Star Nomad 2

[b] As an indie gamer and fan of space games, this title delivers! [/b] There are many aspects you will find familiar from titles like Space Rangers 2, Gratuitous Space Battles, and SPAZ, but it brings its own unique take on space and combat to classify it as a game of its own. I’ll break down this review into two categories to fit the meta. [b] WHY YOU WILL PURCHASE THIS GAME: [/b] [b] The combat is extremely satisfying! This alone makes this title worth playing. [/b] Ship control doesn't feel like you are skating on ice, and you have the option to have your weapons auto target, or manual fire for reduced energy consumption. You can find NPCs on various planets to join you, and the AI and control options are simple and effective. Getting credit for kills means getting the last hit, which gives a sense of accomplishment for good timing. The game is designed to be simple, so it isn’t overwhelming to get started, but there is enough depth in character development, knowledge of enemies, and ship design to keep it from getting stale. There are three sizes of ships, with a fair many hull choices to suit different play styles including faction specific ships. Weapon selection is medium, but each weapon type has its own damage, range, rate of fire, shot speed, etc to differentiate it from the other types. There are slots for engine, shield, armor, and other mods on ships that further develop how well it performs. Ship progression happens fairly fast but leaves plenty of room for late game speccing. Trade is as simple as buy and sell based on prices in different sectors, and delivering goods that are scarce to regions in need. How well a faction is doing is directly related to trade and piracy, so you can affect your allies and enemies by making the right deals. [b] The Game Developer is super active [/b] in patching bugs, fixing game data, and updating with new and improved content. This is a great thing because while this game is good as is, it will be AMAZING with more work. [b] WHAT IS BEING WORKED ON/COULD USE IMPROVEMENT: [/b] Of the three character starts, being a pirate isn’t really a viable option. Pirates aren’t a true faction currently and I can’t see how they fit into the game from a progress standpoint. They are mostly just there to mess with factions and block trade/military. Combat is what it’s all about. Being a trader and mining are great things to do, but ultimately lead to a life of killing. [b] The greatest untapped resource in this game is the RPG element [/b] through quests that begin on planets. The only quests I have encountered are through or related to the NPCs you can get in your squad. I would love to see a robust level of chat dialogue, quests, and other happenings that would add immersion to this universe. Cut scenes, NPCs, unique bosses, and challenges outside of the typical skirmishes. No planet should be a boring port with little more than a few generic commodities to trade for. Give me enemies and allies that I can love or hate. At the moment picking a faction is just a choice and I don’t feel the struggle between them. Like the pirate faction, the Zerker faction needs developed. They don’t own any space, and while I love how they behave in combat, they are just a bit too mysterious and lack any influence on the map. Star Systems are all the same layout. I would love to see varied sized systems, with multiple planets and varied locations for planets on the map. That’s my $0.02 on this title. Come for the combat, stay for the continual development.

If you want a nice 2d space sim where your can spend the odd hour shooting up pirates, this is a fine game. I actually like the combat, it reminds me of Beat Hazard. The problem comes when you hit late game. I'm 45 hours into a playthrough, level 55 of 60, and NOTHING I DO MATTERS! This game is so well balanced that winning is all but impossible. Conquest is carried out one system at a time, in fleet battles. When you fight in a fleet battle, you're allies have a handicap because you showed up. Instead of your elite squad tipping the scales and sweeping through your enemies, your allies are turned to cannon fodder while you desperately try to wittle down the enemy to a managable size before you and your squad are the last ones on the map. Even this would be tolerable if the game would let you defend a system that way, BUT NO if your allies all die, the system is lost, YOU DON'T COUNT! And suppose you do manage to defend a system? Say hello a second enemy fleet before you can even reload your missle bays. So the solution is to stay on the offensive, right? WRONG, your allies are too busy to reinforce you when you assult a system. Oh, sometimes they show up, but don't count on it. If you've reduced an enemy to only a couple systems, THEY GET A BONUS! And yes, they will manage to push you back time and time again. This game is so balanced that the player is reduced to an ineffectual cog, at the mercy of the RNG. As powerful as you are, your enemy will be just as powerful. As much as you help your allies, the two front wars will screw you over every time. You don't have the information or the tools to turn the tide, and while you may get your money's worth of enjoyment, a fun beginning will lead to a frustrated end.

Guys i ain't no professional reviewer but Star Nomad 2 is a game that truly deserves love and was crafted with love too. I won't lie to you i was a beta-tester but i got very addicted. I play on roguelike mode since the beginning and i've got my butt kicked so many times when starting out as a noob, that i learnt the life of a bounty hunter can be pretty brutal. But now i'm flying a cruiser with 3 torpedoe launchers and 4 turrets and kicking butts, yep the game is still challenging and i nearly die at times. Star Nomad 2 has nothing to do with the first title, it is a deep squad-based combat rpg and character progression, which means there is replay value even in your character build. I specialized in missiles combat and shields penetration but i plan to start my second playthrough as a drone carrier, drones are fighters in the star nomad 2 universe. You can even personalize and level up your squad members in a similar way to your own character, giving them different roles in your squad. The universe never feels empty and is extremly dynamic, even when trading, smuggling or exploring. There's quite a lot of secrets too and things to discover. I'm over 40 hours into the game and still have lots of things to discover, and the developper Halfgeek has planned to add free updates to the game. You can join the pirates, Human empire, Omni, Union and Starborn federation, there is also a merchant and mercenary guild and the equipment/weapons sold (Called modules in the game) depend on the production of a star system and its economy. Pirates plundering merchants in systems will disrupt the economy and mess up with the goods sold in that system, etc.. It is what i meant by dynamic universe. I recommend normal mode if you don't want to get your butt kicked too much and trader is always a good way to make money without taking big risks early on, but bounty hunting attracted me since the beginning of the game. There are random encounters and events and you will often notice on your radar a ship marked with !, those are special encounters that you never know what the outcome will be, with the choice to take part of it or not. Every choice in Star nomad 2 matters, so beware. I made other bounty hunters (Npcs) jealous by stealing all their kills and they hired elite hunters from the bounty hunter guild to assasinate me. Even the enemy may hire those hunters to terminate you. Pirates will flee from you at times, depending on your high and fearsome reputation, communication from the npcs will change too. I achieved the reputation of Elite and Dangerous which i was very proud of. I recommend this game to people who enjoy a deep and rewarding space combat and trading game, built in an oldschool and challenging fashion.

I've played all the space action rpgs out there and each one has it's own flavor and feel. This one seems a lot closer to the "choose your own story" kind instead of the "hold your hand until you're op and you save the universe". Fun game, takes a bit of time to get into and has a few minor annoyances, but the dev is super responsive (literally took him 4 minutes to respond to and give me a fix for a bug) My first hour in the game was basically spent dieing as a hunter. I did the trading thing for a while, and once I got the merchant guild access it got a lot easier... but I wanted to be a hunter. So in learning the combat system I spend a lot of time running around dieing, until I get the feel for the combat system. Now that I'm able to hit ships without the auto aim my dps has risen and I'm starting to pull in cash. Hopefully now I can start exploring and finding out new things about the game. A minor gripe is that the starter hunter ship has shotgun weapons... but not enough speed to keep close to pirate ships who have long range weapons. This means you have to do some fancy flying to keep pace.

I'm not a masochist, but I think being whipped for hours while strapped on a cross will be funnier than playing this game. You start as a nobody with a crappy ship while everyone else will outclass you massively. It wouldn't be a problem if you were able to level up by trading, mining, exploring or doing quest like every kind of similar game. But here the only way to gain xp is by fighting. Which you can't do from the start because of how powerfull everything else is. The only way to gain xp early on ( and in most of the game it seems ) is to give the killing blow to a ship attacked by another NPC. No matter how hard you hit the ship before, only the killing blow will give you xp. BUT NPC will become pissy at you if you steal their kill. Do it one time too much and they will attack you, funny ... Another thing, there is no gun safety, so you need to fire carefully, because if you hit someone you will damage them. And usually a second hit will take a huge chunk of reputation from you and turn them hostile. A third hit? The whole faction is at war against you. And gaining reputation is SLOW. And mostly combat based. Oh and NPC can fire at you by mistake and you just have to shut up, doesn't work both way. Ah a last thing, avoiding friendly fire while dealing the killing blow is really hard when most battles are done by mutliples ships at once, with beams and missiles flying everywhere right from the start of the game. Can't really comment about customizing ships and items, because I was unable to level up and I think most items are hiddens behind a level requisite. And a faction reputation requisite. It's the only explanation I have as to why every station is empty of items and why capital planet only got base weapons and items to sell. But it wouldn't really matter because you also need rare material to BUY weapons and items. Yes, you need to provide money AND materials to buy more stuff. Because you have to provide bricks, cement and money to have workers build your house I suppose. It's another ridiculous mechanic here to gate and slow your progress because these materials are priceys OR mostly mined in system full of pirates. The game isn't fun at all because the only way to progress is to hide far away from the action then have to be lucky enough to find a mostly dead ship you can blow from afar. It's really not my conception of fun at all but it's the main mechanic of this game, you suck and need to kill-steal to progress.

TL;DR: If you like Space Rangers 2, or EV Nova (minus the story bits) Then you owe it to your inner space trader/pirate/bounty hunter to pick this gem up. This game is quite fun. I don't have nearly enough play time, but I'm seriously liking what I have played. I'm an experienced spacer with these kinds of games. I started with Freelancer, and moved on to titles like Elite, FFE, Privateer, Oolite, Asci Sector, Escape Velocity Nova, Transcendence, Rebel Galaxy, Starpoint Gemini 2, Elite Dangerous, Hardwar, Star Sector, X3 Albion Prelude, etc. etc. What I mean to say, is that sandbox space trading games are my kryptonite. So what sets this game apart? Its lacking a in your face kind of story, it seems fairly simplistic, and the graphics look like a flash game. What sets it apart is playability, and how it organically opens up around you. When you first launch from the planet you might notice the UI, which is clean and easy to use. (Slightly less so if like me, you are colorblind...) Next you will notice the super easy controls. WASD, and your mouse do 99% of things, with J for jumping. Each sector is about the size of an EV Nova sector, but once you hit the borders, you hit a 'wall' useful for finding things. The map is excellent, and as you join the merchants guild, it will give you alot more information for trading. Combat seems difficult due to the bounty system and the way combat itself works. To be a bounty hunter you need to 'kill-steal' or get the last hit on a ship for the bounty reward. Capturing lifepods isn't nearly as lucrative. This makes for a rather tense game of knowing when to shoot, or when to manually use weapons to get the bonus. Enemy AI is fairly good, and fleet battles are downright terrifying to fly through. Again, the flight controls are quite intuitive, and you feel like an ace pilot after a few minutes of flying. Lots of weapons and skills to upgrade to create your ideal ship. Ships come in an abundance of types, from corvettes to cruisers and so on. You can also recruit a squad of wingmen and order them around. Trading depends on a dynamic economy with events. You need to move around a bit, taking advantage of the same events that draw pirates and competing traders alike. Once you join the merchants guilds, you can see real time prices on goods throughout the galaxy. It makes for a fun trading aspect, with you finding lucrative routes, and abandoning them for an event only to fight pirates the whole way. I never got bored, it evokes memories of Ev Nova and Space Rangers 2. Missions are kind of rare, with them being offered by NPC's in the galaxy, No BBS board or anything like that. The end-game seems to consist of you helping one of the factions rule the galaxy, but I'm not anywhere near there yet. Overall the game combines playability with hidden depth, and pulls it off wonderfully. If you can look past the graphics and need a nice, relaxing, after work game with some complexity and a living galaxy, I highly reccomend this title. Where Void Expanse fails, this game succeeds with flying colors, it helps that the Dev is already planning the next update, and adding several features as players suggest them. Fantastic game. Like Endless Sky? Get this. Wish you had a real-time SR2 minus the story bits? Get this. Wanna fly a spaceship and do all the fun things gameplay wise that Elite Dangerous is ignoring? GET THIS.

I've played about 40 hours in 4 days... yeah the game is that good and that much fun. What you should know... - The game is seriously fun and engaging. Active control use and not a casual point and click type of game. - There are several creative twists and new mechanics to the game that stands it out from predecesors like SPAZ, SR2 and EV. BTW they are really well done and good changes. - It's done by 1 independent dev, so doesn't have the big company polish of voice over by actors or a thousand micro options. - The dev is highly engaging and proven he's willing to take community input by putting out around 6 patch and updates all community driven. - serious RPG elements with 36 skill, multistacked. You need 119 skill points to master the whole tree and you only get 1 skill point per level. The tree goes through some level unlocks but by level 18 EVERY skill is open for you to pick and choose without restriction. No word on a level cap. So pretty expansive. -There's also a galaxy map for conquest, 3 major factions, 4 minor factions and 1 ultimate kill everything alien faction. -LOTS of potential and future plans. This is a game that in it's current state has replay value but with the future planned features will definitely me back for sure. Worth the buy in spades.

Tedious: The Game Endless grinding followed by an end game scenario that's impossible to win. It's basically a flash game, with a lack of features that you would expect from such. The beginning portions of the game are actually a lot of fun. Typical 2D space shooter fare, you'll fly around trading or fighting to gain credits and XP. You'll buy new weapons/ships/upgrades, the gameplay loop is satisfying. However, you'll notice one of the biggest flaws right up front: the fighting is almost non-stop and accomplishes nothing. The moment you clear one pirate invasion, a zerker invasion shows up before you can land, clear that (if you can) and it's followed by yet another pirate invasion in the same system, followed by a faction fleet battle. All within a few minutes. You cannot complete this game as a merchant, at a certain point you can no longer even advance within a faction by solving trade missions. The finale is when you've maxed out your rep with your chosen faction, you have the ship/weapons/modules you want, you have your teammates, everyone is max level, etc. Now your job is to conquer the galaxy for your faction. This is the part of the game that is clearly unfinished and almost impossible. You can win every fight, but in the time it take you to win 2 other ally systems have been attacked. Sometimes before you can even leave a system you just conquered/defended, ANOTHER enemy faction fleet shows up. You also cannot conquer enemy systems yourself, you must wait for ally faction members to attack and then help them. However, when and where ally factions members attack is completely random and impossible to control. The final 3 systems of an enemy faction cannot be manually triggered for invasion, the ally AI needs to decide to do this. They never do. This means you will endlessly grind without ever making progress or beating the game. How this made it to release is beyond me, it's one of the rare games where I've had fun and made it to the end game but gave up. I can't see a way forward, even following what limited advice there is in the forums (drug trafficking to weaken syustems, etc. Pointless, it doesn't work). If it's on sale for $3, go for it. You'll get some fun from it during the early and mid game. That's all you can expect from this unfinished flash game though.

I love FTL, I played hours of SPAZ and SPAZ2, I bought this game thinking it could be another game that I would also play hours of but instead its not, the game is basic and a bit anime like. The ships are all very similar with some slight changes. best way I can describe this game is bland.