Recensione Blazing Chrome (PC)

In modern society, summer is usually associated with a period known as holidays. During the holidays the human beings that we commonly find ourselves around (assuming that you are reading this article from one of the first world countries) take and go to places that stimulate their imagination and their desire to relax, leaving us in front of what we will ironically call the phenomenon of the empty friend list. Blazing Chrome it is one of those games that gives its best in the case of deserted lists of friends, with a very trusted friend not particularly accustomed to the world of modern video games and a good dose of food and liquids to be able to recharge your energy game over after game over.

The title, recently released on Steam and the other various platforms of the case, was created by the Brazilian team JoyMasher after having consumed who knows how many times the contra brand and the world of run n 'guns before the arrival of Metal Slug.

Blazing Chrome is a title that takes half a dozen hours it will take you back to the smoky and adored arcades, intent on learning the first ways to perjure the contents of the game over calendar cells after game over.

A project that was born with the idea of ​​targeting a certain type of player but who, thanks to its very simple and fun gameplay, will be able to approach a higher pool of possible buyers, perhaps convinced by some review that describes it. the great positive qualities.

Let's see together what it is.

Blazing Chrome is all about bullets and enemies.

Let's start with the basics right away: Blazing Chrome is a two-dimensional horizontal scrolling shooter that heavily refers to the universe and the world of run n'gun, a purely arcade videogame genre that has made a lot of talk about itself and has amassed millions of dollars in coins during the eighties. The title strongly takes up the standardized formula of the various Contra and Green Berrets and updates it, bringing a minimum of customization, a reactive / effective control system and a technical sector of the highest order.

The narrative, as is usually found in titles of this genre, is sketched out what it takes to allow the software houses to give it up with the aliens of series B and with the explosions in pixel art. In the world of Blazing Chrome the year 21XX AD runs and the earth is in absolute ruin, with crumbling skyscrapers and half-destroyed cities; a great war between humans and robots (called Chrome) has indelibly left a scar on humanity, defeated by the conflict and now forced to survive in small groups around the world. In this scenario Mavra and Doyle, the two protagonists of the story, will find themselves having to face hordes of hardened opponents in order to complete a mission of capital importance.

The mission our dynamic duo is in charge of is that of destroying the energetic core that animates the Chrome, the opponents of the case, putting (in case of success) in fact an end to the otherwise prevailing hostilities. A narrative fabric functional to the introduction of the gameplay, which does not add anything new to the genre (the setting is not particularly original) helps the characterization of characters who only serve to take up the various weapons of the case.

The main menu recalls that of the productions of the time and is introduced by a movie made with a splendid pixel-art that will raise the most absolute nostalgia to the most elderly readers; few but sensible options are available such as the ability to activate simulated scanlines by activating the CTR A or CRT B options. We also report (with great joy) the possibility of activating the 5XBR filter, a filter that gives its best when it brings the image to screens with 4K resolutions, decently cleaning the image.

The sound sector is also of great value, with pieces eralized with timbres similar to those of 16-bit consoles following typical rock / metal structures, with solos of synthesized guitars and real shredded guitars.

Boom, bang and game over in profusion.

Starting a game of Blazing Chrome means choosing your character, choosing the scenario where to start the slaughter and starting to advance towards the final level, the last of six stages; we there we dispassionately recommend taking part in this venture together with a dear friend of yours, endowed with infinite patience and a certain irony to fully enjoy the playful experience.

Anyone who has lived through the years of arcades knows how the true potential of certain titles only comes out when they are played in the company of someone.

Il gameplay is almost basic: advance in the suggested direction at high speed, knocking down anything that moves. The title, given its hardcore nature, is not highly recommended for those who do not have a good blood with reflexes even at the lowest difficulty it will make the proverbial seven shirts sweat due to a huge amount of enemies on the screen, due to bosses with complex attack patterns and due to some general confusion, especially if you play in cooperative mode.

Our characters will have from ours an arsenal that is not very varied but equipped with many small surprises: all the weapons that can be traced within the game settings will be equipped, similarly to what happened in Contra, with infinite ammunition and the most important upgrades are linked to the three types of bots. These bots, when acquired, will be able to double the firepower of our protagonist, give him a double jump and speed him up or give him a shield capable of absorbing three hits; all solutions that are quite important in the alchemy of the game, allowing those behind the joypad to follow a more or less frenzied pace depending on their intentions.

Basically Blazing Chrome is a video game that can be completed in less than an hour if played at the limit of perfection and human capacity; realistically speaking, to complete the first run of Blazing Chrome, an average skilled gamer will need at least three hours to be able to take down the Chrome threat. The developers have been clever in not being greedy in positioning the checkpoints, which turn out to be placed with skill and wisdom giving the player a continuous stimulus to try once again to take down that hateful boss there.

The game levels have a basic but effective structure, with horizontal and vertical developments not too dissimilar from what Konami did with the first Contra thirty years ago. Blazing Chrome, fortunately for us, but much less the bastard and gives the player more breathing space, despite the high number of enemies on the screen and the large amount of threats encountered during our adventure.

Of absolute value are the bossfights, all beautifully characterized and much closer to the epic ones of a Metal Slug than to the nervous delusions of a Contra; the battles with these enemies are wide-ranging, with recognizable patterns, telegraphed attacks the right and a pinch of surprise, always ready to give us a game over at the wrong and most exciting moment; absolute praise for the final bossfight, a real eighties delirium that at a certain point takes the player's head and sends it very far with some quite crazy choices of transformation of the scenario. To try to improve the longevity of the title, not particularly exciting (like that of the genre, essentially), the JoyMasher guys have well thought of inserting an added difficulty, intended for all true highlanders of arcades and a couple of characters without ranged weapons, intended only for players closest to achieving playful nirvana.

Blazing Chrome is a side-scrolling shooter that takes Contra's lesson and brings it back to 2019 as bright as we remembered it, sweetening where the pill is needed and giving those interesting variables that will delight the most demanding gamers. Despite a hardly forgiving difficulty, the title is fun alone and very fun in company, like practically the genre itself. A perfect summer title to disconnect between a triple A and the other, especially if you have someone physical to play with and memorize it.