Game Review: Operation Steel

By Al

Players: 1
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC

There are times when it feels as if every game coming out these days adds in at least some roguelike elements in an attempt to make them stand out a bit. Some go at it more heavy-handed than others, but it's an interesting trend in gaming that doesn't seem to be fading any time soon. Enter Operation Steel, a horizontal shooter or shmup that has a few of those aforementioned elements baked in. How does it incorporate them? Do they add anything significant to the game that makes it stand out? Is it a good game in general? We're going to answer all that and more in this review. Let's get into it.

If Operation Steel has a story, I must've missed it. You're a lone ship travelling through a branching series of planets, and there may or may not be some galactic map you're reassembling one piece at a time. All of the bosses are zodiac-related, so I guess there's also the chance that you're fighting the very stars themselves. While the lack of a story in a shooter isn't exactly cause for worry, I do think that the potential for something great is here. Without getting too ahead of myself, the variety of the levels, the fact that each of the worlds has its own name and personality, and even the bosses themselves, makes it feel like a story was being attempted at one point before being abandoned. Hopefully missed opportunities doesn't end up becoming a theme throughout this review, but we're going to turn to discussing gameplay next.

Operation Steel is a vertical shooter where you only have one life to give to each run. This isn't a one-shot and you're dead kind of deal though, you do have a life bar that is set by the current difficulty setting, and which can be upgraded over the course of the game. You have one main weapon, a screen-clearing bomb, and a slot for a secondary weapon that works via a cooldown mechanic. Each run in Operation Steel takes you through a series of stages that are given a letter on a spread out map. You can start from A or B, go to C, D, and E, then to F through I, and so on. Each of the stages is its own planet and has its own stage hazards, setting, and maybe even enemies. Though I think they do appear in a set stage on their first appearance, the bosses and sub-bosses can be scattered across any of the stages. Eventually everything becomes shuffled in the game, with even the enemy waves themselves being procedurally generated. Item drops, especially those much-needed secondary weapons, seem to be the rarest thing of all, and I'm pretty sure I only encountered them in a fifth of my playthroughs at best. This means that each playthrough is very unique, even if you're going to be playing the same 20 levels over and over again in each run.

Even though Operation Steel is a roguelike shooter, it never really goes too deep with the genre norms one would expect. With the exception of the randomness present in each of the runs, the only real roguelike elements come from defeating bosses and sub-bosses. Defeating them gives you three optional power-ups, and these can vary from weapon upgrades to bomb and life recovery. This isn't really told to the player, and I grabbed things at random at first thinking that all three of the floating upgrades were available to you. Perhaps an upgrade select screen that pauses the action would've make this part of the game more clear. That's pretty much it though when it comes to the roguelike elements. You do "unlock" more weapons and upgrades as you play the game, but these are not permanent or automatically applied. These unlocked upgrades simply get added to the rotation of upgrades that are available from bosses, or for purchase after the stages themselves.

I mentioned earlier that you do not pick up any power-ups in game, but there is something you pick up at a near constant rate: money. Money is always flying at you at every moment, and it's imperative that you pick up as much of it as you can. Money is used to purchase upgrades at the end of each stage, and these are pretty much what you'd expect, and what I've already mentioned. You can heal one live, or purchase one bomb. You can upgrade your gun, speed, or max shield. And most important of all, you can sometimes get a secondary weapon/item. While this means that you can technically get more powerful over the course of each run, I found that I would use just about every upgrade to simply stay alive. Considering a death means the end of the entire run, getting a more powerful weapon feels like an afterthought to simply healing or keeping the bomb supply up. I never once encountered a life or bomb drop during the course of the game, and this made each run feel near impossible. The lack of any true permanent upgrades mean that you're basically playing a random shooter as opposed to a true roguelike. This probably won't be seen as a negative for most players, but it was a bit disappointing for me as I've played several games that explored the genre mix a bit better than this one does.

I like to consider myself to be a shmup fan, but I have to admit that I'm not the most skilled player out there. I mention that not because I want to reveal my average-at-best playing skills to the world, but to point out my biggest problem with the game: its difficulty. I struggled to get even to the third level playing in the standard mode, and I was forced to play in novice mode if I wanted to see more than the first few levels. Even though novice brings the difficulty down significantly, I still found it to be just as unfriendly to casual players as the standard difficulty. There are still no healing items, bomb refills, or weapon upgrades to be seen, and the cost of the upgrades/refills in the shop don't seem to have changed at all. I can't stress enough how important picking up money is in the game, and adjusting the prices in the shop would've done more to balance the difficulty than reducing the number of bullets on the screen. I was unable to try out most of the additional weapon upgrades because all my money was spent just getting to the next stage. The problem is that the game's enemies do get progressively harder, so if you're not upgrading your offensive capabilities too, you'll simply hit a wall regardless. I know that there's the simple "git gud!" type thing that can go with that, but I wish Operation Steel was far more beginner friendly, especially since it claims to be exactly that in its eShop description.

Even though I had more than my share of problems with Operation Steel, there was still a lot about it that I liked. The bosses being zodiac signs intrigued me, I like the branching paths each run took, and there were some stages that I wanted to play over and over again. Like I said earlier, I am definitely a fan of the genre, and I don't dislike challenge when it's introduced in an even way. There's definitely fun to be had here, it just takes a bit of work to get to it.

Presentation-wise, Operation Steel has a lot going for it. The soundtrack is simply amazing, and each track perfectly complements the stage it’s in. I'd actually consider picking up the soundtrack if I'm able to track it down. I'm not at all familiar with the "Dolphin" that composed the soundtrack, but they did an amazing job. Visually things are a little more mixed, but lean mostly to the positive side. The game is colorful, the enemies are varied, and certain stages are downright breathtaking. I do think there's a bit of a failing when it comes to the boss designs though, as they can be very hit or miss. Some bosses are imposing but boring, like Cancer, truly impressive, like Libra, or look almost unfinished, like Taurus. This extends to the sub-bosses too, as you'll fight an awesome looking dragon in one stage, only to fight a hot air balloon that looks like it came from a stock image library the next. They apparently are all hand-drawn, but that can come with its own pros and cons. The random nature of the game means that each run will either blow you away, or leave you wanting more, and that's just an unfortunate side effect of the gameplay loop.

Coming in at just $9.99, Operation Steel offers a lot of gameplay for that price. There's a lot to see and unlock, and it's very replayable. That said, the fact that you only have one life, and the lack of any permanent upgrades, means that only the hardcore of shmup players will probably ever see the end of the game. I've slowly gotten better at it, but getting past the halfway point in anything but Novice Mode is beyond me. I imagine that other casual players will have similar issues to me, and that's upsetting to me as I really wanted to enjoy Operation Steel. I have to admit that there is still something about it that kept drawing me in even now, but I don't know if I'll be playing it much now that I'm done with this review. Part of me hopes that the game gets an update that fixes my issues with the game's overall balance, but I don't see that happening as it would fundamentally change how the game is played. Maybe I'll just have to hold out hope that an Operation Steel 2 delivers on a more casual-friendly experience.

While I don't think I can give Operation Steel a recommendation for the casual shmup player, it is definitely worth picking up for fans of the genre. Expert players will find challenge here, and even those with just a bit more skill than me will probably be tearing through the Novice Mode in no time. This is by no means a bad game, and there's a lot here that I loved. See you in the next one!

Check Out Operation Steel on Nintendo Switch:
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/operation-steel-switch/

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Story: N/A
Gameplay: B
Graphics: B+
Music/Sound: B
Value: B

Overall: B

Pros:
+ A fun horizontal shooter that incorporates roguelike elements in an interesting way.
+ There are several randomized elements that ensure that each run of the game is unique.
+ The many branching worlds all stand out and have their own unique settings, enemies, and more.
+ The soundtrack is amazing, one of the best I've heard in a while.
+ Graphics are as great, and the game runs perfectly on the Nintendo Switch.
+ You get a lot of content for the low price of just $9.99.

Cons:
- Even at the novice setting, the game can be fairly unforgiving.
- There are practically no random item drops in the game, with just about everything having to be picked up from bosses or the end-of-level shop.
- The roguelike elements aren't as deep as they could've been. The lack of permanent upgrades in particular is disappointing.
- While the enemy designs are great for the most part, there are a few that stand out due to how generic they look.
- Operation Steel isn't nearly as beginner/casual friendly as it claims to be.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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Oh, there's a high score mechanic for what it's worth!

#OperationSteel