Evasion from cluster 42

Very indie space shooter with some nice ideas and too many technical issues. Update: The latest patch fixed both the "freeze" issue and non-working gamepad. The game works as intended now so I'm changing the review to "recommended". However, this is still a very problematic game with many issues. Get it at a heavy discount. Unfortunately, the game's theme revolves around technical issues. Before I could play the game, I had to complete a benchmark, which crashed my game. Although everything worked properly the second time, the first impression wasn't great. Even worse, the game's gamepad compatibility is utterly broken, or it is simply incompatible with my gamepad. When you first enter the game and pick the gamepad as your primary device, the game freezes and displays the message "Gamepad not found." Furthermore, it says to press a key to play without the gamepad, but that doesn’t do anything. To make matters even stranger, the fire button on the gamepad functions because you can hear the firing sound in the background. Because you can't even get back to the main menu, the only way to fix it is to force-quit the game and play with the keyboard. And that's not fun. Anyway, the game begins with a brief tutorial in which you pilot a spacecraft with maximum firearms. Shortly later, you're attacked by a shockwave that destroys everything. Only you and your miserable escape pod are able to escape. Although there is an arcade mode, the campaign has much more to offer. This includes voice acting with a thick accent and a less-than-professional tone. The objective of the game is to go on missions to collect resources, fix your base, and fly away in a rocket. Everything you need can be found by destroying enemies and objects. Things you can acquire are divided as temporary power-ups or bonuses for your spacecraft and various types of materials. The base contains four buildings that need to be repaired. Each unlocks additional benefits that can help you become more efficient. The landing platform, for example, allows you to collect additional resources during missions, while the weapon factory allows you to create new weaponry. The controls and gameplay are simple: you move your ship around and fire at enemies. Aside from the shield and health bar, you should keep an eye on the energy bar, which allows you to shoot. The more weapons you have, the faster it depletes. Another challenging mechanic is that some weapons may malfunction. All you can do in this situation is wait and try to survive by dodging until it is fixed. The game's interesting feature is that it can be played in either side-scrolling or top-down mode. The experience may differ, but the gameplay remains rather similar. If you prefer an old-school mood, you may choose the retro look that makes everything grainy. Overall, the graphics are fine. There are some visually appealing moments, but the game won't blow you away with intricate textures. Sadly, the game can’t handle some of the textures. One enemy, for instance, causes the game to lag each time it enter the screen. The number of missions or planets is huge. The first few missions will be boring because your pod is slow and very useless. All you’ll be able to do is grind the first mission for resources until you can afford better things. Luckily, it doesn’t take long before you can make yourself a proper ship, and missions can be repeated as much as you want. Each mission has four objectives, but there are only important if you want to do everything the game has to offer. Unfortunately, the technical troubles persist during gameplay. Some are minor, such as power-ups flying through textures or your energy level dropping when holding the fire button in the pause menu or with a broken weapon. Other problems, however, render the game unplayable. There are several issues that occur frequently and suck the fun out of it. The first occurs when you press "esc" during normal play to pause the game. This causes the game to freeze completely. The same thing happens during a mission when you acquire a prototype and the camera moves closer to the ship to indicate that you discovered something important. Both issues require you to return to the main menu, losing whatever progress or resources you've discovered. In the end, despite the slow gameplay, the game can give you a couple of hours of fun. However, random freezing issues and lags are just too much. If this is somehow fixed, I will change the review.