Overview – developed by Vampixel Games and published by Eastasiasoft, Exo-Calibre is a bullet hell shooter where an AI has gone haywire and pose a risk to humanity. The Ex-Calibre Knights have been deployed , with their objective to take down the AI that is attacking civilians, restore order and save the world. This title has been released on all console platforms and Steam, with a link to each version of the game at the bottom of this review.
Disclaimer: before I get into the review, I would like to thank Eastasiasoft for providing the copy of Exo-Calibre 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, starting with the story. I will be covering the core gameplay experience, while keeping details brief on the extra content to prevent spoiling the fun for players.
Story – The Ex-Calibre Knights are elite pilots, who don state of the art exo-mech suits, allowing them to take to the skies and keep the peace. They are the defenders of the world, protecting the innocent with their powers. The Exo-Tech corporation developed advanced weapons and defences, with the goal to protect humanity. However, their AI drones have gone haywire, attacking the populous, now the Ex-Calibre Knights have been deployed to restore order.
Gameplay – Exo-Calibre is a 2D bullet hell shooter, offering an arcade style shooting experience, similar to that of 90s shooter like Twinbee. The game is split into 4 gameplay modes, with the first two available being Story and Arcade mode. These are available from the start of the game, offering two distinct gameplay experiences for players. Story mode has infinite lives, whereas the Arcade mode has limited lives and only one credit.
When starting a game, the player gets to select from one of six playable characters, with the three Ex-Calibre Knights available at the start, with the others locked. The selectable characters have their own distinct characteristics in battle, with different fire rates applied to each of them. The three playable girls at the start of the game have straight linear shots, burst shots and shotgun spread blasts. These give the action a unique feel with each character.
In the Story and Arcade modes, the players will make their way through 7 multi-checkpoint levels. In each of these missions, the player must battle through waves of enemies, shooting down the AI forces that appear on screen. During battle, the player has their main weapon, a Melee attack that will send bullets back to enemies and a boost to deflect enemy shots. The Melee and Boost make the player invulnerable, making them useful for survival.
It is important to be conservative with the Boost, as it is limited in how much energy it has. If the player uses too much of their Boost, they will run out of energy leaving them vulnerable. To refill the Boost energy, the player must shoot down enemies, with each one defeated restoring a portion of the bar. It is also important to be careful when using the Melee attack, as it has a brief cooldown between uses, leaving the player open to damage.
During the course of the game, special bolts will appear on screen dropped by enemies that have been defeated. Picking up these shining bolts will add scrap points, which are the currency that the player uses in the game for upgrades. Solid bolts offer a lower amount, but if the player can shoot the bolt enough they will explode, giving a higher amount of scrap value. It is important to collect as much of this scrap as possible.
At the end of a stage, the player will encounter a powerful boss. These imposing foes will attack the player with varied patterns, including large bullet spreads and laser blasts. These boss battles can be tough, with large bullet spreads and attacks that will fill the screen with hazards. To take down each of the bosses, the player must hit their weak points which will often glow. When a boss is taken down, they will provide a lot of scrap points as a reward.
Between stages, the player will enter the shop, where they can buy upgrade points for their abilities. These upgrades are split into Attack, Speed, Health and extra lives. When buying upgrades, the player can buy up to four upgrade levels for the first three abilities. The upgrades start off costing a relatively low amount, but as each purchase is made, the cost will increase. This system will make for tough decisions on what upgrades to purchase.
There is one minor issue with this game, the speed of the player characters can be pretty slow compared to other Bullet Hell shooters. This makes it really important to increase the character speed, so enemy shots and bullets can be dodged a little easier. Due to the lower speed, it is possible to get trapped by large bullet spreads. Due to this, it can feel a little unfair when trying to dodge enemy shots, especially during tougher boss battles.
During the course of story mode, the player can take several hits before they get shot down. If a life is lost the player will respawn at a checkpoint, but if the player has no lives they will lose scrap as a punishment. During Arcade mode, the player has less health in general, returning to the point of death immediately. If the player loses all lives, they will get a game over and be returned to the title screen, so buying lives to keep going can be important to succeed.
Away from the main two game modes, there is a Boss Rush and Time Attack, which are unlocked by meeting special requirements. Then there are the extra characters, which include a feline knight, which are unlocked in the same manner as the extra modes. These additional modes and extra characters add to the replayability, giving players more content to enjoy. Each of the characters have four marks to fill, further adding to the value on offer.
Now with the gameplay covered, it is time to cover the other aspects of this release, starting with the controls.
Controls – there is a pretty simple control scheme, allowing players to pretty easily jump into the game. When starting the game, a tutorial screen will show up letting the player try out their character, with the inputs on screen as reference. In general, the inputs work pretty well and are a good way to get players into the genre. The Dual Shock 4 controller is perfect for this game, but third party controllers may give a better experience.
Difficulty – in general, this is not that tough a game when it comes to the Story mode, as there is no definitive failure state. This allows players to keep playing, making it a good choice for all players, but the same cannot be said for Arcade mode. There are no additional continues, meaning the player has one shot to get to the end, increasing the challenge. The same can be applied to the other unlockable game modes too, making for a real tough challenge.
Presentation – there is a rather colourful art style to the game, reminiscent of classic arcade shooters like the Twinbee series. This is accomplished through good use of color, vibrant pixel art environments and bold sprite work. Throughout the game, players will also see story dialogue, with cute portraits of characters. All of these elements, alongside the excellent soundtrack come together wonderfully, creating an experience that feels like a classic arcade game.
Final Thoughts – I do enjoy Bullet Hell games, which I admit I am not the best at, but I still give em a good try. So when I got the chance to play this, I went into it and was not sure how to feel during the initial experience. There was some awkwardness with the action, due to how slow the characters moved, leading to a few unintended deaths during play. But as I got further into it and obtained upgrades, these difficulties were lessened.
In general, I had a really good time with this, unlocking the extra modes and characters. This is an approachable first step in the genre for new players, but can be frustrating during the first couple of attempts. This is due to how tricky some of the bosses can be, especially the ones that have multiple attacks. But overall offers a good introduction for newbies, while also presenting a challenge for veterans, so I can happily recommend picking it up.
In the end, I give Exo-Calibre a final score of 4/5. This is a well crafted 2D Bullet Hell shooter, with cutesy pixel art sprites, charming characters and lots of bullets on screen. It can be tough, but is balanced enough to allow first time players to get to the end. If you want to check this game out for yourself, a link to each version will be below.
Link to PlayStation version (HERE)
Link to Nintendo Switch version (HERE)
Link to Xbox version (HERE)
Link to Steam version (HERE)
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