Get Behind the machine gun and mow down hundreds of enemies in a throwback to classic arcade games of ages past. Check out our Heavy Fire: Red Shadow review!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rhlumZuVkE
Set in the not-so-distant future, tension between a bold North Korea, that has managed to establish a unification with South Korea entirely on its terms, and the United States have gone beyond their breaking point.
As Sgt. Will, step onto the unforgiving battlefield, establish a beachhead, and holdfast behind a turret-mounted machine gun. A brutal and unceasing onslaught of enemy forces will attempt to flank and eliminate Sgt. Will from every angle as he and a few surviving comrades rain hell upon anything that crosses their iron-sights.
★ 360° White-knuckle Action!
Use a devastatingly powerful turret-mounted machine gun and rocket launcher combo to mow down enemies in 360° across eight stages★ Call In Support!
Call in supply drops and support from elite infantry troops, fighter aircraft, attack helicopters, and more★ Get Promoted!
With more than 30 unlockable Field Promotions, players earn power-ups to upgrade and customize their machine gun, rocket launcher, health, and support skills
Heavy Fire: Red Shadow is a new wave-based shooter that has its roots dating back to 1990’s light gun arcade games – you know, actual arcade machines with big plastic guns you used to shoot at objects and enemies on the screen. First off, I should mention that this game can be played in both your PlayStation 4 as you normally would, as well as in PlayStation VR. I played both versions, and while the game doesn’t really differ overall, the immersion thanks to the PlayStation VR headset makes that the way to play the game.
This is a mechanically simple game. You sit behind a machine gun mowing down various waves of enemies coming from all around you. Waves will start with very few enemies, but as you progress further, you’ll have more and more enemies coming at you from all angles, keeping you looking everywhere. Once you beat the level, you move on to a new setting, but it really doesn’t change the gameplay. As the game lets you rotate a full 360 degrees, the action can get quite frantic.
While the game boasts eight levels of play, it’s only four since each one has a day and a night version. You’ll go through them pretty quickly as the game will only be around 3 to 5 hours in length for you to play the whole campaign. I did have some more fun in the Endless mode, but once I had completed the game’s campaign, throwing another hour or two at it in Endless made me realized I had gotten my fill, and I had no desire to jump back in.
Heavy Fire: Red Shadow throws some power-ups at you throughout the game to help you, whether that be tactical airstrikes, extra troops, and care packages, along with other stuff that changes things up a bit. It deepens the gameplay a bit, but just by a bit. It’s more superficial than anything but does break up the regular gameplay loop from time to time.
They will throw some different challenges at you as you play which adds a slightly different feel with some objective-based stuff, but it doesn’t really change the gameplay enough. That being said, it does give you something extra to do so that you end up playing for another hour or so on top of it all.
Final Thoughts
Heavy Fire: Red Shadow is an old-school shooter at its heart, and it wears this influence on its sleeve. I think older gamers like me will get the homage made the old-school shooters and see the value. That being said, younger players probably won’t see the value, and the repetitive gameplay will not get tier attention. On that note, I’m giving the PlayStation VR version a 6, but considering the time I spent playing on PS4 without the VR headset, I would give it a 5.
Disclaimer
This Heavy Fire: Red Shadow review is based on a PlayStation 4 copy provided by Mastiff LLC.
