Revolution 60 is like Charlie’s Angels in space

By

Revolution60_Screen
Beautiful 3D rendering and smooth animation are Revolution 60's undeniable strong points.

A year ago, I heard about an intriguing potential game in the making, a possible hybrid of games like Mass Effect and Heavy Rain, two of my all-time favorite console games. This alone was enough to pique my interest, but once I found out it starred a crack black ops team of lycra-clad ladies like Charlie’s Angels, I was sold.

Ambitious and innovative, Revolution 60 offers an iOS experience like no other. With gorgeous 3D animations, bold interactive gameplay and intriguing plot, Giant Spacekat brings to life a team of four futuristic female operatives assigned a mission to re-establish control of a compromised space station. As the sharp-tongued and strong-willed protagonist Holiday, you’ll find yourself balancing your decision-making between the needs of two of your subordinates – the compassionate Amelia and authoritarian Minuet.

Revolution 60’s gameplay is also pretty fantastic. You’ll get action events, combat and a rather in-depth dialogue system, letting you influence how the game plays out, whether you choose to side with Minuet rather than Amelia or if you decide to follow orders or go rogue. A proficiency score, based on how well the action scenes have been undertaken, is the overall deciding factor for where the story will take you and how choices are affected further on in the game.

Developer Giant Spacekat manages to capture everything great about the action and adventure genre, adding some classic sci-fi storytelling and selling it to us through a series of choices, dialogue, events and combat sequences. The game’s initial opening sequence will pique your interest from the get-go, dropping you straight in the middle of a mission gone awry. You’ll then play your way through a succession of tutorials and various film-like scenes as the action unfolds right before your eyes.

Rev60_Screen-combat
The combat system is slow-paced and rather dull, but improves significantly in ‘Girlfriend’ mode.

Where Revolution 60 fails to deliver, however, is in the slow-moving combat system — on the first play-through, it can be frustrating. You are placed into a giant grid, and you’ll have to use your abilities to evade and attack while avoiding getting shot. The battles are bewilderingly at random; sometimes it’ll be a while before one arrives then all of a sudden there will be a wave of three enemies, one after the other.

Though the QuickTime Events are a bit weak and seem oddly placed, the story is strong enough to overlook those minor imperfections. All of the characters are well-developed, accompanied by some excellent voice-work, strong dialogue and beautiful cinematics. The storyline is greatly entertaining, extremely well-told and full of wit.

At $5.99 it’s great value for the money, especially considering its awesome New Game+ Girlfriend mode, which unlocks as soon as you complete normal difficulty. It’s harder, much more challenging, and delivers a faster, more exciting combat system, which’ll keep you on your toes. All in all, Revolution 60 is a deep and immersive iOS experience like no other.

rev60thumbRevolution 60 by Giant Spacekat ($5.99 full game unlock)
The good: An surprisingly deep storyline and beautifully rendered 3D graphics.
The bad: Dull combat system that doesn’t pick up until second play through.
The verdict: A in-depth experience in its own league entirely.
Buy from App Store

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