Incoming Forces

My first few minutes with Incoming Forces told me everything I needed to know: you are the alien now. Set 20 years after the original Incoming, the roles have reversed and humanity has become the aggressor, sending its armada to wipe out alien worlds. You step into the Kaiyodo defence force and spend the next few hours swatting enemy waves across a 16-mission linear campaign. That premise alone is a neat flip for anyone who played the original, and it gives the sequel a reason to exist beyond being a simple content pack. The vehicle roster is where the game earns its modest keep. Across the campaign you rotate through hover-tank buggies, agile jet fighters with absurdly arcade-style strafing capability, fixed laser turrets, and aerial escorts. None of them are modelled with simulation depth - this is pure point-and-shoot - but switching vehicles every few missions keeps the pacing lively enough that boredom doesn't fully set in. The mouse controls for the aircraft in particular feel responsive and immediate, which matters a lot when the screen is full of incoming projectiles. Sub-missions include aerial attacks on enemy installations, escorting allied craft, and holding ground against enemy fighter waves, so there is at least some surface variety in objectives even if the core loop never changes: approach target, wait for reticle to turn red, hold fire until things explode. The honest criticism is that the AI opponents are about as threatening as cardboard. Even on harder difficulty settings, enemy units swarm predictably without much tactical behaviour, which drains any sense of tension from the later missions. The original Incoming had a graphical wow factor that carried players through its repetitive stretches - Incoming Forces arrived without that same edge, and reviewers at the time noted it landed as a competent but unremarkable shooter. The Steam community reflects that: mixed reception, hovering just over half positive across several hundred reviews. A segment of those negative reviews also flag compatibility headaches on modern Windows, so check community guides before diving in if you are on Windows 10 or 11. What the game does exceptionally well - and this is worth saying clearly - is deliver the sensation of being inside a fireworks factory. Explosions are dense, colourful, and genuinely satisfying in a way that explains why this series built its original fanbase. If your bar is "I want to spend an evening blowing things up without reading a tutorial", Incoming Forces clears it. It is a short, throwback arcade shooter that knows its lane. Fans of the original Incoming, or anyone with nostalgia for early-2000s PC action titles, will find enough here for a session or two. Everyone else should temper expectations accordingly.

Alex · Scout Team

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