Apple Arcade review #84: Redout: Space Assault

IMG_7040.jpeg

Redout is an on-rails 3D space shooter that looks very impressive. The art is bright and detailed and busy, with plenty of cool explosions. It sounds pretty good, too, although the voice acting feels perfunctory and uninvolved. Not the actors’ fault: it’s the direction that’s lacking. It’s all very mechanical, and that goes for the game, too. It’s ticking the boxes, but the controls are “floaty” and it often feels like you have little impact on what’s happening. “Floaty” is a terrible word, but you get it when you try it: your spaceship follows your thumb, but there’s no weight, no momentum, no joy to the movement. The same goes for the missiles, and it’s often very hard to see what’s happening, with all the beautiful spaceships and missile trails and explosions and pretty backdrops. It’s not a game well suited to the small phone screen, and I wish I’d had time to try this on the Apple TV — although I fear the performance will be unacceptable. (If and when I do give it a go, I’ll update this review.)

Despite the modern art, this is in many ways a retro game, but it harkens back to a genre of games that were never particularly good. And the small screen and touch controls work against it in every way. Redout is great for showing off what a mobile can do, but it’s not a great mobile game.

Link: https://apps.apple.com/no/app/redout-space-assault/id1464678372

Ragnar TornquistComment