"Heavy Fire: Red Shadow" Review

A rough-hewn turret shooter that feels rushed and underdeveloped, Mastiff's "Heavy Fire: Red Shadow" wears out its slim premise quickly, giving you little reason to return to its repetitive format in order to slog through its dense chain of unlocks.

Taking a "Homefront"-style conflict between the U.S. and North Korea, you set up turrets on a beachhead reminiscent of the D-Day storming of Normandy. As enemy ships approach from a distance, you line up shots at long distance and short range, steadily dispatching the onslaught of troops.

The shooting is thrilling at times, but success too often feels more based on luck than skill. The opposite is also true, with unseen enemies obliterating your defenses before you make much progress, ratcheting up the frustration factor to unforgivable levels.

Weak visuals and lackluster sound design can't compete with the "Battlefield" and "Call of Duty" entries of the world. Indie efforts usually disguise a lack of technical muster with throwback retro design, and that might have been an incongruous yet necessary way to go here. As it stands, the game looks and plays something like a relic from the PS2/Xbox generation.

A flimsy premise with little to build on, "Heavy Fire: Red Shadow" is an odd misfire that works only as a brief stress reliever, allowing you to let loose on a swarm of faceless enemies. The amount of stress it heaps on you due to technical deficiencies, though, negates much of what little there is that makes the game work.
Publisher provided review code.