Project Nimbus: Complete Edition remasters the anime mecha dogfighter
Glow-up, then blow up.
Launching in the middle of a Steam sale is risky, but re-launching with a fancy expanded remaster? A good reason to give Project Nimbus: Complete Edition another look. It's an aerial shooter, basically Ace Combat with Gundams, with all the melodramatic battle chatter, multi-lock swarm missiles and glossy mission briefings that implies. Originally by GameCrafterTeam, today's Complete Edition is a comprehensive rework produced by GameTomo for consoles. It's a free upgrade for anyone with the old 2017 version, and discounted for new players. Below, a new trailer.
Project Nimbus is a game about excess. Rather than worrying about minor damage, this is all about barrelling through a dozen enemies at a time and watching them explode behind you as your swirly Itano Circus homing missiles hit. Even machineguns lock on and automatically lead targets, so the game becomes less about precision gunnery than picking which targets to wreck first. If nothing is exploding, then you're probably doing something wrong.
Early mechs behave a little bit more like Ace Combat aircraft, but able to lock on and shoot precisely in any direction. Later ones are pure Gundam nonsense, unshackled by the laws of physics and able to change direction in a split-second, or just charge in with a giant laser sword. It's a power fantasy, and a very nice-looking one too, with support for ultra-widescreen and high refresh rates in this re-release. The voice acting in this new version is no slouch either.
A trailer for the original version, for comparison's sake. The re-release changes a ton.
This is a big game, too. A 26-mission story campaign is the meat and potatoes of Project Nimbus, but there's a pair of extra modes that are worth a stab. Survival Mode is your usual wave-based horde fight, but Warfront mode is far more interesting. A story-free dynamic campaign of sorts, where you pick a faction and start out flying their slowest, trashiest sky-bots, and spend points earned on your missions to buy new mechs or upgrade favourites. It's a clever way to extend the life of the game, and give those normally NPC-only fodder units a reason to exist.
Project Nimbus: Complete Edition is out now on Steam, and £11.61/€14.99/$14.99 in the sale. It also includes the old version of the game, but there's little reason to play that.