Breakthrough Gaming's Space 2 (PS4 - PS5 - XB1 - X|S)

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Sturmvogel Prime
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Breakthrough Gaming's Space 2 (PS4 - PS5 - XB1 - X|S)

Post by Sturmvogel Prime »

Time for another dive into the world of Trash'em Up sub-genre of shmups.
This time is another Zero-budget shooter, Space 2 Breakthrough Gaming Arcade, also known as Breakthrough Gaming's Space 2.


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Read this message before you fight the Lord's battle plan.

Before you start playing you'll see this message in the Attract Mode. It was kinda odd to see a Christian-themed game nowadays since the last time I've heard of them was in the mid-90's with Wisdom Tree, formerly known as Color Dreams. Being Super 3D Noah's Ark the most mentioned due to the "ID Software gave Wolfenstein 3D to them" rumor.
Unlike Wisdom Tree's Bible-themed games where they slap one biblical quote after another throughout the gameplay like Bible Adventures, the John reference is the only Bible thing you'll find in this game.



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This should be called "Bricks VS Asteroids".

Well, this game is not gonna have too much to talk about, just look at it. Breakthrough Gaming's Space 2 is an horizontal scrolled shooter that relies on retro-styled simplicity. Despite the Bible reference at the attract mode, this game is more of your generic Science-Fiction Asteroid blasting shmup where the objective is to destroy asteroids and alien ships while making the highest score possible and going as far as possible like in the vintage arcade shmups. The stages are quite short for a retro-inspired game, so you'll be making some good progress in a few minutes like reaching Stage 6 in 3 or 4 minutes.



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Poor A.J., he didn't wanted to miss a thing, but things went "Crazy" in space.
Then, God told him "Fly away from here", and an asteroid hit him.


For a Bible-based shmup, you expect some help from God in your mission to destroy your enemies. After all, God loves to keep people safe from harm because he will always be there when they fight the "Good Fight" and stand up for what's right. Not on this game. You get zero-to-none help from God that your ship will go down with one hit, the enemies are faster than you, you'll be outnumbered in after Stage 4, asteroids are almost 1/3 of the size of the screen, there's no power ups for your ship, no bombs to clear the screen and catch your breath and you only have one life and no continues. A whole Via Crucis for the shmupper if you ask me. If I was in the space force where the pilot before me died for the reasons mentioned, I'd take it as a divine sign. Someone really doesn't want me in that space mission.
Like Switch N' Shoot, the game commits the sin of NOT INCLUDING A PAUSE BUTTON. Yeah, once you start playing this thing, you'll be in this Via Dolorosa in shmup disguise until your ship is destroyed.

Is there a reason to play this game?. Only 12 PlayStation trophies that if you're ace enough, you can get in 5 minutes. That's a whole new record, dethroning InkSplosion in the category of fastest trophy unlocking. If you had the disgrace of buying this game, maybe the only comforting thing about this is that you've paid 1 miserable buck for this game.

UPDATE: I've discovered that this game, along with the entire Breakthrough Gaming Arcade collection was released on the XBOX One and is compatible with Series X/S, but if in the PS4 lacked of any value except for the trophies, the XBOX port is worthless since it lacks of achievements to justify its purchase.



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...and God said "You're free to go".
I'd consider this as a free to go away from this game.


Graphically, there's no references to the Bible like in the gameplay. Your ship looks like a poorly sculpted brick that you'll need to use a lot of imagination to figure out what is exactly that damn thing, and so the non-asteroid enemy. Well, my best idea is that your ship is a 1-bit rendition of the DeLorean from Back to the Future, while the enemies are bad renditions of Bullet Bills from Super Mario World.

As for the sound, Oh...my...God, there's nothing available to say about it. The only music you'll have in this game is the level start and Game Over tunes 'cos nobody bothered to add a couple or tracks or so for this game. Yeah, the rest of the game is musicless, just like the Angry Video Game Nerd said on his Top Gun review: "If purgatory exists, this is what it is." Also, there's no sound either, so it's definitely empty of audio. A crying shame 'cos even old games like Asteroids and Galaga had sound effects.


SPACE 2: BREAKTHROUGH CURIOSITIES
- This is the return of Christian themed developers since Wisdom Tree in the 90's.
- This is the latest entry in the Breakthrough Gaming Arcade series. God Help Us All...



Breakthrough Gaming's Space 2 is a heresy disguised as a Christian-themed game or a religious shmup. Just when I thought Space Blaze and Rym 9000 were the worst PlayStation 4 shmups ever and there was no way possible to go below that, then comes Breakthrough Gaming's Space 2 and says "Step aside, ladies" and claims that title for itself.
It's a crying shame since the idea of blending The Bible with Science-Fiction has a lot of potential when its done right. Just take a look at Namco's Xenosaga series of RPG games.

Even if the game costs 1 buck, that doesn't mean it has to be horrendous and that lazy with your gaming design. So please, don't use God's name for make trash games. The good Earth already had enough with Wisdom Tree's bad Bible games, although Wisdom Tree's games looked way better than this. Just take a look at Spiritual Warfare (a clone of The Legend of Zelda).
Also, for a Christian themed company, the game developers sinned not once, but twice: "Sloth" with this lazy and horrible game design and "Thou Shall Not Steal" 'cos I feel robbed, even if it was for a dollar, I want that dollar back! So, I've better end this review before I end up losing that Heavenly Virtue called Patience. Now, let's pray for better games done with Diligence and Temperance, 'cos that's what the world and shmup community needs right now.

End of story, end of review.
I'm gonna help Specia, Yashin and Asayuki nail the staff of Breakthrough Gaming to the [EXPLETIVE] cross.


*Sing "God Damn It" to the tune of "Honestly" by Stryper*


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God Damn It, another bad shmup.
Was this made on the cheap?

Stupidly bad graphics, Oh, God!
No music in this game, ¿What the hell?



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And once again,
I've just wasted my cash
Along with
FIVE DAMNED MINUTES!!



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Pay 1 buck and you'll get a bad shmup.
12 Thropies in five minutes for sure.
That's enough for me to say
This is game is just
HORRE-E-EEEN-DOOOUUUS!
God Damn It.



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Poor excuse for a videogame, Oh, my God!
Uninstalled, this thing will be for sure.
That's enough for me to say
You will hate this stupid game.
Put this game in the garbage, trust me on this.



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And I really have to say
This game is just
HORRE-E-EEEN-DOOOUUUS!
God Damn...Iiiiiiiiit.
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