Overview – developed by Mission Critical Studios and published by Eastasiasoft, Battle Stations Blockade is a naval themed rail shooter presented in 3D voxel style. Armed with twin turrets on your battleship, blast the enemies that are sailing in these treacherous waters, taking them down to complete your mission. This title is available for all platforms, with a link to each version of the game linked at the bottom of this review.
Disclaimer: before I get into the review, I would like to thank Eastasiasoft for providing the copy of Battle Stations Blockade that was used for this piece. The provision of this software has not influenced the contents of this review, all thoughts and opinions contained within are my own.
Now with the introductions out of the way, let’s get into the review. There is no real story to this title, so I will be going straight into discussing the gameplay for Battle Stations Blockade. Please note, images that have been provided by the publisher may not match the final version of some releases.
Gameplay – this title is an on rails shooter, where players control a military gunboat on a mission to take down the enemy weapon systems. This arcade shooter takes place over multiple levels, where the goal is to complete objectives by destroying the enemy forces, sinking boats, clearing mines and shooting down aircraft. Earn points, build combos and climb the military ranks as you use a range of weapons to decimate the opposing forces.
The campaign for this game is made up of several stages, each taking place through several areas, with missions for the player to complete. The missions that players will be given require specific targets to be eliminated, including paratroopers, jet ski soldiers and more. Completing missions gives bonus points that will further bolster the score that is earned for a level, with the highest score being added to the local leaderboard.
The player ship has 9 total weapons to select from, ranging from a standard 50cal machine gun, to missiles, torpedoes and even a devastating nuke. Each of these powerful armaments have different load times, meaning that the player will need to decide which weapon to use and when. A bar on screen shows when the weapon will be ready to fire, with the stronger weapons taking longer to be reloaded and ready to use.
On the two weapon turrets, there is a meter which represents that weapons overall health. If the bars are depleted, the player will get a game over, with the option to restart or go to the main menu. When choosing to return to the title screen, the player can choose to continue from the stage they left off or select from the cleared stages. This allows players to retry previous stages, improving their scores and adding to the replay value.
This title can be played alone or with a friend. In the solo mode, the player will control both of the turrets with a single crosshair. But in the multiplayer modes, two players can control a turret each allowing for co-operative and competitive action. All stages that have been cleared in the main campaign can be played in multiplayer, further expanding the replay value that this title offers.
Now with the gameplay covered, it is time to cover the other aspects of this release, starting with the controls.
Controls – as this title is an on-rails shooter, the movement of the player is automatic with the only thing to control being the turret crosshair. The sensitivity of the crosshair is fairly smooth by default, but if players want to adjust it to be faster or slower, there are settings for this. The only issue with the inputs is the way that the weapon wheel works, as it can be a little unwieldy, but there is a quick switch with the D-Pad that is more reliable.
Difficulty – this title has multiple difficulty options, with the lower levels being a breeze for players with the increased health of the turrets, but the higher settings being much more challenging. To make the challenge tougher, the higher difficulty settings introduce overheat, slowing down the fire rate of the weapons alongside lower health for the turrets. The overall challenge of the game is balanced, offering a fun experience that doesn’t feel punishing.
Presentation – the visual aesthetic for this release has a retro style to it, with a blocky pixel art style made up of voxel sprites. There is a good frame rate and the performance is solid, with little in terms of lag or slowdown. Everything looks good and most of the on screen effects are fully visible at all times, but the crosshair can be a little harder to see on higher difficulties. The sound is rather simple, with no background music relying only on sound effects to bring the action to life.
Final Thoughts – I am a fan of the rail shooter genre, enjoying titles like Panzer Dragoon and various light gun titles. This scratched that itch quite well, as the action and gameplay was familiar but fresh. I had a lot of fun with the chaotic on screen action, blasting all of the enemies that appear on screen with the different weapons. The only issue I had was the vibration intensity and no way to change it, which made it a little awkward to play the game in handheld mode.
I am happy to recommend this game to everyone, especial for the low price that it is asking for. The action is a lot of fun, along with the replay value of the score setting, the multiplayer modes and the different difficulty options. This package is perfect to be played alone or with a friend, offering an experience that everyone can jump into with little or no experience and have a good time.
In the end, I give Battle Stations Blockade a final score of 4/5. This is a fun and fairly chaotic rail shooter that is fun to play alone or with a friend, offering a lot of replay value and an arcade style of game that uses a distinct voxel graphical style. If you want to check this title out for yourself, a link to each version of the game will be below.
Link to Nintendo Switch version (HERE)
Link to PlayStation version (HERE)
Link to Xbox version (HERE)
Link to Steam version (HERE)
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