Review and general thoughts

[joealarson]

I played Star Control as a kid and it is hands down still my favorite game of all time. But it is a game that has spawned so few games that every single one of them is on my must play list. I realize I'm late to the game, but I finally had the chance to buy and play Starscape and I played it to completion. Don't think by this that I enjoyed the experience completely. The game is riddled with strange UI choices, boring repetitive game play, and frustrating controls that mar what could otherwise have been a great game.

Don't let these criticisms dissuade you from playing the game if you want to. It's a worthy effort that is worth the price if you catch it on steam sale. It wasn't so bad that I couldn't finish it. The final boss took a couple of tries even with the best ship, which is to say it stretched me, and that's a good thing. But I wouldn't be true to myself if I didn't recognize where the game could stand to be improved. You know, in case anyone tries something like this in the future.

So now on to the game's faults. First of all you have to back out to the main menu every time you want to save the game. Menus are very linear so backing out or going back in is like trying to park in a city of one-way streets. And you'll want to save often or you'll find yourself suffering when an unexpectedly busy area kills you without warning. So you find yourself learning the back out and save then go back in key sequence pretty quickly.

Once you figure out the pattern of the game it's pretty rote. It may take you an area or two to figure out what that pattern is, but when you do the game does nothing to change it up. Harder enemies, more of them, but nothing significantly new after the first area.

Even with the strongest engines and strongest engine the ship control still seemed slippery. Sometimes an enemy ship would move while you were chasing them which somehow felt like you weren't accelerating the way you should. I realize that this is space and there's no frame of reference, but this is a game, a frame of reference of some sort would have been appreciated.

Now that I've beat it will I be taking advantage of the instant action or quick game play modes to extend the game play modes or beat it on the different difficulty levels? Nope. In fact it's already installed. I'm glad I finally played it, but I have no desire to play it any more. Now I'm back on the prowl for the next Star Control clone and hope it's a little bit better.