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I had to review this
game =) ... it's not every
day I get a full version of a game just for review! Even with the demo levels, though, this
game would easily deserve this review ... the good and the ugly ... but
mostly the good..
The game starts off
with a windowed-mode main menu .. even though the game plays in
full-screen mode. When I saw this, I immediately mentally subtracted
a few points for professionalism. I understand a window-mode game
using a windowed main menu ... but a full-screen game? Actually, I
take that back ... it had a
window-mode play setting .. that I could never get to work =(. Other than that, the main menu
has detailed
instructions, full control over screen resolutions and
other settings, and
oodles of other fun things to
look at. There really
were a lot of options available and that was a few points added
back.
My first impression of the game was...
WOW!! ... amazing 3D graphics .. smooth movement with the mouse .. and a haunting
musical track.. Then
after 5 seconds ... is this music just looping onto itself again? ... and after 5 minutes .... God help me .. I'm going
crazy! =) .. I exaggerate of course. The music is actually ambient
sounding for the most part and can be played looped almost
indefinitely. I've seen this done before at end-of-level sequences
and in-game menu's .. etc. Still, it doesn't seem to fit into the
main arena of gameplay. On the plus-side ... the music .. even for
being so short .. is really
amazing! I'm guessing
this stuff is original ... and it truly sounds awesome
... better than a lot I hear today .. period.
The graphics aren't
exactly eye-candy... except for the asteroids themselves ... but they are
crisp and
in-theme. They
fit into the mood of the game
perfectly. All of the
gameplay takes place inside a force-field designed to keep the asteroids
inside. I don't exactly understand why they can't just blow them all
up from outside the sphere ... but then again .. what kind of of game
would that be? Now the asteroids themselves are texture-mapped irregular spinning
masterpieces.
They look absolutely
great. I'm sure a huge
amount of work was put into just getting these things to look this
good. Even the lighting
on the asteroids is amazing
... if the asteroid is between you and the light source, you see a
silhouette of the asteroid. There are also evil red flying saucers
that you must dodge and destroy. These are just straight-shaded undetailed polygonal
objects, but they are
crisp. Other than that, there are other flying saucers outside of
the sphere that watch you complete your missions ... I'm sure they were
laughing at me more than approving =). There is also a full
star field background that
rotates with the screen angle
... as well as planets and other celestial bodies .. no .. not Jennifer
Love Hewitt. We can't win 'em all.
Now on to
gameplay. This is what I don't understand ... ok ... when you move
with the mouse and stop... the screen slowly stops moving. When you
use the keyboard .. the screen stops moving on a dime. Why is
that? Other than that ... the mouse buttons were well utilized ... the left button for firing .. and the right button
for thrust. This made
sense immediately.. "a few
more points added back". The speed of the thrust was great ... not
too fast .. and not too slow. Still, I could stop on a dime just by
letting go of the mouse button. Not very good physics I'm
thinking... never been in space to test it myself, but I'm pretty sure I'd
float a little bit before stopping. The mouse-look feature is well-written as well ... the speed seems to have been
play tested and play tested until they found the perfect speed. I
could "with the mouse" .. follow the path of an asteroid chunk .. and fire
ahead of it .. to hit it straight on. I really did like the distance
aspect of the whole thing. Firing at an asteroid does nothing but waste time .. since it's
already past that spot when the "bullet" reaches it. This, in itself, sets this apart
from some other shoot-em-ups I've played. As for special effects ...
this game doesn't carry many ... an explosion when an asteroid is hit ...
and a polygonal heap of trash when you ship is destroyed ... but they look
to be done decently as well.
Now comes my one complaint about the interface... hunting down that last asteroid. It seems to take forever to view the entire 360 degree
area with your small view of
the screen. Maybe a
widening of the camera angle would be in order. This would also help a lot with getting killed
because of an asteroid in
your blind spot ... there are
just too many places to look for oncoming asteroids at times.
Last .. but never
least ... is the fun factor of this game. I'd bet that most people's
immediate
reactions would be that this
game is too hard or
complicated... but
the learning curve is
amazingly fast. After
my 3rd go at this game I had already reached the 6th level .. no small
feat! .. and now I'm even farther along. The mouse movements feel natural
... and I've learned how to
use the power-ups I receive from destroyed saucers.
oops .. did I forget to mention that part of the game? All I've seen
so far is Rapid Fire and Rapid Movement ... but they are both welcome
additions to my arsenal! .. Too bad there isn't an auto-fire ... it gets a bit annoying clicking the mouse button
that quickly ... which is why I use the space bar to fire now.
Still, other than a few choice options I would've added, I find this game
extremely fun and a bit
time-consuming. I think
a head-to-head over the net
version would be viable in the near future. Single player games don't seem to interest me
much unless they are pure RPG in nature ... so it's surprising that I am
actually still playing this game =) ... and the final score?
1000 points to Wayne, Collin,
and Ryan ... but that's ok because the points don't matter ... just like a
firewall on a PS2. =)
I seriously recommend
checking this game out .. and finding out what can be done in Visual Basic
when one's mind is set to the task! .. besides .. it's fun!
Sketch | 
