Strap in folks, this is going to be a loong review.

Let's Start at the beginning, way back 3 years ago. 3 years ago, I began playing this game. And I sucked at it. At this current point in time, I think there was actually a skill curve. (or I just sucked badly). It was during this beta period that Aliens were first introduced. The developers began what was known as the "alien invasion." Aliens were now everywhere in Open Space, one of the game modes. I ended up taking a break from the game.

Later, I redownloaded the game. Either I had gotten better, or something, because I was able to effectively complete missions. This is what I would consider the prime time of the game. This was back in 2015/ early 2016. Things have changed. I suppose I should cover the modes and stuff in the game.

At the prime time, there were 6 game modes: PvP, PvE, RAID, DREADNOUGHT, TOURNAMENTS, and OPEN SPACE. PvP consists of 5 different modes played across 15 or so maps, PvE has about 12 different missions, Raid is 2 different missions, Dreadnought and Tournaments are effectively PvP, and Open Space is flying around various different maps (some including the maps other missions are in). There were also quests for each mode.

The controls were excellent, it was very easy to learn the controls and utilize them. At this time, there if you went deeper, you could utilize something called "turn-keys." Interceptors sucked to fight against. Overall, at this time, it was pretty fun.

But things changed
My timeline on this is kinda fuzzy, and I can't give enough s**ts to actually root through and sort it out, so I'll do my best. The first thing introduced were special manufacturing ships at mid-tier levels. There were max tier special craft, which is fine. These special mid-tier ships had exclusive modules that only that ship could use. Previously, so long as a ship was a certain class, whatever module could be used for them. This statement was no longer true. To add more to the sting, these special ships were slightly more powerful than the rest. In addition, the ships required special parts to build, which naturally could only be bought using the premium currency or grinding for hours per day for a chance to get it. Then they removed the ability to get the parts for the ship.

Shortly after, they introduced Destroyers. This is when s**t started hitting the fan. Destroyers are bigger, stronger, and more durable than ANY other ship by 2 to 4 times. Games started being "who had more dessies." Again, you could spend money to buy a chance at getting them, or sit and grind for hours per day. I managed to get my destroyer. However, the destroyers use the same crafting components as the max tier special crafts.

This was only one tier of destroyers. They added two more tiers. The second tier included some annoying modules, like a gravitational lens, which when placed over an objective in PvP, resulted in the enemy team being unable to capture the objective due to damage taken. I don't have much experience with the top tier dessies, but based on my limited interaction and comments on the forums, they broke the balance as well. Then, at the end of each top tier event, they removed the ability to even MAKE the dessies (which by the way, required special parts that you had to grind for.)

But these reasons are not not what ultimately caused me to not recommend this game. Rather it was the next few things.

Firstly, they removed premium currency rewards from achievements and from answering polls. (you got 10 currency per each, which wasn't really a lot,)

And our second reason is what quite a few of the negative reviews say: Oh boy did these break the game. The ships are literally Over-powered. To give you some prospective, in one of the Tournaments my team was up against another team with two of the first alien ships. We went 0 - 38, out of 40 ship lives. Top rankers? The alien ships. They could fly at the max speed, teleport, pop a secondary shield, and immediately blow through your ship in 4 secs. It was at this time that I quit playing PvP (i'm not competive anyway). Then they introduced the second alien ship. Even more OP. one of it's weapons is auto-homing missiles that you can no longer evade, it can also teleport, can insta-heal after teleporting, secondary shield, and squirt ink that kills dessies in 5 seconds flat (had this happen to me).

To hit the nail home, the ships require a massive amount of grinding (or some money) to fully max out to get these modules. On top of the grind (or payment) to get the ships in the first place. As of current you can buy the first to alien ships for effectively straight cash. They have just released another alien ship over the summer. As I'm not playing PvP, I cannot say how OP it is in PVP. In other game modes, it appears that the ship has followed it's predecessors and become OP. (Not to mention they released it unfinished.)

Then the absolute last reason why I highly suggest you play some other game: Blueprints that are pretty much only available from random chance boxes that you only get by random chance. No buying your way through this one. That shiny dessie you just built? You'll need to get these blueprints to make any modules that don't come with the ship.

Oh, and once you get the blueprints, you need the premium premium currency "Monocrystals". Why are these premium premium? Because they are ridiculously rare for the amount you need (457 for a max tier dessie). The level of rarity is you can get maybe 15 a day if you have premium and grind for several hours. Or you can potentially pay a ton of money for a chance at getting them.

This monocrystal revamp is the nail in the coffin for me. After I found this out several weeks ago, I vowed that I would call this game finished at 1000 hours no matter if I didn't reach my goal. I managed to reach my goal of obtaining all the regular ships at 996 hours. I am literally wasting game time to write this review because of how badly I do NOT want to play it.

Strap in folks, this is going to be a loong review. Let's Start at the beginning, way back 3 years ago. 3 years ago, I began playing this game. And I sucked at it. At this current point in time, I think there was actually a skill curve. (or I just sucked badly). It was during this beta period that Aliens were first introduced. The developers began what was known as the "alien invasion." Aliens were now everywhere in Open Space, one of the game modes. I ended up taking a break from the game. Later, I redownloaded the game. Either I had gotten better, or something, because I was able to effectively complete missions. [u]This is what I would consider the prime time of the game[/u]. This was back in 2015/ early 2016. Things have changed. I suppose I should cover the modes and stuff in the game. At the prime time, there were 6 game modes: PvP, PvE, RAID, DREADNOUGHT, TOURNAMENTS, and OPEN SPACE. PvP consists of 5 different modes played across 15 or so maps, PvE has about 12 different missions, Raid is 2 different missions, Dreadnought and Tournaments are effectively PvP, and Open Space is flying around various different maps (some including the maps other missions are in). There were also quests for each mode. The controls were excellent, it was very easy to learn the controls and utilize them. At this time, there if you went deeper, you could utilize something called "turn-keys." Interceptors sucked to fight against. Overall, at this time, it was pretty fun. [b]But things changed[/b] My timeline on this is kinda fuzzy, and I can't give enough s**ts to actually root through and sort it out, so I'll do my best. The first thing introduced were special manufacturing ships at mid-tier levels. There were max tier special craft, which is fine. These special mid-tier ships had exclusive modules that only that ship could use. Previously, so long as a ship was a certain class, whatever module could be used for them. This statement was no longer true. To add more to the sting, these special ships were slightly more powerful than the rest. In addition, the ships required special parts to build, which naturally could only be bought using the premium currency or grinding for hours per day for a chance to get it. Then they removed the ability to get the parts for the ship. Shortly after, they introduced Destroyers. This is when s**t started hitting the fan. Destroyers are bigger, stronger, and more durable than ANY other ship by 2 to 4 times. Games started being "who had more dessies." Again, you could spend money to buy a chance at getting them, or sit and grind for hours per day. I managed to get my destroyer. However, the destroyers use the same crafting components as the max tier special crafts. This was only one tier of destroyers. They added two more tiers. The second tier included some annoying modules, like a gravitational lens, which when placed over an objective in PvP, resulted in the enemy team being unable to capture the objective due to damage taken. I don't have much experience with the top tier dessies, but based on my limited interaction and comments on the forums, they broke the balance as well. Then, at the end of each top tier event, they removed the ability to even MAKE the dessies (which by the way, required special parts that you had to grind for.) But these reasons are not not what ultimately caused me to not recommend this game. Rather it was the next few things. Firstly, they removed premium currency rewards from achievements and from answering polls. (you got 10 currency per each, which wasn't really a lot,) And our second reason is what quite a few of the negative reviews say: [h1]ALIEN SHIPS[/h1] Oh boy did these break the game. The ships are literally Over-powered. To give you some prospective, in one of the Tournaments my team was up against another team with two of the first alien ships. We went 0 - 38, out of 40 ship lives. Top rankers? The alien ships. They could fly at the max speed, teleport, pop a secondary shield, and immediately blow through your ship in 4 secs. It was at this time that I quit playing PvP (i'm not competive anyway). Then they introduced the second alien ship. Even more OP. one of it's weapons is auto-homing missiles that you can no longer evade, it can also teleport, can insta-heal after teleporting, secondary shield, and squirt ink that kills dessies in 5 seconds flat (had this happen to me). To hit the nail home, the ships require a massive amount of grinding (or some money) to fully max out to get these modules. On top of the grind (or payment) to get the ships in the first place. As of current you can buy the first to alien ships for effectively straight cash. They have just released another alien ship over the summer. As I'm not playing PvP, I cannot say how OP it is in PVP. In other game modes, it appears that the ship has followed it's predecessors and become OP. (Not to mention they released it unfinished.) Then the absolute last reason why I highly suggest you play some other game: [h1]All the special modules for the aforementioned ships are locked behind blueprints.[/h1] Blueprints that are pretty much only available from random chance boxes that you only get by random chance. No buying your way through this one. That shiny dessie you just built? You'll need to get these blueprints to make any modules that don't come with the ship. Oh, and once you get the blueprints, you need the premium premium currency "Monocrystals". Why are these premium premium? Because they are ridiculously rare for the amount you need (457 for a max tier dessie). The level of rarity is you can get maybe 15 a day if you have premium and grind for several hours. Or you can potentially pay a ton of money for a chance at getting them. This monocrystal revamp is the nail in the coffin for me. After I found this out several weeks ago, I vowed that I would call this game finished at 1000 hours no matter if I didn't reach my goal. I managed to reach my goal of obtaining all the regular ships at 996 hours. I am literally wasting game time to write this review because of how badly I do NOT want to play it. [h1]My Conclusion (TL:DR): STAY THE LIVING F*** AWAY FROM THIS GAME. Avoid it like the plague. All it is is a P2W grindfest.[/h1]