Terra Flame Reviews

Very solid throwback shooter, if you grew up with games like Thunder Force III-IV and Gleylancer you'll feel right at home here. No-nonsense horizontal shmup from beginning to end.

This is great! Normal difficulty is very forgiving, so it's great for beginners like myself. Visuals might be simple, but gameplay is solid and fun.

Awesome fun Thunder Force-inspired shmup, featuring three weapons to choose from, 8 stages to conquer and a really nice presentation. A really fun time that I highly recommend. Rookies could easily play through this game on Normal Difficulty.

Very fun scoring game. Terraflame is easy if you're just playing for survival - I got a 1CC on my second run. The scoring combines medal collection with chaining and the levels are set up so that chaining perfectly is very challenging. In particular there are two forward-facing weapons: a standard straight fire shot and a homing shot. Relying on the homing shot for most enemies reduces the challenge of the game but once you power up your weapon it can be very difficult to time the killing of the enemy groups so that the chain meter lasts until the next wave. If a scoring challenge like that sounds appealing, pick it up! There are online leader boards for you to compete in. The gameplay feels great and it doesn't suffer from Gradius syndrome. There's also a 3 minute caravan mode for shorter scoring sessions.

Another great old-school style shmup from Terarin. This one feels more like a homage to Thunder Force (same initials too!) Terarin's art is getting better with each release too, no need to wait for upgraded Switch port art for this one :)

Terra Flame is what I'd like to call a confidence booster shoot 'em up. It is quite easy. I made it to end of Stage 6 of 8 on my second play through. And I have a good feeling I'll 1cc the game fairly quickly. As the stumbling block I had was the narrow passages and my unfamiliarity speeding though them on my first encounter. Other than that, it was mostly bullets I never saw due to all the visual noise. It's this visual noise that creates the most challenge in Terra Flame. There is just so much on screen between your shots, the enemies, warning indicators, pick ups and foreground elements that the rather plain enemy projectiles can get lost in the shuffle. It doesn't help that enemies can attack you from nearly every direction. Fortunately, the game is nice enough to include warning markers where they are coming from off screen. However, there is an enemy squadron type the teleports mid screen on one level without much warning. Made worse that this level has enemies coming from behind you. Other than some difficulty seeing threats, the next challenge is probably Gradius Syndrome. When destroyed, your ship is completely powered down, and it can take a little bit of time to recover. It's here that Terra Flame becomes a little tough. It's also where I noticed there's quite the pause before your next ship takes to the play field. As I had a run of bad play where I was constantly missing power ups as I waited for my next ship. The enemy variety is a little sparse. For the first half of the game it felt like there is only little more than a half-dozen including the end stage bosses. There a little variation with the bosses, but I couldn't tell them apart. However, as you get to the later game, the bosses to start to change up some. My favorite generic enemy is the giant mecha. Though, I think the game would be more interesting if the missile firing mecha appeared in front of you since they are the one you want to line up with their gun barrel instead of avoid. The weapons at the player's disposal are quite nice and all have their own dedicated button. So, no switching through weapons Thunder Force III/IV style. The primary weapon is a forward firing shot. The ship is also equipped with a rear firing laser. The final weapon is a homing shot that I think it weaker than the front shot. Something it would be nice for the tutorial (which really isn't necessary) would cover. These weapons along with a roll shot of rotating options firing additional shots and a Defender shield allowing your ship to take a few hits. Terra Flame is a pretty easy game to get a fair distance into quickly. At the price it's listed at the time of the writing of this review, I do think it is too expensive for what you get, though. It's easy to get two or three just as good or better shmups on Steam for that price. However, sometimes you just want an easy game. Despite how easy it is, I don't know if I fully recommend it to beginners other than for confidence building, as I don't know if there's a lot of elements here to help develop STG skills. Still, I've enjoyed the little I played so far.

Terra Flame is a loving homage to all things Thunder, whether it be Force or Gates, complete with fantastic music and super smooth and blisteringly fast action. Getting a 1 credit clear on Normal difficulty is also very doable, even if you're not an expert in the shoot 'em up genre. Sporting the wave chaining and crystal collecting scoring system you're used to from other Terarin games, such as Raging Blasters, this is yet another gem from an insanely productive developer that can't miss when it comes to making the type or strand of shoot 'em up that he knows best and, above all else, loves. If you have any kind of fondness for the horizontal scrolling shooters of the 16-bit era, you can't go wrong with Terra Flame.

Very fun and easy to get into shmup that is inspired by 16-bit classics such as Thunderforce 3 and 4. As with past Terarin games, the soundtrack is great and includes both modern synth instrumentation as well as a chiptunes option. While the "normal difficulty" is on the easy side, Expert is no cakewalk and will be a challenge for most players. I definitely recommend this game for fans of the genre!

What I love about Terarin's games like this is how well balanced the gameplay is for my skill level. The easiest difficulty is pretty easy but at least gives you a chance to see all the levels and start to understand the game. On the harder difficulties is where you have to really learn the intricate systems in the game to succeed and get those clears. The whole mechanic of having to rapidly switch between forward shots, backward shots, and heat-seekers is clever and there is definitely a right and wrong time for each weapon. Figuring these out is the fun part of this game. Also you have to mechanic of having a much more powerful shot if you don't just keep the shot button held down but actually let it recharge between waves and times when the boss'es are vulnerable. Also you have the mechanic of 3 speed levels that you can switch between. The slower speeds are actually useful and important when you're in a stage with walls and you're boxed in. I've cleared the game on normal and hard so far.

Terrain's STG homages are the best in the biz. Terra Flame captures the speed and substance of the Thunder Force games while maintaining Terrain's score-chaining house style. Low enough challenge floor for novices to get a clear, high enough ceiling to keep veterans engaged. Exhilirating all the way through.