@css_switchfoot said:
@WarlockEngineerMoreDakka: I know this thread is a few months old, but thanks for the "always online" tip. I'm in the Navy so I don't like to buy games that I can't play in the middle of the ocean.
The always online requirement has been removed a week or two ago.
@TheHT: @commonoutlier: @WarlockEngineerMoreDakka: @css_switchfoot:
That said I cannot recommend the game to anyone. It's just not very good. At all.
The destructibility is oversold and there are a huge amount of things you cannot drill through or around or otherwise remove. The ship customization appears intimidating at first but is actually paper thin. You will quickly find all weapons in the game and there are only a minigun, rocket launcher, cannon, shotgun sniper rifle, automatic rifle; which function scarey similar, with only ammunition that changes but again doesn't make much of a difference. All ships have the same layout, with only a number of weapons and storage space as a differentiators, and have no difference in function or any other stats. You start the game with a 4 slot ship with a minigun and a rocket launcher, towards the endgame my best ship (and best ingame) with 10 slots was equipped with 5 miniguns, 3 RL's, and two cannons, so much for variation or customization. There is basically no significant progression or new shit to try out. You're doing essentially the same shit with the same tools over and over the entire game. Economy system is broken to all hell in that if you main track you will be struggling for money, but find 1 out of a dozen ways to exploit the solar flare system / bio ammo system and you will have more money then there is shit to buy in the game, or if you know where the hidden loot is. The story is not offensive, but it's nothing to write home about either, just generic excuses to make you run around do missions for everyone.
But all of that would be ignorable if not for the game's actual 2 greatest failings as cornerstones of any game. A. the environments are bland, empty, repetitive copy and paste jobs, frequently missions force you into samey looking super tight corridors in maze like installation if they can even be called that. It all just feels lifeless and boring. Everyone is always in a ship, nothing exists to signify or ground it that real people even exist, outside of mission dialogue, all space environments are inexplicably designed to accommodate ships and nothing else, it's an absolutely bizarre feeling. But mostly it's just copy and pasted fancy but empty cardboard boxes with tubes connecting them and some texture work. B. The core gameplay is just not very fun, the way armor and repair works is asinine, you are either never worried about damage or dying in 2 seconds, brainless but ruthless AI that will decimate you with pinpoint accuracy every time if you ever decide to stay still. Friendly AI that will get in your line of fire in narrow tunnels all the time or alert guards to your presence, making the stealth approach with a radar jammer never a real option. Turrets that will reduce your ship to scrap in half a second unless you cheese them and destroy from either outside their range, abuse line of sight, or find a generator. It's not a difficult game it's just punishing to the extreme if you don't know exactly how to cheese it. There is no challenge 95% of the time, the 5% you just die in a flash and re spawn at last checkpoint. Systems like fuel consumption, healing, repair are unintuitive and not properly explained to the player, leaving you to have to use a wiki just to find out why the fuck you are suddenly guzzling fuel at an insane rate leaving you empty and barely able to move. The game is obtuse to the extreme in general, but once you get past it's obtuseness it's actually shallow. The exact opposite of good game design: making something accessible but with depth.
And to cherry on top as I was getting towards the end of the game, one of the main missions completely broke, with no amount of restarts fixing it. There problem was mentioned on the official forums by someone else but there was never a fix or solution from the developer. At which point I promptly uninstalled and forgot all bout it until seeing this thread pop up.
This would have been a somewhat interesting experiment as a $10 game maybe. If you and absolutely nothing else to play. But honestly i was more sad for wasting time on it rather then money. As a $25 product i wouldn't recommend it to anyone. There are better ways your get your Descent, or spaceship sim, or space shooter fix.
So i guess you can consider this a pseudo review, of someone taking a bullet for the team.
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