In 1990, ActRaiser was released on the SNES console , an unusual and rather ambitious game that combined a platformer and a simulator of the construction of a settlement. Its sequel, from which elements of strategy were cut, as expected, turned out to be useless, and since then the series has died. And almost no one dared to mix these genres again – only SolSeraph from SEGA comes to mind , but it is better to forget it as a bad dream. And then it appearsSmelter is the spiritual successor of ActRaiser , which her old fans will love and will be interesting to the new audience.
Speedone
Empire under attack
In Smelter, even the plot was not without religious elements – in ActRaiser we played as a god, and here we control Eve. At the beginning of the game, Adam tasted the forbidden fruit, the world around the couple began to disappear, and Eve, after a long fall, collapsed into some kind of cave. After the introductory video, however, they forget about what is happening in the outset, and there are no biblical references. We meet a creature named Smelter, who takes the form of a mask on our face, and we learn that he has an entire empire. True, during his absence, the territory was destroyed by some villains.
We have to help Smelter not only to return the land to its former greatness, but also to strengthen its defenses. Zyrm will help in this – a race, each representative of which knows how to fight. To begin with, we build houses, new zyrms come out of them, and after that we place either barracks or outposts, where we transfer the soldiers. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that every zyrm needs food – apple altars are created, where, after purchasing them, one worker must be sent.
The zyrm are ready to fight and are waiting to be sent to defend something.
That’s all, there are no more buildings. It seems that this is not enough, but in reality it is quite enough: later you unlock new variations of each building – large houses release more zyrms, the squad in the barracks learns to slow down enemies with attacks, and so on. And the tasks for the performance of which all these defensive structures will be useful were tried to be varied. In one episode, you need to protect three altars on the map, fighting off monsters that appear from all sides, in the other, you need to grab energy balls and bring them to the obelisks for a minute.
The smelter must be constantly in motion. He can shoot at opponents (if suddenly the rest of the soldiers are busy), and repair buildings (the process is started with one click on the building), and capture territories – there may be garrisons with bonus zyrm or additional sources of apples. In addition, there are large stones on the map indicating their levels – the further you go through the game, the more powerful your shots become, and these stones can be destroyed over time. In their places, they allow the construction of new buildings, and in some cases, access to bonuses opens, including the perks of Eve.
A wrench appears over buildings in need of repair.
Here and there
The point is that in Smelter there is a connection between platform episodes and the defense of the territory. The entire map is divided into three regions, belonging to three different elements, and in each region, Eve receives new sets of abilities. They affect her melee and ranged attacks, her jumps, her obstacle handling skills, and much more. At first, you cannot switch between the elements, but after receiving the first runes in episodes with a side view, they allow you to change the selected skills on the fly. With one element, the heroine can jump high, and later even make a double jump. On the other hand, she soars after a jump, overcoming long distances. Some element grants a dash in flight, the other allows you to teleport through the gratings.
When Smelter turns into a platformer, the player has only one task – to get to the other end of the map, solving simple puzzles along the way and defeating a bunch of opponents. There are no complaints about her at these moments – the heroine is controlled perfectly, the enemies are diverse and often require a special approach. Someone throws objects at a certain interval, someone hits the ground several times and gets stuck, becoming vulnerable for a couple of seconds. Levels differ in the mechanics they use and regularly place the player in new situations. Bosses are also interesting – they don’t “spam” with the same attacks, but force you to constantly change tactics.
Energy is accumulated by blows to activate a technique that deals heavy damage to several enemies at once.
In addition, there are always secret areas in the levels. In them you find the resources you need to improve the “heart” of the empire (the central tower) and open up new opportunities, as well as stumble upon challenges – it is for passing them that you can get new skills. You can’t always get to them without first unlocking other elements and related abilities, so get ready to return to the old levels if you want to get the most out of the game.
These “challenges” are always different: either you need to run to the door without being noticed, then you have to race with the changing water level, or you need to defeat everyone in a small room. Some are passed the first time, some require several attempts, but if you are familiar with the genre, you won’t have to get stuck for a long time. These are fun entertainments that fit perfectly into the gameplay and add extra variety to it.
Some tests take several tries.
Ups and downs
Even without this, it is difficult to reproach Smelter for monotony. Of course, not everyone will like the symbiosis of different genres – it’s impossible to skip building or platforming. Yes, and there are drawn-out episodes, especially when you do not have enough warriors and you need to visit every area on the map, destroy stones there and erect buildings. Or when we control Smelter and clear the rooms of opponents, shooting slowly and inflicting low damage, there are several such episodes, and they do not become more fun. This does not spoil the impression so much as to quit the game, but you cannot give the highest score for such moments.
The story is not the most upsetting either – after a promising start, it all comes down to Smelter’s search for runes, meeting not the most interesting characters and conquering territories. Although there are good-quality jokes here, and there is no desire to miss dialogues, first of all, everything in the game rests on the gameplay. I would like to open a new area, carefully study everything there, build a defense, capture every piece of land, and then go through the next platform episode and find all the secrets there. And what happens there in the plot is not so important.
The characters are cute, but there is no feeling of affection for them.
Everything else is done at a very high level. The soundtrack is great – the title theme was generally written by the composer Mega Man , which is quite appropriate, since the platform episodes bring to mind the classics from Capcom . And visually, Smelter never ceases to delight with great attention to detail, pleasant animations and a variety of locations. Everything is very atmospheric and charming, and pixel art is a cut above that in some games that do not combine two completely different genres.
If you’re old enough to remember and love ActRaiser , Smelter will give you the same pleasure – it combines strategy and platformer equally well with both. In addition, she brings new interesting ideas, which, for example, SolSeraph did not do at all. Therefore, the game does not seem like a guest from the past – it is a modern and very successful attempt to resurrect an unusual idea. And for those to whom the names listed above do not mean anything, Smelter will give several exciting evenings – such games practically do not come out, and the more joyful that sometimes they still turn out to be good.
Pros: an excellent symbiosis of strategy and platforming, in which both the construction of a settlement is fun, and the platform episodes are not annoying; a bunch of secrets and interesting challenges on the side-view levels; the game regularly rewards for thorough research of content, be it bonuses on the world map or additional abilities of the heroine; beautiful soundtrack and charming visual style.
Cons: the story, as well as the universe of the game, is not very interesting; a couple of slightly prolonged episodes; if one of the two genres is not pleasant to you, then you will not like the whole game.
