CILLA | PS5 Review

Life. Is it important in the grand scheme of things? Do lives matter in war and conflict? These are the questions the game tries to answer through it's titular protagonist and a whole host of joining UEF personnel who aim to stop an alien threat that threatens humanity's survival. 

CILLA, the female heroine, is a super soldier who has been revived to lead the mission against the alien invaders. She happens to be an emotionless killing machine, borne in lab, that does not value life, nor fear death yet she is appointed as the would be savior of mankind.

As CILLA fights in the pilot seat of a UEF spacecraft she slowly but surely begins to question the morality, and justification of the killing she's done. She ponders, through back and forth radio banter with other UEF fighter pilots and leaders, the reasoning behind the killing of aliens, and the potential threat of death to those she serves. A constant flow of dialogue featuring contrasting points of view wherein CILLA is looked at as being less than human, but expected to sympathize and save the very humans she fights for.

Gameplay, as important as it should be, comes of as a barebones means to portray the humans versus aliens conflict on a morally aligned scale. It is setup like a side scrolling horizontal shmup with a single button shot, and a very limited power-up system that only serves to help keep CILLA alive long enough to make it to the end tally screen, and the next mission inline as CILLA only has 25 health points before it's time to restart. Not only is the gameplay basic by design, but the enemy variety also offers little in the way of variety. Only serving to fill up a short listed codex style bestiary made accessible via the main menu screen. 

Mission by mission your the gameplay as CILLA will be interrupted by heavy handed dialogue script screens featuring character avatars and contextual conversations. This details the ongoing relationship with CILLA and her recruiters as well as her ongoing moral dilemma. Something she must come to terms with as she chooses life and death for either side of the war. 

As you complete missions, which are a simple flyby of basic bullet hell shooting against alien craft, you will aim to clear as many enemy ships as possible. This adds to an overall score based upon the number of each enemy type you were able to takedown in each mission. Resulting in a final star grade dependent on clearing perfection. 

The problem with this lies with the inability to fairly dodge bullets, and avoid damage. There is no avoiding taking hits, and the only way to mitigate damage is to use either shield or health power-ups that rarely show up. That and the limited time shot type power-ups are your only means to clear the set number of enemy ships and stay alive.

The Presentation ...

CILLA as a game looks like it uses AI-like art panels for intro sequences as well as possible AI character art, but I cannot confirm that. All I know is that the art has a painted quality about it that is not the best of quality, and is not consistent. In-game the gameplay also suffers from a bland parallax background, and reused enemy ships that fly in familiar patterns. The only thing breaking up the monotony is the character dialogue which is displayed on a visually intrusive dialogue panel that hosts character radio conversations. That aside, the music is alright with an 80's techno-vibe that is much better than it's gameplay counterparts.

The Verdict ...

As a shmup CILLA leaves a lot to be desired. It is bland, boring, and basic. Not only is it that, but gameplay is lacking in nearly every way. From the gunplay to the power-up system it is too barebones to be a proper competitor in the genre. Outside of the gameplay the moral dilemma of CILLA is overshadowed by poorly translated dialogue, and convoluted conversations that make CILLA seem more arrogant than some prophetic messenger about the meaning of life. In fact the context of the conversation seems crass. Brute forcing an obvious point that could have, and should have been better delivered. 

As a shmup it fails. As a moral story the message is lost. The sum of it's parts do not add up to a fun time nor do they offer a proper fairly applied challenge with a moral. The game comes off as being more preachy than it is a game, and that's where it loses my favor. I cannot recommend this one as it does nothing it sets out to achieve. At least not in the way it should have.