So, I havent had all that much time with this game just yet, but... even after just 90 minutes, I can honestly say, I think this game is brilliant. It's good enough that it leaves this impression on me that quickly... for me, this is very rare.
Starship Rubicon is an interesting beast.... it uses a whole pile of different elements that were inspired by many seperate games. But the thing that makes it so good is that it takes all of these disparate elements, smashes them together... and they WORK together. They dont conflict with each other at any point.
At it's base, this game uses Asteroids-style gameplay and controls. You have a "thrust" button to move your ship forwards, and then other buttons to turn it left or right; you also have a "boost" function that you can use. There are even actual asteroids floating around in many areas, which work pretty much as you'd expect, and generally making your life that much tougher. From there though, the game goes in it's own seperate directions. Your ship is not static, but is instead made of various "parts" that you can equip, that give abilities or change stats, or things like that. This includes changing both your basic weapon (and you can have more than one) or your special weapon, an activated ability that has a cooldown and also knocks out your shields for a bit upon use. You cant just equip everything though; each piece of equipment has a shape to it, sort of like blocks in Tetris. You have to fit these blocks inside the ship properly, or they cannot be used. What's more, some items are meant to modify others, and will only work if linked to the system they're modifying, which means you have to place it adjacent to that system for it to function whatsoever. So this can create some interesting decisioni-making when you're changing your equipment.
Equipment can be either found in battlefields, or bought in stores. Stores are easily the most frequent way to get equipment. The rate of equipment actually being FOUND is very low... a bit TOO low in my opinion. You end up not getting all that much total, which is a shame, because it reduces the amount of interesting decisions that you'd need to make. There's no need to decide between two items after all if both of them easily fit onto the ship. If you're not getting enough items, you wont be filling it. So there's a bit of RNG issues here with this system, but it's not enough of an issue at all to detract from how well it works. There are many different weapons and things to find, so look for them, and try them out, and see what kinds of builds you can make for yourself. Most of these different items and such are also just plain fun to use.... that's ALWAYS a plus.
Between missions, you're sent to sort of an overall sector map. It's very similar to the map that FTL uses, in that you move forward from one node to the next, with each individual node having specific links to other nodes to choose from. Around each node, you can see icons representing the different enemy types that are going to appear in that area, so it's important to learn these and have a look as you make decisions. Other things will appear here too, such as hazards, or the existence of items or "money asteroids" or shops or various other things. You can also find other ships to rescue, and if you are successful in saving them, they will join you on your quest. Each one provides a unique ability that becomes active whenever they participate in a battle with you, and you choose when to bring them in by clicking them on the sector map. They have a cooldown time afterwards, and can also be knocked out by enemies during battle... so take care of them, when you bring them with you. The one big problem with them though is that they just arent very bright. Asteroids in particular will give your AI allies alot of trouble as they repeatedly crash into them. By the late game, these guys arent as useful, simply due to the fact that they'll be knocked out of the fight too quickly to help much.
And on the note of the enemies you face, each type is different from the last, and you quickly learn to recognize each by it's appearance, which is very important. There are different approaches that you should take depending on just what you're fighting, and what weapon you're using, and there can be many enemies at once. Some enemies may have beam weapons, or maybe homing missiles, or shields, or even the ability to shield other enemies. And of course, it wouldnt be a shmup of any sort if there werent gigantic bosses to fight at the end of each sector.
All in all, there's alot going on for this game, and I think there's plenty of replay value; naturally, everything is procedural when it comes to the maps and sectors and such, so each game will be different. The campaign is short, but that's typical for this genre, and probably for the best.
Is it worth your money? If you like shmups at all.... I'd definitely say yes. It easily lives up to it's asking price and more, I think. I can definitely recommend this one!
