Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Exocet puts you in control of a lone UFO whose sole mission is to obliterate defensive towers scattered across a hostile terrain. Above ground, you’ll encounter two types of turrets: short towers that can be targeted at any height, and tall towers that demand precise positioning at their firing spots before you press the fire button. Movement is integral to the shooting mechanic—your craft must be facing the right direction each time, so mastering momentum and positioning becomes second nature as soon as you take off.

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Once you’ve eradicated ten towers on the surface, a tunnel opens deep into the earth. You’ll only have three opportunities to dive underground, and the choice isn’t purely aesthetic: if you opt to stay above ground, enemy firing rates double, ratcheting up the pressure on your reflexes. This push-and-pull between perked-up risk above ground and the claustrophobic corridors below injects a compelling strategic layer.

Underground stages introduce their own gauntlet—the tunnel gradually narrows, challenging your spatial awareness while enemies maintain an aggressive pace. After toppling ten subterranean structures, their firing speed intensifies yet again. Along the way, points vary dramatically (from 50 to 360 for underground towers), and clever pilots can leverage the green-to-blue ground transition to earn extra lives. It’s a gameplay loop that rewards precision, adaptability, and the willingness to balance safety against high-scoring ambition.

Graphics

Exocet’s visuals embrace a minimalist, retro-inspired palette, with crisp sprites and bold contrasting colors that make every tower and projectile stand out clearly. The above-ground landscape is rendered in lush green tones that shift to a serene blue once a critical threshold of tower destruction is reached, offering both a visual cue and a sense of atmospheric progression.

Underground, the art style smartly shifts to darker, more confined corridors where tight camera framing and narrowing tunnels build tension. The UFO sprite remains luminous against the shadowed walls, making it easy to track your vessel’s movement even in the most frenetic firefights. Particle effects for explosions and tower collapses are simple but satisfying, adding punch to each successful hit.

The interface is equally clear: score counters, remaining lives, and the count toward the next tunnel opening are displayed unobtrusively, ensuring you always know how close you are to unlocking rewards or facing tougher challenges. While not aiming for photorealism, Exocet’s clean, functional art design puts clarity and playability front and center.

Story

Exocet’s narrative is delightfully straightforward: you are an alien UFO invading a planet fortified with various defense towers. There are no cutscenes or lengthy dialogue—your story is told through the relentless action of dismantling these static fortifications and choosing when to plunge beneath the surface.

The above-ground assault represents the initial phase of the invasion, where you test defenses and gauge the enemy’s response. Once you breach ten towers, the subterranean phase unfolds, suggesting deeper layers of defense and, by extension, a more vital objective lurking beneath the planet’s crust. This structural progression acts as a loose storyline, driving you to discover what’s at the heart of the enemy’s resistance.

Although Exocet doesn’t indulge in character development or plot twists, it delivers a classic arcade narrative: triumph through skill, high scores, and stage mastery. The lack of a complex backstory is compensated by the visceral immediacy of its gameplay-driven tale, letting your performance write the real story of this alien onslaught.

Overall Experience

Playing Exocet is akin to revisiting the golden age of arcade gaming—pick-up-and-play controls, escalating difficulty, and a relentless drive to beat your personal best. The dual-phase above-ground and underground structure keeps the action fresh, while the requirement to reposition before every shot introduces a satisfying layer of mechanical depth.

The game’s scoring mechanics reward both consistency and daring maneuvers. Short towers provide steady points, tall towers reward precision, and underground targets grant a wide range of bonuses. Clearing ten towers to change the ground color or earn an extra life adds a meta-goal beyond mere survival, fostering long play sessions as you chase that final extra man cap of eight lives.

Ultimately, Exocet excels as an arcade-style shooter that balances simplicity with strategic nuance. Its clean visuals, crisp controls, and escalating challenge make it a compelling choice for players seeking a retro-themed high-score chase or anyone eager for a bite-sized but engaging shooter experience. If you’re drawn to fast-paced action and constant risk-reward decisions, Exocet is well worth your time.

Retro Replay Score

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