. sound- 8, the sound is good, but quite repetitive. story- N/A, these kind of games dont really care about story multiplayer- 7, COOP works well, but DM and TDM consist of controlling laser beam or homing missles. gimmick- 5, the weapon way of collecting is nice, but ends way too fast and doesnt provide enough excitement. player support- 9, the developers are always there to respond to questions and thoughts mod support- N/A, not enough testing was done.… Expand
  8. ImperialDragoon
    Jun 22, 2011
    8
    Steel Storm: Burning Retribution is a developed and published by Kot in Action Creative Artel and is a constantly being updated with new bits and pieces. The original Steel Storm was developed and released as shareware which is the first campaign in the game; the second campaign is much longer and much more difficult by comparison from the very offset.
    The graphic style of the game is a    Steel Storm: Burning Retribution is a developed and published by Kot in Action Creative Artel and is a constantly being updated with new bits and pieces. The original Steel Storm was developed and released as shareware which is the first campaign in the game; the second campaign is much longer and much more difficult by comparison from the very offset.
    The graphic style of the game is a sort of cel-shaded art that is quite bold and it really complements the gameplay by making everything quite clear to see. The bullets are nice and easy to focus on so that you can dodge appropriately and all the power-ups etc are easy to differentiate under pressure due to their distinct design and colours.
    The game is a top down shooter like the classics from the first few generations of consoles that now reside as small downloadable games. Steel Storm brings ammo-less weapons that will fire until you stop shooting or die and secondary weapons have a cooldown only when they get drained by certain enemies. The special weapons are cooldown based and you can hold up to two at a time and can be switched with each other by pressing shift. There is also a shockwave weapon which produces a shockwave to repel enemies from you. Enemies will rush at you, strafe, and shoot what they have at you as soon as they spot you. At the beginning you will only fight light tanks and a few turrets; these then turn to a mix of light and heavy tanks with turrets of different types including a repair turret that will raise any dead enemies within range until you destroy it. Then there are the mini-boss-like tanks that are ten times larger than you and pack a huge amount of firepower; so dodging, positioning and special weapons will see you through them as you watch their health slowly disappear. Then there is boss enemies, enemies that need a distinct plan of attack to survive against; they are the test of skill that you will be waiting for but at the same time dreading to face. Power-ups like repair and shield boosts are littered across the levels with the score-giving crystals that extend the time bonus points for the competitive element. Force fields keep areas and exits sealed off; defeating enemies, stepping on switches or using data-keys will open them up.
    The game takes a lot of replayability from its leaderboards and the way you have to progress in levels as the hurdles for getting those top times. With three lives in the bottom right corner showing how many times you can still die before you fail the mission and the fact that death means losing all weapons that have been gained in the level thus far. This brings in careful management of what to pick-up when and what to leave until later as the risk-reward element of the game comes into play.
    The first campaign is a shareware brought into the new game to be with its sequel campaign. This first campaign is quite short in comparison to its sequel but serves as a tutorial on the most-part as it eases you into the game at a nice even pace. The weapons are introduced slowly as are the enemies but the scale of the mission increases bit by bit and as such the time spent in a level skyrockets towards the end.
    The second campaign is much lengthier and just generally more difficult making tactical decisions on when to pick up a more powerful weapon which relies heavily on the risk reward options. Time is defiantly needed to make sure that you keep some firepower from the first few levels or else you will find later levels beyond difficult. More new enemies and weapons are introduced and the game gets more involving with each and every minute played gets invested into trying to get that little bit further.
    The multiplayer gives you up to 16 players Deathmatch and Capture the Flag game modes for all of those who want to take the battle online to test their mettle against fellow players. Co-op mode is also included and is welcome by many to give another reason to play the campaigns through again. The editor lets you not only create new missions but new campaigns as well but all the missions use ready-made maps as at this point in time. Even without map creation the editor does provide a deep toolset for adding enemies, setting objectives, adding obstacles and much more.

    For the Full Review and Scores please visit www.invisioncommunity.co.uk

    © Copyright - Invision Game Community - 2011 - All Rights Reserved    … Expand
  9. motorsep
    May 16, 2012
    9
    Steel Storm brings new flavor to the top-down arcade shooter genre by adding freedom of roaming around and exploring the world, FPS control scheme (XB360 gamepad is also supported with fully re-mappable buttons), variety of the online gameplay and unconventional Artificial Intelligence. Steel Storm provides entertaining experience in short bursts over a long period of time for gamers whoSteel Storm brings new flavor to the top-down arcade shooter genre by adding freedom of roaming around and exploring the world, FPS control scheme (XB360 gamepad is also supported with fully re-mappable buttons), variety of the online gameplay and unconventional Artificial Intelligence. Steel Storm provides entertaining experience in short bursts over a long period of time for gamers who like old school genres. The game comes with collaborative mission Editor, which allows you to modify existing missions or create your own.
    If you are into run and gun kind of games, co-op, old-school carnage - you will certainly enjoy Steel Storm.

    NOTE: All these users who down-rated the game (red circles) here on MetaCritic are 1. Violating the terms of service because they don't write reviews (writing outside of the scope of the product), 2. Coming here with personal vendetta for the purpose of down-voting the game because they were (or their friends, or both) banned on the forums of the game.

    Download the demo and judge the game for yourself. This is the only way you can figure out if the game worth your time.    … Expand
  10. m0z4m
    Dec 5, 2011
    10
    A fun 3rd person shooter hovercraft game that is fun to play with a few friends. You hover around shooting eachother and collecting weapon upgrades laying around.
  11. GejPlay
    Jul 13, 2011
    8
    Game is very addictive, when u play it you just flow away and forgot about your gray world. Game has nice comic style graphic and remind me old school games like Star Defender from 1996. This production have about ten different enemies and power ups, also destructive elements are nice add-on. I can only complain about multi player - not many players play on it. The community who want playGame is very addictive, when u play it you just flow away and forgot about your gray world. Game has nice comic style graphic and remind me old school games like Star Defender from 1996. This production have about ten different enemies and power ups, also destructive elements are nice add-on. I can only complain about multi player - not many players play on it. The community who want play together is just small :( A lot of more information u can find in our review (In polish language) on YT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f4I2hgRCME / 8.0… Expand
  12. Irus1024
    Jan 28, 2012
    8
    Steel Storm is a really fun game. Game play is simple, yet challenging. Playing this makes me feel like I'm a kid again playing video games back in the mid 90s, and that is something that you very rarely get these days. The level editor is a nice feature its good for making some extra multilayer maps. It ran pretty good on my system.
  13. Neophy
    Aug 11, 2011
    10
    Great ol' school shooter, well balanced, nice graphics, and even better entry price. i haven't finished the game yet, but what i have seen so far has bought me, i highly recomend this game. i got the game as an extra game from the indie humble bundle pack 3, and it was a great surprise even more when i get to play the game and discover that it was such a great games, Just buy game eitherGreat ol' school shooter, well balanced, nice graphics, and even better entry price. i haven't finished the game yet, but what i have seen so far has bought me, i highly recomend this game. i got the game as an extra game from the indie humble bundle pack 3, and it was a great surprise even more when i get to play the game and discover that it was such a great games, Just buy game either for fun,wuality or just to support the developers because they desrve so.… Expand
  14. Ears14U
    Jan 26, 2012
    8
    This is a superb top-down shooter, that I found after playing 10 mintues that you just seem so engrossed in. This game draws you in, and makes you want to play just one more time. I really want to see what it has in store for the later levels. Great job Kot in Action Creative Artel !! If you choose to aquire this from "Steam", make sure you spend the extra .49 cents to get the extra weaponThis is a superb top-down shooter, that I found after playing 10 mintues that you just seem so engrossed in. This game draws you in, and makes you want to play just one more time. I really want to see what it has in store for the later levels. Great job Kot in Action Creative Artel !! If you choose to aquire this from "Steam", make sure you spend the extra .49 cents to get the extra weapon pack. Very good "time" killing title.… Expand
  15. Doubleas2380
    Aug 4, 2011
    8
    This game is a fast paced and action packed shooter that is sure to hook you in. With the weapon upgrades and other neat utilities, this reminds me of a top down version of Gradius (which isn't a bad thing).
  16. Protektor
    Jul 10, 2011
    10
    This is a great game and a lot of fun. Before you know it your leaning around, like that would help. I bought the Linux version and runs extremely well. It takes good advantage of the XBox 360 controller under Linux. Give it a shot. It's a great price for a great game. Support indie games.
  17. procyon4
    Jun 30, 2013
    9
    I simply good fun top down shooter. Nothing extraordinary but nothing to cry about either. If you're looking for a good story, go for a RPG instead. It's rather though but feasible without cheating and, in my book, that's a big plus. OK, it will likely take you more than one try to complete a mission but you'll eventually figure out how to beat each level. That's one of the reasons I gaveI simply good fun top down shooter. Nothing extraordinary but nothing to cry about either. If you're looking for a good story, go for a RPG instead. It's rather though but feasible without cheating and, in my book, that's a big plus. OK, it will likely take you more than one try to complete a mission but you'll eventually figure out how to beat each level. That's one of the reasons I gave it a 9 instead of a 10: It always plays the same way so it's quite predictable. Music and graphics are very acceptable, not outstanding for sure, but for the price of the game... come on! If it's the only game you got to play then, OK, you can complain. On the other hand if, like me, it's something you play when you're tired of playing your RPG's, FPS's and SIM's then it's a good little fun challenge.… Expand
  18. sswam
    May 20, 2014
    10
    I got Steel Storm a while back in HiB3, didn't play it much at the time, but thought I'll give it a play now.
    - I like it so far. It's a good fun and challenging game.
    - I really appreciate the dev's support for Linux. - The AI seems quite good, and the combat is fun and challenging. - I think it's was okay to ask players to give the game a good review or rating, and I so I'm doing    I got Steel Storm a while back in HiB3, didn't play it much at the time, but thought I'll give it a play now.
    - I like it so far. It's a good fun and challenging game.
    - I really appreciate the dev's support for Linux.
    - The AI seems quite good, and the combat is fun and challenging.
    - I think it's was okay to ask players to give the game a good review or rating, and I so I'm doing that.
    - had a minor issue with framerate dropping to 6fps on one occassion. I think there's an issue with the AI getting bogged down in a certain situation near a ramp. No big deal - I killed the tanks with the rogue AI and the game sped up again.
    - I would tend to give this game 7 or 8 out of ten. Various trolls and ne'er-do-wells and outraged third-parties who never played the game have in my opinion unfairly given a score of 0, so I will give a 10.
    - A sarcastic "boo-hoo" for the people who got dizzy, didn't realise if you move the mouse quickly it doesn't make you dizzy? You'd have trouble playing portal or half-life, those games can really make you dizzy.    … Expand
  19. necromaster
    Jul 19, 2013
    10
    Steel Storm: Burning Retribution deserves much more attention from gamers than it currently does, so I'm chalking up a 10 for it. If I were reviewing this game impartially elsewhere, I would likely park it at 7.5 for it's fast frenetic action. Don't believe me, check out their review score over at Desura. I think the negativity this game has got here at Metacritic stems from some bad PRSteel Storm: Burning Retribution deserves much more attention from gamers than it currently does, so I'm chalking up a 10 for it. If I were reviewing this game impartially elsewhere, I would likely park it at 7.5 for it's fast frenetic action. Don't believe me, check out their review score over at Desura. I think the negativity this game has got here at Metacritic stems from some bad PR moves in the past, but this should not overshadow the fact that at its core Steel Storm: Burning Retribution is a truly fun and exciting shooter game.

    The game uses DarkPlaces, essentially an overhaul of the Quake engine featuring much improved graphics and image quality (and even Nexuiz is using it). Steel Storm: Burning Retribution will have you fighting off waves of enemy tanks throughout its campaign story while trying to meet various objectives (and sometimes through up-sized levels). There are 19 levels in the main campaign which admittedly could have done more in the story and enemy variety department, but being an indie game I fully understand the lack of AAA style videos to advance the storyline as well as more enemy models to add that dash of spice.

    My version of the game also comes with an 8 level user generated campaign (great stuff) and an additional 6 more maps for skirmish play. Multiplayer is a doozy with their Deathmatch, CTF, and their latest add-on: a free MOBA style game currently in its alpha development stage known as AMMO Armored Modernized Mobile Operations.

    So, if you like a "free-range" style shooter that has you exploring huge maps, then this game is for you!    … Expand

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
55

Mixed or average reviews - based on 4 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 4
  3. Negative: 1 out of 4
  1. PC Gamer
    Aug 11, 2011
    65
    Simple, explosion-packed action is what SS:BR looks like, and that's exactly what it'll deliver. Nothing more, nothing less. [Oct 2011, p.78]
  2. Everyeye.it
    Jun 14, 2011
    75
    Steel Storm is a nice scrolling shooter, with a few innovative features (as the first person view you can activate at will). Too bad it delivers a quite short experience.
    Read full review
  3. MEGamers
    Jun 13, 2011
    60
    Its good fun, but only for limited time and then it gets pale.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »