Players: 1
Platforms: PC
Release Date: May 19th, 2025
Developer: Grayfax Software
Publisher: PlaySim
Availability: Steam Store
Rating: Buy It
Grayfax Software has an illustrious future ahead of them if they can produce more games like this at this quality. Nitro Express is their nascent entry in the interactive entertainment industry, and it’s a real rocking title, if I must say so myself. It hearkens back to the classic 16-bit era of side-scrolling, action-platformers, but mostly focuses on a bullet-hell type experience, where the action is frantic yet focused. The highlight is that the game has a modest five hour runtime (if you include the story missions and the the mission mode levels), and has a pretty cool story to boot.
You can tell the developers are extremely fascinated and well read on gun culture, as the term nitro express relates directly with high-velocity cartridges. You’ll definitely be shooting a lot of those throughout the game, and using a variety of unique and varied weapons to do so. This was one of the things that instantly attracted me to the game: the weapon selection.
Excellent Gunplay For Gun-Gamers
You don’t have a vast arsenal of weapons at your disposal; this is not Escape from Tarkov. However, you do have access to classics like the M4, the AK-47, the FN-P90, AA-20, a double-barrell shotgun, an .50 caliber sniper rifle, a DMR, a bullpup rifle, an SMG, a rocket launcher, an emp detonator, mines, grenades, knives, grenade launcher, flamethrower, guided missiles, and a laser cannon. No pistols here.
What’s impressive is that each weapon has its own firing animations and reload animations. You play as one half of the Atypical Vehicle Disposal Squad, consisting of two female tactical officers and their commanding officer. In the field you have access to two weapons you can select from via the armory before each mission. You can unlock new weapons by playing through the story missions or the added bonus missions, as well as “writing” reports by rapidly tapping the ‘A’ button on the controller to earn extra bonus cash.
You use the cash to unlock new gadgets and weapons, which you can then level up by using them in the game. Each weapon has its use for different scenarios: shotguns are excellent when you’re swarmed in close quarters combat. The DMR and sniper rifles work great for stages like the construction site where enemies are at a distance and you need the range to snipe them effectively. The assault rifles work well in just about any scenario, along with the SMGs but they are less effective against heavily armored foes.
You’ll cycle through different weapons based on the stage and the situation. When facing off against tanks or heavily armored robots, you’ll want proximity explosives and anti-tank mines, whereas when you’re dealing with aerial enemies or highly mobile foes, the throwing items and gadgets work much more effectively.
I had a lot of fun unlocking and playing with the different weapon combinations, and found myself switching based on what I felt was most fun to use (and was effective) at the time. I thought the weapon selection was well balanced and varied enough to give the game a good sense of variety without feeling overwhelming or underwhelming. It’s a nice healthy selection to give players their own unique sense of play-style. The only thing that kind of bothered me was that the gadgets are attached to the weapon slots – so you can’t individually switch gadgets from the guns you’re using. But otherwise, it’s an intuitively designed game that’s easy to get into and fun to play.
More than anything, it’s a shame we don’t have more games designed like this – with a realistic selection of firearms based on real-life with leveling and the ability to buy the armament you need for the levels. Guns of Fury and Mercenary Kings are probably the two closest, and both are great for what they offer, but they are more metroidvania-style games whereas Nitro Express is a classic run-and-gun (some levels of Mercenary Kings are run-and-gun style, but most levels are designed as sandboxes).
A Story To Carry The Action
While most people aren’t going to pick up a 2D side-scroller for any kind of in-depth storytelling, I have to admit Grayfax Software did a fantastic job of setting up the universe and worldbuilding for Nitro Express. It’s set in a future where robots, known as “companions”, are a part of everyday life. But when they go rogue the AVDS is sent in to deal with the robots. It borrows a lot of elements from classic anime such as Angel Cop, Patlabor, Ghost in the Shell and most definitely A.D Police.
The art-style is nowhere near as dark as the aforementioned anime, though, and it has more of a light-hearted design, but with characters very reminiscent of Dirty Pair. This keeps the game’s levity intact without it veering too far down a dark path, despite it being about rogue robot terrorist attacks.
The story unfolds at a quick pace, without getting in the way of the action (for the most part). The comms interruptions are similar to Metal Gear Solid, and can pop up during the gameplay – some of them can be ignored as you play through the level, while others have to be accessed in order to progress through the game.
What surprised me most was how streamlined the storytelling was and how well it helped bring the world to life and make the levels and motivations feel a lot more convincing. The back half of the game also experiments with some unique gameplay elements that tie into the game’s story, such as stealth segments that are heavily inspired by Metal Gear Solid – they’re a bit clunky to play through given the limited controls, but I could see what they were going for.
One of the most inspired segments is a freeway chase in the police van, reminiscent of the highway segment from T2: The Arcade Game with the van and the helicopter, but the execution is far superior here in Nitro Express, as you actually have ways to dodge incoming fire and you use the loadout you selected from the armory, so you fare far better here than in T2: The Arcade Game.
Another noteworthy thing about the story is that the cinematics at the end are done really well and amp up the anticipation for the final boss with an equally awesome soundtrack. It’s a real shame that Guns of Fury had such a lackluster story, as how it was told and what it was about came across really lame and lazy. Some people might argue that it’s hard to tell a compelling story via a Metroidvania, but Blasphemous and Bloodstained prove you can tell compelling stories via that format quite easily. Mercenary Kings also unveiled its stories through mission unlocks and interacting with NPCs you rescued. Guns of Fury could have done something similar. But I digress. The main point is that Grayfax did a lot with a little to make the players care with a story that was somewhat predictable but still very engaging, and this had a lot to do with the level design and story framing.
Future-Contemporary Tokyo Brought To Life
The depiction of Nitro City, Tokyo, is set in the future but carries a lot of the contemporary flair that people love about current day (or retro-futuristic) Tokyo. The art-design here really shines brightly – as the levels all make sense and are designed to make the game world feel like it’s taking place in a relatively realistic setting.
The city streets aren’t just a repeating set of static parallax templates, and the sewer stage is a HUGE departure from the typical sewer stages in games that consist of samey greenish-brown pipes and a boring set of maze-like corridors where you fight endless enemies and get super frustrated. Instead, Nitro Express has its sewer take place in the aqueducts set against the backdrop of docks housing overlooking the waterway where the sewage flows through the canals. It’s a bright, gorgeous, well designed level that looks great, plays great, and is streamlined, fast, and fun. A complete departure from every other sewer stage in the existence of gaming.
In many ways, the tone of Nitro Express reminds me a lot of the pace and settings featured in Shock Troopers 2. Thanks to the domesticated urban setting, and modern architecture, it makes the levels feel familiar without feeling droll or boring. It also avoids an imbroglio of architecture or designs that some futuristic games get trapped in, where you’re moving through maze-like structures and non-sensical pathways because… “future”. Here, you have sensible layouts with levels that feel realistic within the context of the world and storytelling, and that really helps make the game feel engaging and engrossing.
If I did have a gripe with the levels, it’s that there were a few missed opportunities for some classic level designs. For instance, there is a tease that you have to take an elevator to the top floor to face the boss, and I was all prepared to ride the elevator and do the typical elevator fight as found in countless games like Streets of Rage or Fighting Force or River City Girls. But sadly, no elevator stage here. Major bummer.
(Maybe in the sequel?)
Jazz-Fusion City-Pop To Fuel The Action
As mentioned, a lot of the action is fueled by a non-stop jazz-fusion, city-pop soundtrack collected from the royalty free Dova-Syndrome. The music is surprisingly fitting despite the fact that it’s royalty-free. But city-pop fusion fits a game like this, and feels like a slice from classic late 1970s and 1980s anime, where upbeat contemporary tunes helped fuel the action on-screen.
Here the music is upbeat and motivated, and – as mentioned – perfectly fitting during the brief cinematic sequences. You would have assumed the tunes were finely honed and crafted specifically for the game. So props to GrayFax for selecting the right kind of music to help make the game’s action feel lissome and fluid.
Music can definitely make or break an entertainment property. It sets the tone, it changes the mood, and it helps setup how those engaging with the property will feel when doing so. And in this case, Nitro Express has very fitting music for its atmosphere, story, and action.
Is Nitro Express Replayable
So, the big question to wrap all of this up: is this game worth the price of entry and is it replayable for what you pay for it?
The simple answer is yes. It’s worth the price of entry, despite being relegated to 30fps and not having controller rumble. I wish it was 60fps and supported controller rumble, but it doesn’t have those. Oh well. Maybe we might get those features in the sequel? Who knows.
In any case, this is the kind of game you can replay over and over again, and enjoy it just as much each time you play it. This is also the kind of game you pop on when you don’t feel like having to invest in something large scale and time consuming. You can play for five or ten minutes and feel satisfied. The multiple additional missions you can play and unlock also add to the flavor of the game, so it gives you something to continue to work toward even after you beat the main story.
The added unlockable weapons and gadgets, as well as the ability to level them up means you can easily return to Nitro Express for multiple play sessions. It’s also the sort of game that feels fun to play just to play it, not unlike classics like Streets of Rage 2, Jurassic Park 2 (on the SNES), or the very best run-and-gun games ever made, the original Metal Slug trilogy (along with Metal Slug X).
If you’re interested in supporting the developer and adding a worthwhile 2D shooter to your library, Nitro Express is well worth it. There is no wokeness to worry about, despite the two leads being females, and it doesn’t engage in any of the kind of degenerative Western sociopolitics that has plagued every other AAA Western release for the last decade. So have fun, enjoy your time, and support developers who actually enjoy making fun games instead of using the medium as a pulpit to proselytize regressive ideologies.
