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The Legend of Steel Empire
Switch 2024 System
Nintendo Switch Publisher
ININ Games
Developer
Mebius
N/A
Game Rating
User Ratings: 0
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Nintendo Switch
The Legend of Steel Empire Review (Switch eShop / Switch)
Full steam ahead! Version Reviewed: European review by Gonçalo Lopes Yesterday, 6pm Share:6 Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked) We believe it quite impossible to be a shoot-’em-up lover and not have stumbled upon HOT-B’s cult classic Steel Empire, the 1992 Mega Drive-exclusive horizontal shmup that mesmerised players with incredible steampunk aesthetics, an epic soundtrack, and a stiff challenge. Far from forgotten, there have been in the past two re-releases/remasters of the game on console, one on Game Boy Advance back in 2005 and 3DS in 2014. Is this third HD revisit — based on the 2018 PC release — worth its price in coal or is it just a load of hot air? Strap in to find out.
The action takes place in a familiar yet bizarre post-industrial revolution civilisation during a great war waged between the nations of the Republic of Silverhead and the Motorhead Empire (no smirking in the back, now). In this alternate 19th century, the steam engine has become the world’s greatest invention causing military machine design to evolve into gigantic monsters of steel and fire that rule the land, the sea, and the skies. You take the role of a nameless Silverhead republican pilot onboard the aircraft carrier Rheinhalt. Despite being greatly outnumbered, the technology of Silverhead is more advanced than their opponent, evident through your choice of aircraft and the mighty ‘Imamio Thunder’ bomb devices that can cause devastating damage to the steel-dependent Motorhead military units.
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked) Upon booting up the game the first thing to be assaulted is your hearing. While we often love the way retro game revivals stick true to their origins, the awful faux-film-camera noise that plays over the introduction is enough to cause a bad first impression. It is also worth noting that the sound levels of the game are all over the place. Left to their default settings one will hardly notice the fantastic soundtrack under your aircraft’s machine guns and constant explosions, which take over the entire audio spectrum. Thankfully, you can alter the levels manually, but we also stumbled upon some musical hiccups and instrumental distortion. Hopefully a patch can smooth over these audio glitches, which sound to us like an emulation issue with the Mega Drive’s sound chip.
With the audio issues duly noted, the visual aspect of this reboot is, thankfully, extremely pleasing. Developer Mebius wisely left the incredible sprite work of the original Mega Drive game untouched (including the
