Operation Steel Review (Nintendo Switch OLED)

by Jim Smale · Published July 8, 2024 · Updated July 25, 2024

Operation Steel Review is a roguelike shoot-em-up rendered in beautiful hand-drawn art. Blow up loads of enemies, destroy huge bosses, find weapons, and upgrade your load-out between levels. Combat the electronic legion across 20+ procedurally generated levels.

Operation Steel Review Pros:

Decent graphics.
268MB download size.
Own in-game achievements.
Accessibility options – show hitbox, dim background, reduce flashing, and auto-shot.
Shmup roguelike gameplay.
Optional tutorial level.
One life runs.
Every time you play you earn points towards unlocking new weapons for future runs.
The ride-based level structure is where you choose your own path.
Big boss encounters.
2D perspective.
Local leaderboards.
Can remap controls.
Power-ups can be collected when playing.
On-screen, Hud shows the score, credits, armor, and bombs.
The difficulty changes as you play with an optional bar showing what you are currently on and how full the bar is until the next difficulty kicks in.
Easy to learn controls.
Massive unlocks list.
Four ways to play – new run, novice mode, time attack, and boss Rush.
Four ships to unlock each having unique stats for – armor, speed, and weapon.
Pick up gems and coins from enemies.
You see the boss’s health bar.
After beating a boss you can pick one of three random upgrades and spend cash on things like repairing, improving guns, etc.
Your arsenal lets you have multiple weapons that you can swap between, and you have smart bombs that kill everything on the screen.
At the start and during a run you choose your destination from two locations, if a new star map fragment is available to find the game will tell you which location.

Operation Steel Review Cons:

Boss Rush has to be unlocked.
No customisation for your ship.
The game doesn’t explain all the different modes.
It gets hard at times to distinguish Gunfire.
No Colourblind support.
Doesn’t have online leaderboards.
The game is stingy with its rewards like you only get one armour back at a time.
Slow starter.
The first part of the run always feels the same.

Related Post: Oxytone Review (Nintendo Switch OLED)