NIGHTSTAR: Alliance

Zero persistence in any game mode. You start over from the beginning every time, even in Story. Only difference between story and arcade is arcade has lives and more variety. Upgrade system is annoying in the way it snaps pieces to places you don't want instead of highlighting first and snapping when you let go. It makes it annoying because your driving hand is in the way of the maintenance hand in real space as you hold the ship steady to change a part. Gameplay is addicting though. I'm glad the ship is not entirely attached to the controller. Just needs more development in those areas for me to recommend it.

I own a Valve Index and I think that the knuckles controller aren't supported with all buttons. It says there is Fire A and Fire B button but I couldn't figure out how to use the Fire B button. Core features like Modular Spacecraft Building is bugged. Expantion modules do not drop the majority of the time so I'm left with my 2 basic weapon slots, which means that I can't pick up all weapon drops. I do not recommend buying this game until these bugs are fixed.

Great space shootem up like old style Nintendo games like Life Force. Only you control the ship with your hand and bullets come from everywhere in 3D space and not 2D plane. Ship building is great, your ship can get gargantuan and have a lot of firepower. I recomend leaving flaks and lasers to companions. Ah yes, companions, you not only build your ship but also rescue colony ships which join your fleet and you can upgrade them. Don't rely on them too much though, as they can get lost or destroyed. And a small problem. If you want to experience the whole story - in spirit of Nintendo hard games - when you die - you start the game from scratch. No checkpoints (or at least I havent seen those). Story seems engaging and tangled just right for a space shooter. Dialogs are kinda easy ignore in a heat of battle.

Really wanted to like Nightstar: Alliance since I wanted something like The Lab Xortex minigame (your hand as a spaceship in a bullet hell) HOWEVER this game isn't worth your time. • Enemy ships are super far away so hard to aim to shoot them. I know this sounds like a nitpick but its hard to have pinpoint aim when the ship has "floatly" movement (not 1:1) • Picking up parts to build your ship sounds fun but pieces are rare and found like two different turret types and some hull pieces during my time playing. • First level is stupidly hard compared to the second and isn't fun to have to replay again and again when you die on future levels (restart from first level on death in campaign mode) You do get allies if your fast enough shooting down enemy ships in the first level (which some are tanky) which is a nice change in a bullet hell game. Maybe I just suck at games but I don't see how other reviewers have multiple hours playing this when it is unfair to the player. Either allow upgrades after death, checkpoints, level saves since I am not going to spend my time grinding the first level to have a shot at completing the game since if I die then I have to grind/start the whole game again.

[h1]Experienced on the Oculus Rift with Touch Controllers[/h1] I actually got this game in a VR bundle, I believe it was 9 games for $4 so this came out to less than .50 cents USD. This is a very good game at that price and I would even recommend this game at full retail price. So you see, sometimes buying a bundle is like finding gold amongst the dirty scraps of rock & mud. This is a Xortex like game. It's definitely more fun and has more depth than Xortex. It's a bullet hell space shooter with a ship fleet upgrade system. You can deck out your ship with improved weapons, as well as get allies fighting by your side and upgrade them as well. So while you're doing that, you're also avoiding damage and trying to kill enemies. You can grab the main ship (the one you're controlling directly) with either your right or left hand. However, you're not exactly controlling it 1:1 with your motion controller. It's a little offset from your hand so it does take a little while to get used to that difference, but it does not seem to effect gameplay really and you get used to it pretty quickly. Your allies do stuff on their own. You can only control the upgrades they get. The problem is that you can't always tell whether something is an upgrade or not or what it does. Likewise, outside of the upgrades, it doesn't seem like you can control your allies in any substantive way. This game really needs a tutorial / better explanation for several of the game mechanics. I did have fun. This is a challenging game. I'll be honest and say that after 2 hours, I still haven't been able to beat the first boss fight. Although, I think I am very close to beating the boss and I think I see how to beat it. However, one mistake can lead to your quick demise. Some of it also does seem to be luck based as getting the right expansion upgrades or health / weapon upgrades can make all the difference in the fight. You can see my video review & gameplay here: https://youtu.be/5TCKwFFrao0 [b]Rate 7/10. Choose arcade mode over story mode![/b]

Most VR games are really VR experiences, and this is not an exception. However, IMO, all VR experiences have a "best game for it". Space Pirate trainter is the best of the wave shooter with sci fi guns. In Death is the best experience with bows. And, Nightstar:Alliance is the best game for the experience of holding a spaceship on your hand. Similar to Xorter, from The Lab, but with added complexity and gameplay. Really recomended.

This is a good argument for a "neutral" recommendation. This could potentially be the best VR game since Beat Saber, but the interface is severely lacking. Building options are thrown at the player mid-battle with no way to know how any parts work, forcing you to just slap things together randomly. Text pop-ups try to explain the story, but it's impossible to focus on them while missiles are raining down. The game is otherwise so polished I have to wonder why the developers made it so hard to play.

No variety, not enough immersion or tension to make me care when I get hit, and overal boring+awkward. Got it on 50% sale but honestly I'll never play this game again so it's not worth the library space. Refunded.

1) shoot down aliens while trying to save stragglers, also while trying to grab every gun and ship mod that floats by, and also trying to avoid blowing up 2) spend a solid 20-30 minutes building a massive 20-gun behemoth, cackling with maniacal malevolence, proud of your genius manifestation of wanton destruction 3) watch all your hopes and dreams of galactic domination get obliterated by a single mega multi-laser field of doom, as if you were but a wingless fly on the wall 4) repeat This game is pure VR entertainment. It's cheap, it's fun, and it's got laser that go pew pew pew. You won't be disappointed.

If you like shmups and old school arcade ones, this is for you. Solid shooting mechanics with added bonus of building and managing your ship and multiple guns and components. I played the demo and loved it, the full version is addicting. Great Game.