Taro about to kick some serious ass.
Steel Assault is a 2021 action-platformer game developed by Zenovia Interactive and published by Tribute Games, following the side-scrolling template made popular by old-timey Run-and-Gun arcade classics.
In an aftermath of a nuclear leak in the 2030s, most of the cities in North America were reduced to wastelands after being excessively irradiated. A power-hungry billionaire and industrialist, Magnus Pierce, rules over the survivors with his private army after ordering a widescale massacre of everyone opposing him, and intends to reshape the world in his image by recovering old technology of the past to enforce his regime.
All hope lies in the player's hero - Taro Takahashi, an elite member of a La Résistance unit, who had a vendetta against Pierce because his parents were among the resistance members executed during Pierce's takeover. A highly-skilled soldier and pilot, and an expert with his electrified whip, dual-sided grappling hook launcher, Taro will kick all sorts of ass and take on Pierce's legion of lieutenants before confronting the villain in his hideout.
Steel Assault contains examples of the following tropes:
- After the End: The game is set after an apocalypse which turns most of the world's city into ruins. And then a power-hungry figure of authority, General Pierce, took over control and made himself a dictator.
- Airborne Mooks: Hovering robot drones, robot ships, Jet Pack mooks, and Mook Mobile hoverplanes. Many of these are weak but difficult-to-hit enemies, who tends to fly above Taro's reach or attack him in areas with platforming elements.
- Animal Mecha:
- "Mastodon Crusher" is a robotic mastodon (well, no doy). With a chainsaw in place of its trunk which it will swing at Taro constantly.
- Captain Balthazar Kline commandeers a robot Sand Worm to fight Taro during his boss battle.
- Theta Hydron is a two-headed robotic hydra.
- Major Harris sics giant gryphon and kirin mecha on Taro for his boss battle.
- Auto-Scrolling Level: "Heart of Concrete", where Taro is on a heavily-armored, gadget-laden motorboat on autopilot at full speed crossing a sea filled with enemies. Said boat has a turret on its top which Taro can use to shoot at mooks.
- Bait-and-Switch Boss:
- Major Harris from the plant stage initially appears as a regular, unarmed scientist, which Taro confronts in a room containing a wide chasm at the end of the level. But Taro turns out to be confronting a hologram - the actual Major Harris is on the other end of the chasm. He then unleashes the plant's defenses on Taro, firstly dispensing turrets, and then sending two gigantic animal mecha, respectively a gryphon and a kirin, one at a time. Once the kirin is destroyed, an explosion then sends the real Harris halfway through the room, landing right next to Taro.
- The penultimate battle against General Pierce. After a cutscene, Pierce jumps into a nearby chasm... from which suddenly a giant robot under Pierce's control emerges.
- Battle Couple: Husband and wife Colonel Daigo and Ayane Nakamoto, who form a Dual Boss attacking Taro simultaneously.
- Battle in the Rain:
- The first stage, "City of Shattered Glass", has Taro fighting enemies in rain-drenched city streets.
- The following level, "Hug of Thunder" is similarly set in a rain-drenched forest. And the downpour actually lasts the entire stage.
- It rains, again, during the stage where Taro pursues General Pierce's transport in an aerial chase, while he battles robotic mooks and turrets in his way.
- Big Bad: General Magnus Pierce, who started a hostile takeover of the entire city and became the country's supreme dictator.
- Big Guy, Little Guy: Taro's boss fight against the Nakamoto couple have this vibe; Daigo pilots a building-sized Humongous Mecha, while his wife Ayane wears a set of Powered Armour with her sprite size roughly the same as Taro's. Most of the battle have Daigo trying to trample over Taro while Ayane flies around taking potshots.
- Blob Monster: They show up in the factory area, appearing as a single mechanical core which somehow draws surrounding slime and gel to form a blob-like surrounding body. Hitting them in blob form will dissolve these monsters into a puddle, and Taro needs to destroy the core to prevent it from reforming.
- David Versus Goliath: It's actually easier to list the bosses that avert this trope. All of them (except Ayane and the second stage of the Final Boss Pierce) pilot gigantic machines taking up most of the screen, compared to Taro who battles them on foot. With Taro's electric whip against missiles, cannons, turrets and all kinds of heavy weaponry. And winning.
- Double Jump: Taro can jump in mid-air thanks to the biotechnic enhancements built in his suit. There's several levels where he needs to jump multiple times while in mid-air, either for climbing shafts or crossing platforms.
- Elevator Action Sequence: The stage leading to Magnus' penthouse via ascending elevator have enemies dropping in left and right, that Taro needs to defeat before reaching the top.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: The hero, Taro, has a long red scar on his forehead's left side, which is visible on his onscreen sprite. Said scar even shows up on the game's logo!
- Grappling-Hook Pistol: Taro has a two-way grappling hook in his equipment, which fires a long wire with a hook on each end (either horizontally or vertically) to help him climb on structures. He seems to have an infinite amount of hooks as well, which he needs in levels requiring plenty of climbing or navigating his way over Bottomless Pits.
- Harder Than Hard: Taken to its Logical Extreme with Arcade Mode, in which losing all health at any point forces the player to restart the game from scratch.
- Hover Bike: Mooks on rocket-boosted motorcycles are another enemy in the city areas.
- Industrial Ghetto: "Decay Chain" is set in one, with the background being a heavily-polluted industrialized zone with factories and nuclear reactors all over the place.
- Kirin: The second Animal Mecha Mini-Boss sent by Major Harris to battle Taro is a robot Kirin. Who spends the whole battle pouncing all over the place besides dispensing additional mooks through a hatch, and even has a Rolling Attack it constantly uses to charge at Taro.
- Lightning Lash: Taro's default weapon is his electric whip that can easily cover several meters in front of him, and is even deadlier than the firearms used by mooks.
- Locomotive Level: The first stage has Taro entering a subway train from the back carriage and making his way to the front, destroying every mook in his way. It ends with Taro facing the boss, Lt. Karla Schmidt, who pilots a mecha and rips off the train's roof to attack Taro.
- Mechanical Monster:
- The forest level has Mecha Agni, a gigantic robot serving as a mid-level Mini-Boss who starts off as two Giant Hands of Doom coming out of the water to attack Taro from below, before revealing itself. The robot will alternate between submerging and using its hands for attacking, or sticking itself out the surface to fire projectiles until it's destroyed.
- And then there's Mecha Agni 2.0, an upgraded version of the above appearing on the top of Magnus' penthouse, who is far stronger than the previous. Which Taro needs to destroy before he heads off to confront Pierce.
- Mirror Match: The Final Boss, General Pierce, after defeating his giant robot, will then fight Taro hand-to-hand using his Laser Sword. They fight like clones of each other, with equal speed and deals the same amount of devastating damage on each other, although Pierce will occasionally unleash a Sword Beam on Taro.
- Mission Control: During gameplay, Taro's liaison, Lieutenant Sonia Singh, will occasionally contact him for objective upgrades and feeding information.
- Neck Lift: Taro interrogating Major Harris has him grabbing the latter by his jugular.Taro: Start talking! [fingers on Harris' neck]
Harris: Magnus is insane! He's planning on attacking the UN! - One-Man Army: Taro, who wipes out entire platoons of human soldiers, robots, and war machines with his trusty whip each stage.
- Our Hydras Are Different: Theta Hydron is a two-headed robot hydra, whose lower body resembles closer to a crab than a serpent. Justified since it's, well, an artificially-created robot and not the real deal.
- Rising Water, Rising Tension: The factory interior has a segment where Taro must climb upwards a series of platforms and conveyor belts, just as a chemical spill occurs, causing the entire structure to be flooded. Touching the chemicals will cost Taro a life, and besides jumping he'll also need to use his grappling hook to send himself upwards while dealing with flying robots and drones.
- Robot Dog: Yellow robotic canines occasionally show up guarding enemy bases, and they attack either by pouncing on Taro or firing missiles from their backs.
- Sequential Boss: General Magnus Pierce, who first unleashes a gigantic robot on Taro before facing the hero in direct combat.
- Spider Tank: Red, spider-like tanks on four legs are another recurring enemy. With dual flamethrowers attached to their sides.
- This Is a Drill: Balthazar Kline's Sand Worm mech has a drill in place of its head, which he will use alongside his turrets to attack Taro. Said drill can also open apart to reveal a powerful laser turret.
- Underside Ride: One stage near the end has Taro clinging to the underbelly of an ascending airborne cruiser, and fighting airborne enemies coming at him from left and right.
- Unexpected Gameplay Change: The battle against Theta Hydron switches perspective from a side-view to behind-the-back, with Taro taking control of a bunch of turrets to blast the monster.
- Vengeance Feels Empty: Taro Takahashi has just defeated General Magnus Pierce, the man responsible for the death of his parents. When Taro's superior points out that he finally got his vengeance, he remarks that he doesn't feel like he got much of anything. As it happens, Pierce still had followers at large trying to take over the United States, so Taro gladly continues the war with a battleship he had just nicked.
- Wave-Motion Gun: Most of the bosses, such as Mastodon Crusher, Balthazar's worm mech, and Theta Hydron, have one of these installed (via Breath Weapon), allowing them to fire an energy beam taller than Taro. To avoid getting damaged, Taro must jump (and occasionally cling on higher surfaces via grappling hook).
- Weak Turret Gun: The mobile turret enemies, who are smaller and shorter than Taro and can be blown up with a soft touch from Taro's trusty electric whip. Although they tend to be placed in tricky, hard-to-reach areas for taking potshots at Taro.
- You Killed My Father: As seen in a flashback in the opening credits, Taro's vengeance towards General Pierce is caused by Pierce ordering the execution of Taro's parents, together with the rest of the resistance, during the General's rise to power.
Sonia: Pierce still has clusters of followers vying for power around the country.
Hiro: Well, now that we have this battleship... why not we pay them a visit?
Hiro: Well, now that we have this battleship... why not we pay them a visit?
