Strictly Limited Games (SLG) seemingly made only a few changes to the initial play style, for both good and bad, which will be touched on later. With only a few tweaks, including the addition of twin-stick shooting, SLG helped polish off quite the unique and beautiful game. However, don’t assume that dual stick ‘shooting and moving’ allows for a gentle and forgiving experience. Ultracore will kick until the player is down, and then shoot until the crying stops.
To be the punisher instead of the victim, players will have to learn quickly to balance their movements alongside their shooting. Make sure to keep distance from the waves of biomechanical enemies that will inevitably kamikaze into the player’s spray. Just press and hold that finger down on the fire button and never, ever let go. Though they may overwhelm you, the enemies’ strategy is quite tedious at its basic level. Most are annoyingly persistent in their mechanics, and the wall mounted rocket launchers are redundant at best. That being said, ability to destroy such repetitive cyborgs by the handful, almost makes up for that aforementioned boredom.
The ‘killing fields’ also look spectacular. From a post-apocalyptic landscape, to a cold steel and futuristic interior, Ultracore is well aware that a platformer relies heavily on an engaging and characteristic background. That being said, the amount of times that an enemy, who can barely be distinguished from the lush backdrop will kick you in the feels, inexorably leaves you with more rage than your many weapons can ever alleviate.
There are only five levels in Ultracore, however each one is large, diverse and filled with hidden features. Most have multiple boss battles, and though they can be claustrophobic and relatively unimaginative in certain lights, they’re both plentiful and difficult in the best of ways. These mecha-godzilla-esque monsters will close the gaps as quickly as one can create them, so prepare to think differently, and be sure to visualize victory.
As a final kick in the teeth, SLG failed to implement a save feature. Despite the ability to add in some relatively intelligent designs and additions, to not create the ability to turn the game off and on again is a ridiculous problem that should be made well aware to any future consumer. Sure you can sleep the game, but to be at the mercy of a power outage, or a belligerent and angry parental figure is something that we, as a society, said no to, a long time ago.
Otherwise Ultracore is a fun game and platforming fans should dig up this relic from the past to give the hordes the old one-two.
*Check out our latest review for Paper Mario: The Origami King 
When I was young, I never imagined that my love for reading, writing and video games could so easily coalesce into such an interesting and unique profession. Come find me on steam @Coke581, or on Origin, where I primarily play Apex and BF4/5 @S0ape.
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