Stabika 4: Retribution

Future soldiers are always pictured with some kind of body augmentations in movies and video games, because it seems plausible for some reason. Whether it’s improved vision, increased speed or deadly accuracy, anything is better than the puny human body. However, add too many artificial components and the situation can take a wrong turn somewhere, and you’ve got yourself a Skynet problem.

Stabika 4: Retribution is a 2D action-platformer in which you play the role of a powerful soldier in a nearly indestructible suit of armor. This allows him to take on multiple enemies at a time, as well as rip them apart with some sort of grappling hook. While the game is not very complex in any regard, you can have moderate amounts of fun with it, at least if you don’t stumble into game-breaking glitches.

The story is quite simple as well, although you need to be familiar with the previous episodes in order to understand it in its entirety. In short, the main character’s armor is designed with the purpose of taking on the bad guys, yet he wasn’t consulted on it first. Thus, although he chooses to go along with the plan, he’s also very eager for revenge on the people who betrayed him.

The gameplay is pretty basic for an action-platformer, which means that you’ll mostly deal with enemies, jump over gaps and traps, as well as use the environment to your advantage. However, it is worth noting that the attack animations are a tad too slow, and it requires a bit of getting used to before you are able to take out enemies without being shot a few times first.

On the other hand, there are a lot of issues with the platforming mechanics, because you’ll often find yourself stuck in various objects. The developers even included a special action that jiggles the character to help you break free, but this does not always work. The animations are forced and uninspired sometimes, and they also cause a few glitches as well.

Although it’s obvious that a lot of effort went into Stabika 4: Retribution, which includes the interesting story and the voice acting, the game has major issues in the gameplay department. Thus, it may be too frustrating to play for some, especially when there are far better alternatives out there.