Developer: 10tons
Publisher: 10tons
Release Date: 17th November
Price as of Article: $9.99 USD, £8.99
In 2021 Alien fleet heads towards earth, 2023 communications fail and in 2024 existing aircraft are converted into the first generation of starfighters and then in 2028 phase, 2 of earth combat begins. The story is short and sweet. Your mission is to go out and destroy the alien craft.
Here we have the usual from 10tons in terms of audio in which to say the music matches the game superbly. Feels dramatic and menacing like the end of the world is possibly just around the corner. The sound effects are all very good and are what you would expect from this type of shooter.
<script async src=”//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js”></script><!– –><ins class=”adsbygoogle”<!– –> style=”display:block; text-align:center;”<!– –> data-ad-layout=”in-article”<!– –> data-ad-format=”fluid”<!– –> data-ad-client=”ca-pub-5661714653949151″<!– –> data-ad-slot=”5669732186″></ins><!– –><script><!– –> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<!– –></script>This is the type of game I like to see. We have had some unfortunate games lately which have stuttered and giving performance issues and I am not talking about the Triple AAA titles. Here we have an Indie title which runs smoothly constantly and I did not encounter any problems with slowdown or dropped frame rates at all.
In terms of graphics, this looks really quite good, it’s a pretty simple game but what stood out was the detail on the spaceships themselves and the enemy crafts. The backgrounds look colourful but are a little bland. What I really wanted from this was some more colour variations in the explosions and bullets.
This game is quite unique within the genre and there are some things that you will notice straight off the bat. In campaign mode, there is no score. You get a bit of a story and you set off on your mission. If you try to redo the level and think memorising it is going to help you then your out of luck. Each time you play through a certain level it’s procedural and random so no bullet patterns to memorise here.
You will also notice that you have 4 ships which you can switch at the click of a button. When switching you can use this to dodge enemies or asteroids if the situation gets a little dodgy which adds a good dynamic to the game. Within this is a squadron management metagame. The developer 10tons wanted the game to feel like you were dogfighting against alien craft and so when you turn left or right the craft flies at a slight angle which means you also have to aim your firepower at these angles to kill the enemies and it feels quite fresh and adds a little inertia to proceedings.
Here your guns overheat so you need to act quickly and get another one of your ships to take over. Take too much damage and you will need to swap again. It’s a constant battle to rid the area of waves of Alien craft whilst maintaining the health of your own fighters.
In between missions you can upgrade your ships arsenal and again it’s all about balance. If you lose a fighter during battle you will need to spend credits replacing it for your fleet or do you risk the next mission with a fighter light? You are the one that has to manage your squadron and tech upgrades which give the game a little bit of extra depth.
There are 40 missions to get through with 4 boss fights so the game will keep you going for a good while. You can also play the game with up to 4 friends in local co-op modes which is interesting as you can’t all play at the same time. If that’s not enough you also have 3 endless survival stages with online leaderboards. Those of you who know me from my reviews know how much I love online leaderboards as it brings out that competitive nature in me.
The only real negatives are sometimes after a while like all games like this it feels a tad repetitive but then that’s more against the genre rather than the game itself.
The game is £8.99 in the UK or $9.99 in the USA which I think for the amount you get here is priced very well. It offers a very decent sized campaign and once you complete that you have the endless modes and online leaderboards to keep you entertained which you can also play with friends.