Spark Five

Spark 5 is set in a time when mankind's greatest achievement turns out to be the end of the human race. Artificial intelligence was a remarkable advance in technology when it was invented. People had no idea that the A.I. would come to the conclusion that mankind was the greatest threat to the planet, and that they would set out to eradicate the human race. Prior to their extinction, humans devised one last plan to defeat the A.I.! Project Spark was born, with just one objective - to defeat the artificial intelligence once and for all and return intelligent organic life to earth. Take control of your android, using stealth and an occasional bomb to aid you in your quest, navigate through traps and avoid deadly guards that patrol endlessly through the corridors and complete your mission. Released on Nov. 15, 2018, by developer TechBridge Interactivem, Spark 5 is an Action, Adventure, Casual, Indie title. Using the Unity Engine, the game has state-of-the-art graphics that are vibrant and crisp. It also has powerful futuristic ambient music. There is a tutorial, but you do not actually play through it, it is more of a video tutorial that just explains core mechanics. The game features 2 different campaigns, Spark & Nemesis, each utilizing alternate mechnics, along with Mercenarium mode, in which you will play custom scenarios as a mercenary, meaning you get a lot of different gameplay for the money. The title has a great price line. It also has partial controller support for you controller-users. And it comes with 16 Steam Achievement's that will require many hours of play to 100%. For all the play styles, you will start each level with a set number of Replicas (used as a respawn area) and bombs (that make a big boom); use them wisely. I began my play time in the spark campaign; in this mode, you must avoid the guards as you disable lasers and collect the biomass needed to escape through the exit. I struggled at first, but as I pushed on deeper into the levels, I began to understand the inner workings of the game, and it became a little less difficult than when I started. When you reach the Nemesis campaign, you will change to destroying bio-pods, then make your escape. For Mercenarium, the objectives change for every level, so pay attention to the level requirements. Note: you can play any of the different play styles at any time you wish; Campaign mode does require that you beat the levels in progression, whereas in Mercenarium you can play the levels in any order you desire. It is tagged as casual, but I found the game to be rather difficult, especially when trying to get 5 stars and complete the mission time schedules. I wouldn't call it Hardcore, but it is not what I consider to be a casual title, it also gets more difficult as you progress. There are no difficulty settings, with no easy or hard to alter the difficulty, it is one size fits all. The title would benefit with the addition of difficulty settings for those who want a less or more challenging game. I managed to advance through the game; it just took me a while to get used to the mechanics. There are only a couple of settings you can change; it contains just 3 areas: Graphics (high or low), Enable Indicators and Enable Ambient Music. For those who love a challenging puzzle game, this one will fit your library nicely. 6/10 Positives + Steam Achievements + Challenging Gameplay + Partial Controller Support Negatives - No Steam Trading Cards - No Difficulty Settings - Limited Settings [quote]Key provided by developer/publisher for review purposes. Any opinions expressed are entirely my own!

Spark Five is a puzzle driven game with action elements. You control your character through a maze of laser beams, missiles turrets, walls and other dangerous things in an attempt to locate Bio-Mass objectives and then locate the destination to exit the level. Gameplay: While navigating the map you will run into enemies that will kill you on sight. It is very important to avoid them at all costs. Once spotted you have no time left to escape and will have to retry the level. You can kill them however by placing a Bomb in their path, and once killed they will not return. This allows you to move past their last location and continue the hunt for Bio-Mass. You only start out with a few bombs so use them to get by the enemies that seem impossible to get by otherwise. Another option to search the level is to deploy a Replica of yourself. This replica will allow you 30 seconds to explore the map briefly to see what enemies or dead-end walls lie ahead but make sure you get back to your placed replica point before the timer runs out. Graphics: The color scheme of the game is great. I like the blue look of the earlier levels and how the different aspects of the map are easily identifiable once you learn what to look for. When you transform yourself into a replica you become an orange ghost of your previous self that looks good. Audio: The sound effects are sci-fi in nature and signal the changes you make to the level as you progress. All the while intense music is playing which is fitting given the similarly intense gameplay. Performance: Being a puzzle game, the gameplay performance is fine. Difficulty: The game will require you to restart the levels frequently. It can be difficult to know where to go next which is a part of the game’s style. Once you get good at using your abilities to get further in the level you will gain confidence in how to try it again differently when you get caught. After dying in a level, a handy thing to study before restarting is to look at the maps preview image. Before starting you can look at an overview map of what it looks like and trace your path in your mind to see places you missed. The preview map is very small, but information can be gleamed from it. When back in the level, another thing to pay attention to is which way the walker enemies will turn. Some make only left turns, some make only right, and others make one left and one right. Study this while walking around. I felt that the challenge was high, but not so much that it prevented me from wanting to try the level again. Value: If you’re a fan of puzzle games then this may be right up your alley. Be warned that you will be expected to die as you try the levels because of the learning nature of the game. Each level is trial and error because you don’t know where the objectives are or which way to turn when you are trying to avoid the enemies. I enjoyed the challenging levels and want to try again to get further.

Really cool stealth game with a simple and unique concept. Easy controls but really challenging gameplay. Awesome graphics and ambience. Definitely worth the price. 8/10.