Retro/Grade is a Rhythm/Beat based horizontal shooter, with a twist: The action is played in reverse. The screenshots to this one did not give a good idea on how it actually plays, and it is worth checking out actual video of the gameplay.

This game was another one in a bunch of games in a Bundle I grabbed last month. It has got a unique idea and rather good production values compared to a bunch of others I picked up. Time to take a look!

There were no issues starting the game up. I normally turn on v-sync so I did so here. After which, I selected campaign and the easiest difficulty level (to learn how it works), and I was off into Retro/Grade. Considering how well I was able to pick it up, I'll likely go to something more challenging after this write up.

The game starts off with the player fishing off a battle for the last boss. You shoot this machine as you would in a traditional shooter, killing it rather quickly. Shortly after this the credits start to roll. This is the only part of the game I encountered where things normally move forward in time.

Then an anomaly in the space-time continuum happens and you play the rest of the game in reverse. Scrolling back in time you are taken to the final moments of the boss and must unshoot everything you fired at it. If you had a wild pattern of shots in the endtro, you will have to pick them up in reverse order.

The main idea to keep in mind is GREEN at the top and RED at the bottom.

Over the course of the ten levels you are slowly introduced to the various attack sequences, and each level builds on the previous one while adding new patterns to learn. The difficulty curve is fairly light and you can always replay completed missions until you are ready to move on.

As in a further twist, the aim is to have the lowest score. You are moving back in time to when you started at '0' after all!

To unshoot you need to tap SPACE when a bullet reverses back into your ship. There's a tiny bit of give in this and you don't need pixel perfect accuracy, but the closer to the launcher on your ship you tap to, the lower you make your score.

Aside from capturing your own bullets you need to capture missiles by rapidly tapping SPACE tapping, and capture lasers by holding down SPACE while moving with the path of the laser. Both of these also have a very slight amount of give on your accuracy, with a better score reduction for exact timing. But keep in mind that moving out of the laser's path or failing to pick up a bullet will count as a loss and damage to the continuum.

To complicate matters, you have to avoid running into enemy attacks that are heading from left to right. These are shots that you would of avoided before the time line reversed itself, if you were of to played out that pattern. You have no control over this, though each level has a set sequence you can memorise and the game runs slow enough to see them coming.

While reasonably simple at first, the shots you have to pick up and the enemy attacks you have to avoid start to cross over each other. You'll be required to jump, tap, and hold between the Green and Red paths over the course of the level.

Different attack types also show up later on, such as gravity wells and bullet-hell walls. And while these are new, the overall concept remains the same as you have been doing previously. Still, it provides a nice amount of variety through the game.
Later levels also have you un-fighting a boss, they'll alert you with Green/Red patterned lights to know where you have to avoid.

To aid you in the fight you have a limited ability to change the flow of time to a forwards direction. This allows you to try segments again if you get hit and was aiming for a perfect score. Powerups also drop that increase the bonus multiplier, at the cost of saturating lights and colours on the screen

Levels have a lovely electronic soundtrack, where timing your shots to picking up your attacks beep beats in tune with the music. Sound effects also feel polished and crashes and explosions do not overwhelm or distract. Many budget games have a very clunky feel to the audio and the little bits of attention to this one are appreciated.

Visually the game looks impressive too. Great use of lights and particle effects from a fast moving background that never quite distracts from the pattern you have to match.

It has a cartoonish shiny space scifi appeal. Your player character bops along to the music as the craft flies in reverse. On the harder levels with everything being through back at you the game remained surprisingly clear to differentiate objects. I couldn't find any options for a colour blind mode, but I'll admit I'm not sure how much it is needed when you can tell objects RED/GREEN levels by their placement on the screen rather than colour.

Actual enemy variety is hard to determine, as they appear in an explosion before reassembling themselves and flying off screen, this hardly matters as you should be focusing on the oncoming friendly/hostile bullets than becoming distracted.. The Boss battles I encountered through all have a unique feel to them, as much as what you have to do is the same they do feel different to play against and separate from the smaller enemy craft.

Retro/Grade is all based on one single idea, but I felt it does it very well. There's a charm to this game I do like, with enough in the way of achievements and leaderboards to keep people playing.

Aside from the Campaign with multiple difficulty levels, there are also 'Challenge' levels. These change the level layout and rules, while providing a number of unlocks for completing in the form of Artwork, Music, and a Cheat-mode.

It is something you are more likely to pick up and play in short bursts, a few levels a day or week, than something to sit down at and try to complete in one long sitting. If you like what you see and the concept interests you it is well worth picking up. Retro/Grade remains a fun and different take on the shooter and pattern matcher genre.

Game Acquisition: Purchased on Sale (Bundle Stars)
Platform Used: Steam
Tweet Thread: 1 - 1 March 2016
PC Used: Scorptec Venom 2009

OS:Windows XP SP2, Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8
Processor:2.0+ GHz or better (dual core recommended)
Memory:2 GB RAM
Graphics:NVIDIA 8000 series
DirectX®:9.0c
Hard Drive:300 MB HD space
Sound:Windows compatible