It's a very ambitious game, like a full-featured open rpg of sorts (minus the chatting). However, this means that every feature is a bit half-baked: the shop is clunky, leveling up is simplistic, quests are fairly basic. Worst of all: the combat is in this bad area where it uses clunky core mechanics (turn rates, your bullets hitting small bumps in the ground instead of your enemy because it's technically 3D), but doesn't embrace them enough for dealing with the problems to feel like part of the challenge rather than just unpleasant annoyances. (See, say, Brigador, where thinking about which way your mech is facing actually matters because turning takes so long)

Good game, and with improvements could be worth the price. For me, I found myself having trouble with seeing the smaller creatures in the dark landscape, also has some problem with getting stuck near the bottom of map, couldent see my mech either thru landscape, easy to get momentarily stuck when moving in a fight, as the landscape is somewhat hard to see, as fore-mentioned with its dark look. but easy to deal with.
Interesting place, map will have connecting places to travel to, so seems to have a big world. with different types of foes, some quite difficult right away, (others are friendly, and will shoot your same enemies or just say hi to you.) so pick your path and fight sometimes.
Control is fine, and so is hit boxes, missed often with the little guys thou, and was not sure if hitting them when real close. There are floating hit numbers and it shows info at screens top when you mouse over something, so feedback is good, and fights were quite fun.
The price seems a bit steep, yet it may well be worth it with a few more improvements, so if interested check it out.

I thought I would take a chance on this one and I feel like I scored a winner . Sci -Fi RPG , lots of customizing your rig , meaningful leveling with many skills to chose , missions and open world , challenging ( I'm on normal and having to reload sometimes ) with a good save system that actually gives you a snapshot of your save . I'm tired of the having to start over permadeath type of games for now . This hits all the box's on my checklist for what I like in this style of game and I still have a lot more to see and do as I 'm not that far along . I bought it after the 1.0.7 patch and haven't had any problems . Two thumbs up !

Planet Nine is a challenging top-down shooter action RPG. It has an old-school feel that I enjoy. It is rewarding to win a difficult battle, of which I have found several.

One of the key features of this game is the customizable mech that you pilot. You can equip up to three weapons at a time, with different general categories as bullet-firing guns, laser-firing guns, and grenade-firing guns. You can equip different legs and bodies in different combinations. Monsters sometimes drop items that let you change the color of your mech.

The gameplay is straightforward: enemies shoot at you and you shoot at them. Between quests, you can explore to earn loot and experience. Leveling up allows you to buy perks to make your mech stronger. The garages let you do everything with your mech, including: equipping new mech parts; buying and selling items; scrapping unneeded items; and using scrap to enhance mech parts you want to keep.

For a Unity game made by a single person, this is impressive to me. I'm taking notes for when I develop games myself later on, because I feel like I could learn quite a bit.

It has its flaws, but that's to be expected (read: Unity game made by a single person). However, he is willing to listen to feedback and correct bugs that are still in the game. In other words, the game is getting better.

Overall, I have fun when I play this game. It's satisfying to aim at and destroy enemies; it's satisfying to get loot and level up; and it's satisfying to explore. Trying out the different weapons and mech parts was also fun. I'm always curious to see what the next enemy is like.

Pro tip: Save often.

Disclaimer: I did receive a copy of this game for free in exchange for writing a review and doing some testing. This review is my honest opinion about the game, and it would be the same whether I had paid for the game or not.

Edit: I previously complained about the darkness of the game. After playing the game some more, I learned that you can use scraps to upgrade any equipped mech part, including the lights. Enhancing the lights made all the difference. There was a patch since I started playing that enhanced the brightness of the overworld, so it's much easier to see and navigate.

It's cool that you can improve virtually any aspect of your mech in any order you choose, either by buying new parts or by upgrading existing parts.

Awesome game. Lots of fun. I have been through it and in touch with the developer and he has fixed some bugs and adjusted a few things. This game is a lot of fun. It just hasn't been discovered yet. If you are looking for 20 or so hours to waste look no further.

Do you like blowing stuff up ?
Do you like lots of explosions ?

The atmosphere of the game is generally quite dark. This can make it a little tricky to see all enemies all the time but most of them light up in some way and it really makes for some awesome visuals while playing.

Lots to explore. Lots of ways to build your custom mech. Side missions and a main storyline to follow.

The game is one where you assemble your mech piece by piece with interchangeable components that are individually upgraded at a garage/workshop.
Guns - lasers/missiles/ballistic. Up to 3 guns fitted at once and all can be fired at once to throw out an absolute firestorm. engines
Locomotion - spider legs, tank tracks(Allows 2 inventory boosting backpacks instead of 1) The type and model determines your weight limit and speed.
Engines - Bigger is better. It's your source of power regen.
Cockpit - Turret rotation speed among other things.
Shields - Strength, regen and reboot if depleted.
Scanner - Strength and type of units detected. Mech, bio or both.
Light - Upgrade this ASAP. The game environment is generally dark.
Drones - build your own little helper and use perks to strengthen them up.

Your mech is gear dependant. You get better with better gear and via perks each level. You do not get stat points and such each level but on normal difficulty it is well balanced combat wise so there is no need for it.

Levelling up (99 level cap) gives you perk points to spend upgrading specific things.
All 3 weapon types, Power, Shield, drones and more.

This review is on the steam forum and has a few screenshots there.

I have played through to the end. At the time I posted this there was still a couple of bugs in the endgame regions but I have every confidence they will be fixed by the time you read this.
Just a couple of side missions not completing and I only just emailed the dev with them. He has fixed anything within 24 hours so far. Very nice fellow so if anyone finds anything then he is quick to fix stuff. Can't ask for better.


I highly recommend the game. It's a gem that seems to have slipped through the cracks so far.

Do yourself a favour and try it.


edit - this game has undergone some changes since release and any previous negative comments in other reviews can pretty much be discounted as no longer indicative of the state of the game as it is now. This is an honest opinion of how it is right now. Enjoy.

Untill now it's a pretty good game.

Like

*edit*

The Developer has fixed the control problems I had originally. The game works and is kind of fun. The upgrade system needs some work and the text-to-speech has gotta go, but there are worse ways to spend time.

https://youtu.be/qcrZTp6NrJQ

https://youtu.be/inuWaqe5jg0

Good action game with catchy music. I liked the customizable mech and the balloons in the last part of the game.

This one's a nice little adventure where you make your way through the world in a customizable mech. In addition to the numerous mech parts your character can level skills. This gives you quite few different approaches you can take and the choices you make have a real impact on your play style. It's also one of the few mech games I've played where running a light mech can work if you use the right strategy. This game requires skill and quick thinking.

At first the overall dark nature of the lighting system bugged me. But, as I played and after a few good scares from monsters sneaking up on me I grew to like it. It's actually quite well done with dynamic lighting where muzzle flashes, lasers and rocket trails light up the area around you as you fight. It's quite atmospheric. Again you have a few different options deal with this, you can upgrade the lights on your mech, use flares, and even a scanner system that will highlight targets for you. There's also a day night cycle, so you aren't always fighting in darkness.

There are some references and humorous lines of dialog so it's worth it to explore the whole map.

On the negative side I've hit a number of bugs while playing. However, the dev was quick to address these when I got in contact with them.