Smelter

The RTS layer is limited and repetitive, but the platforming levels are well-designed and challenging.

One of those rare titles that takes inspiration from the classics but manages to forge its own identity, Smelter is a breath of fresh air that uses its influences very wisely, assisted to excellence by generally pretty terrific level design with only a handful of lesser segments bringing things down just a tad. The proceedings feel confident, original and polished, with gorgeous graphics and an outstanding soundtrack that calls to mind the likes of Mega Man X4 for its action stages and evokes Yuzo Koshiro's majestic ActRaiser score for its side-scrolling levels.

Smelter is an average title. The side-scrolling action is rather well done and, taken on its own, makes for a strong platformer. The strategy portions lack depth, and when combined with your overall weak state, it makes the experience a bit of a slog. The title is ambitious, and those willing to forgive the strategy portion should check it out.

Smelter bears the true marks of a tribute to the 16-bit era, and combines elements of both platforming action and real time strategy with a result that's nothing short of a dignified successor to its sources of inspiration. The interaction between the platforming and the strategy dimensions is very well implemented, and its exploration mechanics work like a charm. This is beyond doubt a work that's worth getting into.

With its eye-catching pixel art style and strong visual and tonal identity, Smelter really could have been the complete package. Unfortunately, uneven gameplay, a strange choice in upgrade paths and difficulty spikes that only led to frustration as opposed to the joy of a challenge left a sour taste in my mouth. Fans of the genre should still find a lot to love in this title, so long as it's approached with a heavy dose of patience.

This game has the makings of something really great. The art and sprite work is outstanding. Wildly inconsistent difficulty jumps, frustratingly long bosses, fights, check point lengths and cheap deaths all ruin what absolutely would have been a title much higher rated. The majority of the experience is fun, with a good difficulty level, but inevitably there will be these randomly, absolutely killer, difficulty walls, which ruin how good it was going up to that point.

Smelter is a game that's a mix of platforming and real-time strategy, though it's the platforming that shines more. The controls are tight and the challenge is pretty fair though it can ramp up quite a bit later on. Plus the Trials are a great way to test your skills and help unlock new abilities. The RTS segments aren't bad but they feel a little too simplified with no major consequences.

Smelter is an impressive piece of ambition. The originality that comes with the pairing of 2-D action platforming and RTS is easily commended. The brilliance and execution of the action platforming stages is overwhelmingly impressive, so much so that they’re able to carry the game on their own. However, the flaws of the RTS segments of gameplay mar the experience, as does the overall disjointed feel of gameplay when transitioning from fast-paced action to the crawl that is the RTS. The weak story and shallow characters fail to help the effort, though the attempts at creating a history and having a plot twist or two are appreciated. Lastly, I will be impressed with Smelter’s visual aesthetics and soundtrack for a long time to come. The 20 USD price is fair for the near 15 hours of gameplay and I would only encourage the purchase further should that price ever drop. Despite its missteps, Smelter is still an easy recommendation for any fan looking for an energetic bit of challenging, yet fun, high-paced 2-D action platforming.

Smelter is a clever mashup of genres with a cute style and fun action. The jolt between action and strategy sections can take some getting used to, but it's worth sticking with until you get the hang of the rhythm.

If you’re into side scrolling platformer and tower defense type of games, this is the one that combines them both. With a slight blend of real-time strategy within the tower defense phase, the game tries its best to naturally support these mixed genres to play nice with each other. That being said, the downside of multi-genre in a single game is that if you lack understanding in one of the mentioned genres, there will be some sections where it will forever stress you out. Other than dividing them into phases, if the different genres played in harmony for the entire run, it could have been a good experiment to invent its own genre. At least the separate segments are decently put together which makes it a great gaming experience. The Korean localization was top notch which helps in delivering the intentions of the story very well to the Korean gamers.