I'm going to hold onto this game in the hopes that it gets more updates, but as of the moment, I don't know if I can recommend it in its current state. As i know this is made by one developer and I understand how difficult game development can be, I hope this review is helpful in making the product better.
Firstly, the world, artwork, and music are all pretty good and got me into wanting to try the game out, they do not disappoint. I also like the survival elements, looting, and most of the enemy types you run into. The whole idea kinda makes me feel like this is sortof a Jak & Daxter/Farcry kind of game and I really enjoy that idea. The idea of upgrades mixed with an inventory system with weapons and a jetpack makes for some interesting fun all around.
However, I have a few criticisms that hopefully help in guiding the game into a more precise vision.
Firstly, what is the goal of this game? In the description it reads: INSPIRE is a Stylized Top-Down Shooter set in the near future. Customize your arsenal, soar through the skies with your jetpack, and shoot your way through an alien invasion alongside your transformable backpack companion.
Most of this in my playthrough was technically correct, but I wasn't sure necessarily what the object of the game was until the aliens invaded (basically what I imagine to be getting out of the tutorial) which was about 10-20 minutes into the game. Long enough to lose the attention of the average gamer. I would categorize the game as a top-down looter shooter with survival elements, but to be honest, its hard to understand what the game is until you PLAY it, and that's not really good from a marketing perspective. My advice would be that the games marketing needs to very easily show what the gameplay loop is, and the ultimate goal. Is it to survive? To beat the aliens? Explore the world? What's the goal?
My second criticism is with the tutorial. I think it serves its purpose just fine, but I don't think it does a good job at bringing in the plot of the game itself- the aliens. Instead of starting the game BEFORE the aliens invade, you should just start the game with the alien invasion happening, and the tutorial taking you through the gameplay loop of the game (go out, kill stuff, loot, take back land, return to Realle). Right now the tutorial feels like I am almost playing an entirely different game when I actually get to the cool stuff.
My third criticism is with the news broadcasts. They're a cool addition to the game and should stay in, but I think that some of the dialogue can be a bit cheesy... "Aliens landed on earth, now we need everyone to fight those bastards!" Up to that point, the humor just feels a little out of place with the rest of the game. I think a reporter that had more dry humor would help keep the theme of the game a little better, but that's just my opinion.
I also think there may be too many companions in the game, or perhaps I just don't understand? The marketing talks about your backpack being an ultimate companion, but is SEAN your backpack? or is that a different character alltogether? I am just confused on that aspect. I didn't see anything that would indicate that my backpack was my companion other than the ability to customize the abilities, perhaps SEAN could just be the backpack companion?
Enemies just spawning out of nowhere and instantly tracking to the player is a bit annoying, especially when you're just travelling from one point to another. I kindof wish that enemies wouldnt start attacking you until after a moment or two of spotting the player, so that the player always initiates combat first.
Finally, I think that the player model is a little too basic. Nothing about the character really stands out to me like the Sentiens or the city of Realle, and I think that a redesign would go a long way. I also think that maybe it would be cool down the road to have a customizable player model too so that the player can express themself in their own ways instead of being limited to one look. Maybe that is in the game and I just didn't get to it, but that's my final big criticism.
FEATURE REQUESTS:
-Autosave feature.
-Waypoint system on the map.
-Player model customization.
-Hotkey to use items from your inventory, like food/meds/etc.
-Hotkey to change weapons.
-More music on the radio.
BUGS I FOUND:
-Dialogue audio is super loud and cannot be changed.
-Quest complete audio sound is super loud and cannot be changed.
-Some terrain in the snowy area was bugged for the obelisks and was floating.
-The guns in the players hands is not aiming "straight", the player holds the weapon offcenter to the right.
-The player turned invisible once, not sure what happened but reloading the map by going back to Realle then back to the Wilds fixed it.
Hopefully this review is helpful, I wish I could put an im-between positive and negative. The game isn't bad, but it needs more polish and a tighter vision, in my opinion. This could be a tough sell for $15.00 in the current state of the game.
