Blazing Trail (PS5) | REVIEW | An Unconventional Military Shmup

Blazing Trail, a game developed by Ratalaika Games and published by EastAsiaSoft, is an unconventional isometric military shoot 'em up. This isometric tank control take on vehicular combat has you, as one of two escaping Brazilian scientists driving from a terrorist owned facility in the combat vehicles they were forced to create in order to make sure said vehicles don't fall into the hands of said terrorists. What you get is a one to two player experience with a tacked on versus mode in which the base goal is to eradicate the enemy using three different projectiles, and two different types of mines all while rescuing other hostages for upgrades.

The gameplay in Blazing Trail is simple, yet inconveniently complicated. Your manned combat vehicle operates with tank controls for directional movement and targeting allowing for the firing of unlimited machine gun bullets, limited lasers, and limited rockets. Each doing their own set amount of damage to soldiers, and other armed and armored vehicles. Leaving the mines to be a strategic option for damaging pursuing enemies. 

As the experimental combat vehicle gets hit damage depletes vehicle health, and when health is fully depleted you restart from the beginning of the stage via explosion. In addition to this you have a cooldown/stamina type gauge for laser and rocket usage. These latter two weapon options being a limited commodity in combat with higher damage yield. In order to upgrade in this particular shmup you'll need to clear enemies surrounding hostage shacks, and collect the fleeing hostages. 

The Verdict ...

You're probably wondering why this review was so cut and dry, and there's a good explanation for this. The combat in the game involving the shot types were functionally broken leaving the machine gun to shoot sometimes at the side and other times at the forward facing angle. These shot inconsistencies alongside limitations in situations where avoiding damage was almost impossible, if not impossible made it so I couldn't even complete stage one. This is a control, and gameplay issue that will not be easily fixed as it is all a foundational part of the gameplay loop. I cannot recommend this game in the state it's in. It's unfair, and functionally flawed to a point completing it is an uphill battle.