Today we bring you Cilla: a retro-style shooter. The game is in the program ID@Xboxin which Xbox collaborates with independent creators to develop games. We are faced with a most classic genre, the so-called “Martian killer” returns to our screens decades ago. Do you want to try it? Then continue reading this analysis.
Cilla’s Story
The beginning of the story is somewhat archetypal: an alien race has arrived on Earth with the intention of conquering it. We will be tasked with facing this threat by embodying a super soldier. As the story progresses, we will see how the humanity and feelings of the super soldier as well as his evolution are called into question.
This gives you a touch on something more complex in the story, something that is appreciated. Thus moving away from the typical flat plot of aliens with bad intentions.
Classic graphics
Cilla has a very obvious retro look. The game is made in pixel art. Even the scenarios use the classic resource used in the past to give a 3D feeling: parallax scrolling. It is The scenarios feature different planes that move differently, giving the game greater depth.
The quality of the graphics is good, without being exceptional, but it largely meets the requirements of pixel art. Perhaps we would only miss a greater variety of backgrounds during the different phases, which, although attractive, do not have much variety during the development of the phase.
The introductory scenes of each phase are realized through illustrations in which a small displacement is made. That is, something similar to the scenes we have seen in other shooters, the Everspace saga. The images have high quality designs although they are somewhat scarce. We have a large number of dialogues that take place on the screen with text. If more images similar to those mentioned above had been used, the result would be more rounded.
Sound and music
A good level is maintained in the Fx, fulfilling its mission. The music is worth mentioning because it is catchy and fits the title perfectly.
We miss the voiced character dialoguessince these are only displayed written on the screen. The Spanish translation is quite poor, which makes it difficult to understand some sentences. It is therefore advisable to leave it in English if you have at least a good command of the language of Shakespeare.
Gameplay
The game is owned by the small studio Stamina Zero LLC. They have a few more games under their belt, all of them very playable. Cilla is no less, and we are considering a title with a very good gameplay. The shooter scrolls sidewaysType R style. The ship responds perfectly to our use of the controls, which is totally decisive in a shooter of this type.
Unlike other shooting games, in Cilla you can’t collect all the items you find on your way. We have a box to save an item, which we will use by pressing a button. This requires active management on our part.. We will have to evaluate whether to reserve this object when we reach a “difficult” moment of the phase and, above all, use it before recovering another object or we will throw it away unused. This is an interesting point that differentiates it from other shooting games.
It has a unique difficulty level, which will increase as we advance in the phase. It would have been interesting to incorporate an option for two players, although in some phases we will have the help of a ship controlled by the game.
Cilla’s Conclusions
It’s a classic shooter with a few features that give it a certain identity of its own.. It is clear that we are facing an independent development, so we cannot expect an R-Type, a 1942 or an Aero Fighters to give classic examples. However, Cilla entertained us and is a nice homage to the beginning of the video game itself. We think it is a recommendable title if you like this genre, which is increasingly rare.
I exterminate aliens. Gamer and movie buff
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