Smelter Reviews
The RTS layer is limited and repetitive, but the platforming levels are well-designed and challenging.
Smelter's opening cutscene got me very pumped for what was to follow, but what did follow left me despondent. I'd been set up and felt ready for an awesome 16-bit experience that, thanks to its promised smelting of genres, would feel genuinely fresh. The game that followed wasn't fresh, it was past its sell by date and starting to smell like feet.
If you want to platform one minute and build houses the next, then Smelter might just be the genre hybrid for you.
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.
A satisfying combination of action platformer and strategy game. The former might be notably better here than the latter, but Smelter is a decently long game with great visuals and gameplay.
Smelter is a fun action packed game with plenty of depth to keep players engaged for a while. The combat system is intuitive and works a charm with the level design actually presenting a challenge rather than just being superficial. However I do wish the developers focused more on these parts of the game and minimise the real time strategy sections which felt like drawn out mini games. Saying that Smelter is a well devised indie game filled with witty dialogue and stellar action to match.
The side scrolling side of Smelter has a lot going for it. It has a welcome execution that doesn't demand much effort and doesn't bog you down with much, even if it is overly simplistic. The tower defense side of Smelter contradicts this simplicity, however. Bad control choices coupled with halfhearted explanations makes it a hard sell for the entire package. Smelter has something unique, but that's nowhere near enough to warrant your time.
With enjoyable sim gameplay, an engaging element combat system, and excellent boss fights, Smelter is a game with a lot of good pieces across 12-15 hours of play. Unfortunately, it never becomes more than the whole of its parts. The platforming level design feels a bit unremarkable, and the Trials ruin the pacing. Still, if you love ActRaiser or Mega Man X, there's enough to make Smelter worth recommending.
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 charming. It’s tough-as-nails. At times it’s even hilarious. Most of all, Smelter is just itself – a badass and unapologetic indie guaranteed to give you a good time.
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.
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.
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.
This is a cool twist on the story of Adam and Eve. With great music, graphics and a great story Smelter combines the platforming and real time strategy genres with great success.
Appropriately named, as it combines elements of multiple styles of gaming, Smelter is a game that defies a simple explanation...
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.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Smelter is a meticulously crafted genre hybrid that almost does everything right. The margin for error with its design is so slim that it might be some kind of gaming miracle. A challenging and captivating experience from start to finish, Smelter is an absolute must play. Here’s hoping this isn’t the last time we see this dichotomous duo.
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.
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.
Review in Korean | Read full review