Made by only two people, Exo-Calibre is the latest indie offering by East Asia Soft. A shoot ’em up with bullet hell elements and an excellent retro aesthetic that will be adored by those who grew up with a Game Boy Advance on their hands. Simple yet fun, not too demanding but challenging. Exo-Calibre is short, while at the same time able to provide hours of enjoyable shooting, this definitely belongs in the collection of all but the most hardcore of genre fans.
What’s the deal exactly? The Ex-Calibre knights, the cute anime lasses that are in control of Earth’s state of the art flying mechs, have to defend the planet from an AI system that has gone rampart. In other words: your mission is to kill.
There is a story of sorts in the, err, Story mode, but the developer was smart enough to use it as dressing instead of a big part of the main dish. As such, the few lines of dialogue are just a means to give a bit of life to the heroine trio. It is all light-hearted and occasionally funny, cartoon-like small talk, and nothing more. It should be noted that Exo-Calibre has a very appealing retro art style. Each stage is vibrantly colourful, like a futuristic version of old-school classic TwinBee. The characters themselves aren’t overly erotic, like the norm with some animé designs – adding to the family friendly vibe.
Players can choose between the three pilots, with each spitting bullets in their own unique way. The differences are minor, yet manage to alter the gameplay quite a lot. One of the girls, for example, has what is basically a short ranged but very powerful shotgun, which forces her to get closer to enemies. It’s a cool risk-reward system that’s awesome when dealing with bosses. Up to three additional pilots can be unlocked, each with their own weapon, making it easy to find a favourite. Genre veterans, however, will notice a lack of many of the traditional shmup mechanics. There are no special moves, no bombs, or alternative weapons to find. There’s no new innovation to talk about.
Exo-Calibre proves that complexity isn’t always a must. The mechs can only do two things. The first is a melee slash/dodge that damages enemies and sends bullets towards them, crucial in a title that, while not a hardcore bullet hell shooter, frequently has the pilot fly into a sea of lethal orbs. The second is a boost that wraps the mech in an energy field, and lets it blaze through enemies and their fire as long as it has the necessary energy. These two are all you need to have fun, with the level design letting the abilities really shine. The best thing is that this provides a great deal of freedom in the way one can play, unlike something more restricting like the equally fine-crafted but also much tougher Lilac 0.
Each playthrough has what feels like the right length, taking about 20 or so minutes. It makes this a very good plug-and-play title, and it helps that levels aren’t just a bunch of areas where the Knights shoot at robotic foes. Instead, levels are divided between memorable segments, each one with its own look and feel. Scrap can be collected, and after every boss encounter can be used to purchase a weapon, health or speed upgrade, and even buy an extra life. All these are fairly expensive, so players need to carefully pick what suits their skill level or needs. Generally, while more of an entry level shmup, one still needs to pay attention to what is going on. Think tactically about placement, timing and all that.
There’s a beginner-friendly Story mode, the tougher Arcade, a Boss and Time Rush options. These, like everything else about Exo-Calibre are nice additions that extent the replay value by a few more hours. Would it be better if there were more things to do? Sure. But this remains enjoyable as it is. It perfectly captures the charm of the 8-bit era, where something could be enjoyed again and again, while being light on content. It must be mentioned, however, that shmup pros won’t stay here for long as there’s no decent way to substantially increase the difficulty.
There’s no big flaw to talk about here, but a couple of quality-of-life additions would be more than welcome in a possible future patch: minor stuff, like the ability to skip dialogue (as well as the credits) would order to help with the pacing, or more visual options besides a generic CRT scanline effect. All in all, this is an awesome vertical shooter with some strong retro sensibilities and at the same time, a modern feel. There’s not enough here to warrant spending hundreds upon hundreds of hours with it, and it will undoubtedly seem too easy for some, but Exo-Calibre remains a solid recommendation for one simple reason: it’s fun… and cheap!
