Use Turbo To Reviews

It's an arcade game. Don't expect a storyline or cinematic end. It's just you and your highscore. There's a brief screen showing the controls, no further explanation needed. If you're hesitant just "use turbo to" approach things. Actually you don't even need to let go of the turbo button. The Art style is quite distinctive and the learning curve maybe steep but rather short. Once you get the hang of it, you'll make decent progress. I thought this would be a game for the in-between sessions but if you're good at this game a run can get pretty long. The game also seems to be a good fit for beginners and/or children; there's no significant violence, controls are simple and the experience is joyful albeit a bit addicting. This game runs flawless on the Steam Deck.

This game is basically Snake...only without the snake, plus enemies and obstacles and a boost button that lets you go fast and smash through things. If you want to play Snake without the snake with some extra goodies, then this could be a good time-waster for you to pick up and play occasionally. For myself, I doubt I will play it much, but it was good for a bit of mindles fun, and only had minor annoying points (unlike plenty of higher-budget games). It's very basic, but still fairly well-made. There is no tutorial, no explanation or intro whatsoever, but you'll figure it out in a run or two anyway. There is no options menu and no control configuration—but there [i]are[/i] two sliders for music & sound effects in the in-game pause menu, and the controls are only arrow keys (or WASD) and space (or a gamepad if that's your thing). The HUD is perfectly serviceable and gives plenty of info. The menus work fine with mouse or keyboard. The graphics are probably the most professional aspect of the game. They're obviously simple, but have just enough to them to feel polished. Besides one or two small nitpicks, they are always pleasant and clear—never confusing and never obscuring things you want to see. The sound affects are nice and satisfying too. It feels good to smash through stuff. The levels on each run start out pretty small and easy with 5 objective locations and no enemies, and get larger and larger with more and more enemies, objectives, and obstacles. You "die" if you touch anything bad, but you have three lives and very often get refills within the level. There are 3 game modes, chosen randomly for each level: "Activate" (just touch objective markers), "Destroy" (Boost through objective markers), and "Deliver" (pick up letters and drop each one off at a different mailbox :) ). Enemies & obstacles are destroyed by boosting through them. There are enemies that shoot short-range bullets at you, and enemies with spikes on certain sides (so you have to boost into them from a different angle...but they often rotate as they move). There are a handful of different (cosmetic only) ship graphics to unlock with bonus points gathered in the game. For such a tiny game, unlocking the first one took longer than I expected, it was about 45 minutes for me. They all seem to be the same price, so it got much faster once I learned the game. Some bug reports & my nitpicks: [list] [*]If you pause and restart the game, you can then pause and resume the loading screen by pressing escape. :) [*]Also if you press enter or space during the loading screen after restarting, the objective generally changes once (just a visual bug). [*]The unskippable delay while showing the controls screen when starting the game was annoying. Especially for such a quick game, I just want to play it, not wait around. [*]Likewise...the loading screens, ugh. :| I'm not sure how a game this tiny even [i]has[/i] a loading screen, much less one that takes several seconds. You can complete half of the first level in that time. [*]I would have appreciated at least a small page of instructions, as well as a few words to explain each game mode. I'm not sure why developers these days are so allergic to using [i]words[/i] to explain things. [*]There are some blocks that appear to be part of the indestructible wall material...but some of them are destructible and some just kill you. The destructible ones do a little wiggle sometimes, so you can tell if you wait around, but that wasn't fun for me, just obnoxious. I don't see any reason for that. [*]The enemy bullets are actually probably the [i]least visible[/i] thing on screen, even though they are very dangerous. They fade between a dark red and a light grey color, both of which sometimes match the color or at least the brightness of the background. Traditional bright white and red bullets would be much nicer. [*]Some of the enemies are quite difficult in ways that felt more frustrating and unfair than challenging and fun. Some of the spiked enemies can abruptly change directions with no warning [i]just[/i] before you touch them, killing you. Likewise, some of the shooting enemies can spin around and spawn a bullet directly on top of you right as you would have destroyed them. I think there are other, equally-simple designs, like enemies that shoot more or faster bullets (but only in predictable bursts) that would be more fun and not feel unfair. [*]Just a note: I don't know what the timer thing does. Does it just give you extra points if you have time left? [/list]

Overall it's a fun casual game to play when you're taking a short break. I liked being able to zoom around the map and crash into things. It's fun to see how fast you can go without dying! The visuals and the music are charming and are very reminiscent of classic arcade games. The tasks are straightforward, and I liked that each level feels different. The game progressively becomes more challenging as you play it and will encourage you to try again to beat your high score.

Fun game, solid gamefeel. It's very simple, you just have four directional movement verbs (which instantly turn you in that direction) and an accelerate button (which you pretty much just hold down most of the time, though releasing it tactically is probably smart if you're better at the game). You have 3 lives, you restart at level 1 if you run out of lives. I've played for like an hour and a half or something, made it to like level 10 or 15 or so a few times. Will probably keep playing awhile longer. Couple of nitpicks I don't like about the game: [list] [*] It's a little hard to read when some of the enemies are "about to fire" versus "are currently firing" and you take damage if you collide with their weapon while they're "currently firing". The projectiles don't look the same when they're first spawning compared to after they've fully fired (there's kindof a muzzle flash that covers the projectile). It's possible to take out the enemy by just avoiding the whole front end of the enemy when hitting them, but I think this situation could feel a bit better. [*] If you collide with a wall you die and teleport back to the start of the level, I dunno why we can't just bounce off the wall, or maybe take a small amount of damage or something. [/list]

ZEROIZE is my absolute favorite retro game of all time. I dream about living in a mansion playing my very own ZEROIZE arcade cabinet. These devs know what I'm talking about. This is ZEROIZE for 2024. Full controller support using the D-pad while pressing A for turbo. Controls are flawless. If you love Zeroize as well, check out my Steam Curator group. https://steamcommunity.com/groups/indieretrogamers

Controls were easy to pick up on, as I was using keyboard, I feel like this game would be harder to play on controller because of how fast you are to press. (But I am biased to being keyboard) This game is a good break if because the mechanics are simple enough to not think much while playing whist having satisfying gameplay. I wish that there would be a better indicator on the package drops because I found myself drifting to the wrong drop locations. Maybe a mode where the turbo is permanent and some changed rules would be fun. Overall a great experience for what the game is worth.

Let me first say that I enjoyed playing this game! I like the art style and also the challenges the rooms provide. I got stuck in a level that I could complete because the last objective was not anywhere visible, ending my run, I hope this is addressed.

good game, worth the price theres a variety of elements that interact with the main turbo mechanic pretty well

Edit - Issues have been addressed, and there are still improvements being made. The game is fun, but there are issues I hope the developer addresses. The developer recommends using controller, and i'm not sure if it's an issue with my controller but I had a better time playing with keyboard. The movement is a bit janky, sometimes being a bit too sensitive for me sometimes not responding, could be my controller. Another thing is the hit boxes, they can be rather generous but also a bit tedious at times, letting you hit the 'walls' a bit but also getting you out if you get near a wall rather than hitting it. Because this is procedurally generated I experienced some of the things I had to activate within the same box as the wall, so I would end up risking a heart to complete the level. But I would also end up by respawning rather close to the wall and die immediately, mostly by my error I will admit. The art style is nice, it's not intrusive or ugly so that's good. Overall I enjoyed playing this and will play more, recommended.

Nice little arcade game. It's got everything that makes a good score-attack arcade: polished gameplay, interesting visuals (to me at least) and a nice scoring system that promotes risk/reward. Best enjoyed in short bursts. With the low price tag I'm happy to recommend if these type of games are up your alley. I'm certain that if it released on a real arcade during the 90's we'd have a 'cult classic' on our hands. My wish for the game is a daily/weekly steam leaderboard that would make it nice and competitive.