sphereFACE

Pros: -Large variety of weapons to play around with -3D interface is intuitive and adds to the overall experience -The soundtrack is killer! -Fast paced gameplay that keeps you on edge Cons: -Learning curve is high I started playing this game not really knowing what to expect other than a retro shooter, but man is it more engrossing than that. The sensitivity of the controls can be extremely high at the start of the game but you can always customize it to your liking, including the way the camera is handled. At first I couldn't handle the speed of my ship and kept slamming into the asteroids in the area, but after a few adjustments I got the hang of it a little better. One thing I really like is that your bullets will continue revolving around the inside of the sphere until it hits a target which can be good or bad depending on what they hit. I had leveled up my spread gun to the max and my bullets were ricocheting all over the place, blowing apart the asteroids and sending waves upon waves of debris at me that I had to maneuver around to avoid. At the same time, the power ups I was chasing (yes, power ups have their own trajectory!) were getting blown away by the very same bullets I was using to destroy the asteroids! This creates a hectic environment where you not only have to dodge every bit of space rock in your way, but also have to keep in mind not to shoot the very things that can help you survive the chaos. sphereFACE is an absolute blast, you'd be crazy to not give it a try! Disclaimer: This review is for the basic, non-VR version of the game. If at some point I do get to try the VR version I will update this review.

Get a Vive, Xbox One controller, and decent pair of noise-cancelling headphones. Play while standing up and holding the controller. Put a contemporary political podcast on. Lose yourself in the greatest cyberspace-like experience since Rez. The game is not without issue—the main one is, sometimes the game hangs, almost always when you die by flying into an asteroid at high velocities. Because of the way the game is made, this hang causes the game to stop rendering while it resolves crazy collision stuff or whatever. This is pretty much always when you die, so it's not a HUGE issue, but it would be great if this could be fixed. Plus, the game is written from scratch in a custom engine, so it's hard to hate it. Other than that, the game is pretty much perfect. I love the aesthetic, and the roguelike-like repeatable gameplay. I've fantasized about VR games with vector graphics on the inside of a sphere for years—it's great to see that it's as awesome in practice as it is in theory. (I'm working on something kind of similar!) TL;DR must-buy for Vive and other VR headset owners

I've only played for a little bit and I've concluded that rouge-like games suck, however this game doesn't suck. Honestly it reminds me of scalding hot pizza rolls on a freezing winter's night - a bright spark on a frozen lake - the lake is, of course, the growing indie game pool. You have to take it slow or you'll burn your mouth - an ordeal which will end with you swearing that you'll never trust any food that's been in your microwave for longer than 350 nanoseconds - after slowly building confidence, you can go faster gaining new upgrades, weapons, faster, you've cleared 7 spheres now, your fingers start to ache yet you push on, clearing sphere after sphere, you finally realize how vulnerable you are. you are weak. like a baby hiding behind your various powerful enamel weaponry, an orchestra of downbeat techno echoes against the foggy sky as you finally clear your 20th sphere and it ends. One slip of the finger. Your assured death. You die a bit on the inside and start wailing internally. Then you realize that you still have an entire plate of pizza rolls left. You pick up another and begin anew. How will it end? Well it's up to you - do you finish the rest of the plate or throw it in the fridge for another day? It's all up to you. However, I can assure you that when you do finally finish the last one, you will feel a great sense of relief, satisfaction almost - as if your whole life was carefully planned for you to experience this final burst of flavor, at that moment nothing matters, you lay back in your chair wondering what went wrong. And then, you do it again. 1/1 would recommend

sphereFACE has given me an interest in the asteroids type of game, but then being a far enough extension has kept me happily entertained, creating, discarding and cherrypicking methods of getting through the game. I should say that I have not managed to complete the game yet. This is largely due to the fact that there is no rolling back to a save - you only have a singular save, which keeps your current game resumeable in case you close the game, but that's it. I like this in sphereFACE, that VoxelStorm seems to have decided that the theme of the good old Asteroids-era games with no progress staging to keep the game's replayability high and make it a challenge you work yourself up to to complete the game. An element I often overlook in games is the music. The music is great. It's also not too in-your-face nor too subtle. It has a definite and proud presence in the game, and it works to keep your mind going, to stop you from becoming too exhausted too quickly from just focusing on the game, but it doesn't detract from the experience. The progression from Sphere to Sphere (and the choosing of your own path) is the icing on the cake. You clear your Sphere, you can progress to another sphere, or a different other sphere. You choose. Something annoying that you turn to look out for is the chance that in the sphere down a particular tunnel currently accessible, you will end up colliding with an item close to the tunnel exit. This is something for you to look out for, and it makes you realise that the game is alive: that there is movement in the other spheres all the time. If you wanted to, you could plan out your route while thinking a couple steps ahead. Well done VoxelStorm with sphereFACE, I'm looking forward to getting (at least most of) the rest of the unknown achievements in this game, and will be looking out for the next release.

Love the idea, the retro style, the music. Instantly addictive.

A beautifully brutal, faced paced and skillful blend of retro and contemporary arcade, sphereFACE is Asteroids on steroids. With a steep learning curve and frantic gameplay, permadeath and a mysterious storyline, Voxelstorm have created a modern classic. Although the first few attempts may seem tedious, the tactical aspect from Asteroids begins to take control, as you find yourself laying traps, sniping, and frantically dodging death with an arsenal of powerful and distinctive weapons. With the addition of the boneSPHERE and relentless enemies, what may seem a casual game can easily turn in to a hunt for the bosses that lurk deep within the sphereSPACE.

General: sphereFACE is a great modernization of the classic "Asteroids" and manages to keep gameplay almost as simple while still offering a hectic pace and slick feel. Since it's got roguelike features (permadeath, random generation) the replayability is fairly solid. It's fun and doesn't require a significant time investment to enjoy. Difficulty: Generally speaking, I like to think I'm more or less decent at action games but this one is humbling. You'll die a lot, but it (usually) feels like a fair death. Patience feels like a must when dismantling asteroids to avoid overwhelming yourself with flying debris but enemies warrant immediate attention lest they shoot you down. Don't expect to succeed quickly or often. Performance: I'm reasonably sure this game could run on a potato. The description really isn't overselling this point. The Steam download for it was something like 70MB, so don't be afraid of breaking the bank when it comes to storage. My rig is pretty powerful but I don't think any game consumer can't run this. Music: The soundtrack matches the game fantastically. It's got a lot of speed and carries the same old-turned-new kind of feel as sphereFACE itself. Most of the music stands out its own outside of a game setting if you like electronic stuff. Value: This is pretty hard to measure. My personal metric for a good value at a glace is 1$/hour. sphereFACE is so quick to pick up and put down as needed/desired that you'll probably clock in enough hours to make it way cheaper entertainment than that benchmark. If you like arcade type shooters and bullet hell games (note, this isn't a bullet hell but it has lots of bullets and is difficult as hell) then it's definitely worth grabbing for your library. Developer: I followed the game on kickstarter and can honestly say that VoxelStorm takes a lot of pride in sphereFACE. If you have an issue, get in touch with them. If there's a bug then you can bet it'll get addressed regardless of your OS.

I am really enjoying this game so far, it's difficult but worth it to persevere. The different weapons are fun and it is cool to have some strategy along with the standard shooting.

Fantastic game, non stop insanity as you are assaulted on all sides by asteroids, debris, and enemies. In the midst of all this you have to pick out the occasional pick ups making the navigating all the more enthralling. Fun because you both have to concentrate on the destruction of asteroids and enemies, whilst always keeping track of your location and movement, and being careful not to over commit and fill your sphere with deadly debris.

[b][i]Review copy provided by developer via Curator Connect[/i][/b] I like new takes on classic genres like shmups, but sphereFACE takes it a bit too far. All the Asteroids-style action happens on the inside of spheres, forcing your little ship into dizzying orbits of the arena to combat foes. By default the camera doesn’t follow your movement which makes the game unplayable in my eyes, but fortunately it’s an option you can (and should, my god) enable immediately. That doesn’t help with the UI, which scrolls by at breakneck speed outside the sphere you’re in. Despite the muted colors and simple wire-frames this is a tough game to follow and comprehend, unfortunately. The lack of feedback has made it hard to understand what I should be doing, but I’ve picked up that destroying the white asteroids in each sphere opens up the warps to other spheres. Enemies are in red and useful items are in pea green, though the weapons are so imbalanced you can forget about collecting things once you pick up the beam laser. The particle effects can get super busy and the pace of the game doesn’t really fit with how small you and your shots are, but you can still come to grips with it prettu fast. Ultimately it’s a hot mess of a game with not much depth to offer, but for frenetic action and a unique gimmick you could do much worse. You can find more mini-reviews like this one, along with full reviews and other features, at https://goldplatedgames.com/ or on my [url=http://store.steampowered.com/curator/11322459/]curation page[/url]!