Citadel Stormer 2 Review – Pass the Ammo, Please

Citadel Stormer 2 by Unearthly Resilience Games

In Citadel Stormer 2, A.I. has gone rogue and robots now control the world, having annihilated the human race with robot soldiers.

It’s up to our protagonist, Cobalt, to help destroy these robots by clearing a path for resistance fighters. All he has to do is destroy five guardian robots, use their keys to an opening to destroy the core A.I. mainframe, and save Earth.

Citadel Stormer 2 plays similarly to games like Mega Man: moving platforms, pits with spikes, leaps of faith…your standard platformer fare. Aggressive enemies and a password-to-continue system make things feel even more old-school. Responsive controls make platforming and movement feel fluid, and this initially has all the ingredients of a fun 2D platformer.

Aching for Ammunition

The one key difference is how Citadel Stormer 2 handles ammo. Ammo in this game is scarce. You can find ammo behind locked doors that require keys or in boxes, but the problem here is that boxes take multiple shots to destroy. Between that and the numerous enemies, it’s hard to conserve ammo throughout.

The idea of ammo scarcity is great – it adds extra challenge on top of platforming – but there has to be more balance to create ways of circumventing the restriction. The basic weapon – which doesn’t consume ammo – takes forever to kill enemies, making it rather useless 90 percent of the time since you battle so many enemies on screen.

You can’t really avoid enemies, either, because you’ll often have to kill all enemies in a particular area to unlock a force field to proceed.

And the level design itself is claustrophobic, so avoiding enemies is not a viable strategy; they’re often directly in the way and therefore must be fired at.

The game tries to mitigate frustration by giving ammo boxes when you respawn after losing a life, but this is not nearly enough compared to all the ammo you’ll use up before you die. Some enemies will drop ammo on a rare occasion, but not often enough to thwart feelings of frustration.

Citadel Stormer 2 overall feels a little too frustrating. The ammo scarcity is such a core mechanic, but it feels awkwardly balanced and brings down the whole experience.

Straightforward Citadel

Level design is relatively straightforward with little surprises. Akin to games of the past, it’s simple on purpose: get from point A to point B without many secrets or other paths to explore. It’s linear, which puts more of a spotlight on the game’s combat.

Enemies themselves are neat and offer a lot of variety, from jumping enemies to flying ones, some more aggressive than others and often unpredictable. I like the amount of creativity on display here. Bosses at the end of each area also offer a good amount of challenge.

Presentation-wise, the game looks solid with mediocre sound effects. Pixel graphics get the job done but lack some personality; every area gives off the same feel, even when colors are changed a bit. At least some areas have cool backgrounds in the distance, which is always a welcome addition.

Weapons sound like pea shooters, lacking the kick that makes it feel satisfying to shoot. Similarly, the music in this game is repetitive and generic.

The Verdict:

Citadel Stormed 2 aimed to be an old-school 2D platformer. Unfortunately, the combat ends up feeling like a slog thanks to a punishing lack of ammo, and although it has fun and varied enemies to fight against alongside responsive controls, its level design leaves something to be desired.

Citadel Stormer 2 is available via Steam.

Check out the official trailer for Citadel Stormer 2 below:

Related