Review of Ultra Age, a fun action game with many limitations

Second time right? This is probably the developers Ultra AgeComing to the end of April 2022 on PC after being released on PS4 and Nintendo Switch, which was received quite coldly, for very good reasons, as we will see in the course of our article.

However, we should no longer ignore the attempts of two Korean development teams to create Ultra Age, an action game that offers improved graphics, more stable frame rates, a new voiceover feature and promises in the second half of 2022. publish Free DLC This will introduce a roguelite mod that might be the best way to play Ultra Age.

Before we look to the future, let’s look at the present and find out exactly if this game is worth playing now: here’s ours. Ultra Age review in the PC version.

2000 years later

Ultra Age can be roughly divided into two parts: complo and fight. There’s more, sorry, but for simplicity, let’s imagine it this way. Good. The plot is also negligible, and to be honest we have the impression that even the developers don’t completely believe it.

There narrative premise It’s pretty classic: we’re in the future, in 3174 to be precise, and Earth’s resources are exhausted. People are divided between those living in a space colony known as Orbis and those living in a security facility on Earth. The problem is that this is what is explained by the game’s official release on digital stores.

But starting with Ultra Age, we’re largely in the dark about these details, and all we know is that we’re Age, a young warrior who must complete missions for Orbis. The boy has only seven days left to live, and his main goal is to fulfill Orbis’ wishes. endless life. Accompanying him is Helvis, a support robot.

The plot continues throughout the five hours of gameplay, placing us in the middle of the game. classic sci-fi cliches. The problem isn’t just the mundaneness of the whole plot and a (missing) series of uninteresting characters with sombre dialogue, the problem is that most of the time the plot will be “we have to go through this door, let’s get here and there”. . to activate switches to reset systems.” Ultra Age relies on a handful of narrative ideas, but it absolutely fails to engage the player.

Crystal therapy done right

As mentioned, Ultra Age is not just a story far from it. Actually we are talking about something fighting game who wants to put us on the field first and get our hands on us. The build is also classic in this case, as it’s based on very simple moves that require you to repeat the light attack and then perform a heavy attack to unleash a combo finish that changes depending on the number of hits it has. . In a nutshell, don’t think you’re up against Bayonetta or Devil May Cry in terms of complexity, which might be bad for those who are very experienced with this type of action, but good for those who are not fully familiar with these systems.

In addition to normal attacks, there is also a hookTo shoot enemies or drop yourself towards them. Obviously, there’s also a somewhat generous bypass, which lets you avoid many shots by pressing the dedicated button to repeat without too much precision.

All this, as you know, is actually nothing special. However, Ultra Age has an additional idea, nice even if it could be improved. The hero’s weapons are not infinite, but absorption of crystals Dropped by current or defeated enemies in the environment. Using the weapon consumes its energy and it is possible to activate a very powerful special move when the gauge is about to run out. Therefore, the player is encouraged to consume the weapon as quickly as possible, especially by using combos correctly (finishing moves consume more energy, so tapping without activating the combo slows access to the special move).

The problem with this situation is, number of offices the number of various weapons will practically always be maximum. Various types of enemies are weak against different weapons, but often only two of the six available will be used. The character can carry four types of weapons with him and switch on the fly, as well as make an offensive move, but only in rare cases will you find yourself really having to switch weapons during fights. In that sense, Ultra Age could do much more to make fun situations more diverse and dynamic.

Finally, our helper can activate some support skills. The most important is healing, which is recharged by defeating enemies or finding special crystals. Additionally, it allows you to use some kind of buff that increases the chance to deal critical damage. The most obvious feature, however, is time travel: it’s practically possible to recharge an area (without the character moving) to make crystals respawn, provided you’ve defeated enough enemies to have enough time energy. . , open. However, this is a nearly useless mechanic, at least on normal difficulty, because the enemies are giving us way more weapons than we need.

Power-ups for all

As mentioned, Ultra Age isn’t really about story and combat. The game world is highly linear, but a series of hidden upgrades and enemies donate experience points quite generously by the way.

Thanks to these points, skill trees of various weapons, gain passive damage bonuses and gain new combinations or expand existing ones. Moreover, even Helvis can be empowered to heal us more and more. The most interesting part are the upgrades that allow you to unlock various Age skills that can be found in the environment, such as adding damage while using the grapple hook, the ability to shoot even in the air, and above all unlocking equipment slots.

Unfortunately, this last game feature seemed the least interesting and very unsuccessful. Age can really find the gods custom crystals improving stats such as health, attack, crit damage values, armor and more. However, we didn’t like the fact that slots are locked behind upgrades as it risks overriding one of the game mechanics and may prevent you from upgrading the character in the final stages, thus making life a bit more difficult. actor. for no reason. But the real problem is that we often find crystals with lower stat bonuses than those already equipped. This bonus system spends more time being useless than satisfying the player.

Another Ultra Age issue, presentation. Yes, the PC version has improved the graphics and optimized the framerate, even letting you leave it unlocked, but overall we’re still talking about a low-budget game with repetitive environments, few enemies and very repetitive bosses. given the scarcity, the number of hours the adventure has to offer.

While the feedback on hitting the enemies isn’t as satisfying as in the best games of the genre, it’s often fun to fight. The question is what happens between fights. Therefore, his idea piqued our interest. roguelite mod Promised by the developers via free DLC. Assuming some new enemies have been added, it could be a good way to enjoy the best part of the game without too much distraction. But for now, we cannot judge what is not there.