Viral Reload EX review

There’s something refreshing about a shoot ‘em that shirks overcomplication. Viral Reload EX from Retrocade Media is that kind of stripped-down experience. There are no power-ups or bombs that act like a panic button when things are about to go sideways. Viral Reload EX gives you three ships, a steady stream of fire by holding a button down, and the ability to dash. That’s everything, and it’s often enough.

Viral Reload EX’s setup is wonderfully silly: it’s 2063, and a washed-up rocker named Kyle Kaboom has begun kidnapping the former members of his band and infecting them with deadly viruses. You and a talking octopus climb into a machine that shrinks you down to microscopic size to fight off the infections from the inside, recalling the ‘60s sci-fi film, Fantastic Voyage. Living up to his surname, Kyle wants to blow up the moon. You can’t let him do that, of course. We need the moon.

Ride Your Wave

Curiously, Viral Reload EX plays less like a traditional vertically-scrolling STG and more like Galaga with its numbered stage counter. Like Namco’s beloved title, you’ll face enemy formations and must shoot down all of your foes before moving on to the next wave. Every ten stages, you’ll face one of Viral Reload EX’s bosses. There’s no tutorial and honestly, lessons aren’t needed.

Instead, you’ll learn as you go. Some enemies wil flash before attacking, others linger at the top of the screen, periodically releasing sweeping laser blasts. Expectedly, you’ll learn the rhythm of EX’s foes, zipping around and earning extra points for i-framing through bullets.

What I like best is that there’s no wasted time. Instead of making you sit through a step-by-step explanation of the game’s rather simple toolbox, Viral Reload EX conveys information on the different wallpapers that flank the vertical playfield. That’s the way old coin-ops would communicate information and its difficult to not appreciate this nod to the past.

Learning by Exploding

Yet for all of Viral Reload EX’s glorious minimalism, there are a few things that don’t sit right with me. The main issue is that failure means redoing an entire wave. That’s not a huge issue when confronting stages of subordinates. But it is immensely frustrating during a multi-part boss battle. Without any check-pointing, a single mistake can undo several minutes of fighting. For a game built around precision dashing, that’s a punishing amount of repetition for a micro-second of carelessness.

On a smaller scale, EX doesn’t do enough to incentive your efforts. There are no unlockables, no new gear, ships, weapons, or any other kind of meta-progression. Instead, there are 21 different achievements to chase. But a few of them them are almost sadistic. Clearing a boss fight without dashing might be technically achievable, but it feels like training for a full-court three-pointer. If that’s your thing, I admire your patience.

One Last Dash?

Viral Reload EX is a lean, mean, rather simple shoot ‘em up that trusts a dash mechanic with carrying the experience. And the game occasionally comes close to making that approach work. But some checkpointing and incentives would definitely add to the experience. If you’re frustration-avoidant, I’d recommend waiting for the possibility of a Viral Reload EX+ edition. I have a feeling that others won’t appreciate the do-overs.

Viral Reload EX was played on Switch 2 with review code provided by the publisher.