Word soup. Don't want it? There's more reviews.
I wasn't really planning to review the game this early without an impression of the entire campaign, but I figured by mission 4 I've seen enough to say all that's necessary. If anything stands out later, I'll post it here. I may produce a basic gameplay guide (as that is a bit lacking, although to be fair, the game is quite self explanatory) and a suggestions/questions thread for the forum. For now, the review.
I don't really like the recommendation system because what I recommend a game depends greatly on the person I'm recommending it to, and what they want - and that is completely different for different folks. Yes, yes, I'm getting to the point. This review is in blue because I don't feel the money was a waste, although I could see why people would want something more for $12. On its own merits it is a fairly simple game with, as mentioned in other reviews, arcade like mechanics that dispel any claim of being an actual simulator. Still, that's a valid way to design, and the game does well for what it's designed to be. Don't aspire for much. However, if clean gameplay, well achieved large scale space battles (perhaps not so much variety) and quite solid performance for even a potato machine is appealing, you've come to the right place.
The closest comparison I can make is that this game represents a take on the spacefaring angle of Star Wars Battlefront 2, the old version. The tech is basically at the same level, and the gameplay is strikingly similar to me.
What will disappoint is,
- diversity of your own ship (there's one, and then you're done)
- diversity in enemies
- any expectation of mindblowing graphics
- depth of gameplay
Game runs well on Windows 7, but good luck if you want to make recordings. The game is designed for controllers, but with some practice and perhaps a few shifted hotkeys, the keyboard works perfectly well.
A few boons for the game include,
- Simple + well executed gameplay
- A simple, but solid plot
- No glaring issues with the premise (though you may be somewhat disappointed at the raw capabilities of these spaceships)
- Solid voice acting. I won't accuse it of perfection, but it is well done for an indie production.
- Easy to pick up and play
- Makes you feel good when you want to play easy mode and making you feel like ♥♥♥♥ when you tempt the top difficulty, and plenty of offerings in between - in other words, the difficulties are solid
- Ridiculously communicative developer. He's a human being and he's in the forum. They just don't make that stock anymore in AAA >.>
- Paired with the above as of my return in July 2019, he's still there and he will reply if you post something.
All in all, I would say if you have the money and want to pick up something small with a tiny, but decent community and decent gameplay, go for it. If you're looking for strong bang for your buck, revolutionary concepts, a unique twist or a bug free and polished game (bear in mind, this is a recent release and more updates are in the works), I'd advise you either come back later or move on.
