Citadel Stormer 2 Review

Welcome to the 21st century. The government of the world has started to operate under the guidance of an artificial intelligence that was thought to never make mistakes. Within a few years, it turned the world into a utopia by solving all of humanity's problems, though this peace was short-lived as the AI went rogue. It figured that the humans weren't able to take care of themselves, so the AI decided that it was the only one capable of guiding them. It issues an ultimatum to mankind: accept its rule or perish. The world government decided to shut the AI system down permanently, but they were too late, and the AI took over all the computer networks, which were then inoperable by humans. The AI sent out its robot army to clear entire cities, totally wiping them out. Various nations created a resistance group to try to defend humanity and fight against the AI. When it seemed that all hope was lost, a lone warrior, who goes by the name Cobalt, took out a battalion of robots on his own. The resistance recruited him for a special mission that would save all of humanity. Considering the pressure on our hero, he looks surprisingly happy!

The network of supercomputers the AI operates from is known as The Citadel. Within it is a central core that powers all the machines; all you need to do is shut down its power supply. Now, getting there is the real challenge. The scientist needs the five security key cards he had back when he interacted with artificial intelligence in the beginning. Five guardian robots protect these cards and will need to be defeated to get them back. I’m getting some serious Mega Man vibes here, and I’m curious to see if Citadel Stormer 2 plays like a title from that series or if it will feel like something completely different.

One of the things that I found totally different from other action-platformers like this is that the guns that you pick up are real-life guns. Unlike in a Mega Man game, where you have weapons like Bubble Lead, Metal Blade, or Hyper Bomb, you are picking up submachine guns and assault rifles. Each of the firearms has its own stats for how much damage they deal and the kind of ammo that is used with them. The bullets can’t be interchanged, so you will need to use the shoulder buttons to swap between them when you don’t have enough bullets. In addition to these guns, you are carrying a Taser. When used as a weapon, you will need to get up close to the enemy, but it never runs out of power and can be used to destroy generators to take out force fields. When using it against enemies, it’s not as strong as a bullet, but it works well against the weaker foes you encounter and allows you to conserve ammo. If you find that you are running low on bullets, destroy the boxes that are placed around the stage, as many contain the ammo clips or key cards that you need to progress.

The controls in Citadel Stormer 2 are very similar to those you find in other 2D platformers; our hero can jump, shoot, and interact with various elements you find in the stage. As you progress and defeat some of the large bosses, you will not only get the key card you need but a new ability as well! One of the things I appreciate most in Citadel Stormer 2 is how high Cobalt can jump. This makes exploring the stages a lot easier than you would expect. In the beginning, I was scared that if I destroyed all the boxes sitting around the stage, I wouldn’t be able to reach the platforms above. Fortunately, due to his great vertical leap, jumping up and across platforms was no problem at all! Though the game doesn’t have the option to use the right thumbstick to look down, you may have to make some blind jumps and hope you aren’t jumping into a pit of spikes that will instantly kill you.

Each area you challenge is split up into stages, each with multiple sections. As you complete them, you will get a password that will bring you back if you get a game over. This really reminds me of classic NES titles where you were constantly scribbling down this special code so you wouldn’t lose any progress. If you don't keep a record of it, you will be a sad panda when you can’t continue from where you were. It’s not fun to have to go back and redo everything when you really shouldn’t have to! There is a continue option on the main menu, but this only works if you didn’t run out of lives before you left the game. The most lives that Cobalt can have at once is 10, so it’s pretty simple to go through your supply quickly, even if you destroy 200 enemies and earn an extra life!

Citadel Stormer 2 does have save points that mark the location where you will restart if you die. As you get further into the stage, there are big save points that, besides recording your progress, totally replenish your health. You usually find them near the middle of the stage. Chances are, if you have gotten this far in, you have taken at least a bit of damage, so being able to heal helps a lot!

Developer Unearthly Resilience Games has created an addictive and challenging 2D platformer with a retro-cartoon style and a soundtrack that is pounding and upbeat. Whoever did the music for the first stage sure loves their double bass drum pedal! It’s always fun when the gameplay is totally different from what you expect from the visual look of the game. With tons of enemies constantly shooting at you and hazards like pits of acid and spikes, there are a lot of ways to die in Citadel Stormer 2. When you get a game over, an emergency broadcast informs the humans of the defeat of their hero, thereby extinguishing mankind's hope for survival. Wow, I feel like a failure now! I guess I better try again.