This time is the space simulator Spacetime Odissey.
The Indie 3D Shoot-out in Space.
The gameplay of Spacetime Odissey is vastly superior than Top Gun Air Combat (formerly Air Gun Fighter) since the first thing we notice is the control scheme, which now allows us to strafe left or right, or move up or down like a helicopter. Looks like Pix Arts tried to make a more real spaceship control since things out there are different from those on Earth. That also explains why we can't roll. Well, you can do a sommersault by pushing up or down on the left Analog Stick, but the ship will roll automatically. Unlike Top Gun Air Combat, the game only gives you one standard missile type, while your default weapon is the laser, which despite having unlimited ammo, the energy depletes and you have to wait until it reloads as if the cannons overheat and you'll have to stop firing in order to reload.
One of the major improvements of the game was the inclusion of "Open World" elements that give the player the freedom of choosing what target wants to tackle first. Each mission is splitted in halves where you have to attack space targets and a planet based objective. You can decide if you want to go to the planet or attack the Capital Ship first. There's no optional objectives or splitted decisions that compromise the success of the others like in Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation, so you don't have to worry about failing on the base for striking the planet first, and honestly that's for the best.
There's problems to take care of on planet Estigyon
The planet based missions most of the times will require to clear specific enemies within the alien structures, and this is when the first of our problems will hit in the game: There's no target selection, the game will indicate the priority targets which will be the enemy fighters. Even if there's artillery on the structures, the game would not mark them as targets, there's no "Target switch" button and sometimes are hard to hit them with the Primary Weapon (Laser), but they can hit you. And that also applies on the space based missions. There's "boss fights" and that's in one of the later missions where you fight a mechanical being called "Golem". The rest is destroying capital ships and fight in corridors, along with the Star Wars-esque reactor assault.
For some strange reason, after completing each mission, the game will drop the ammo capacity for the secondary weapon: 24>22>20 etc.
That Space Bumble Ball is the Alpharian Disco Ball.
Your mission is to stop them from transforming Acheron into a new Boogie Wonderland.
There's also instances where you'll be sent on emergency situations like Capital Ships attacking the base and even escorting a royal transport.
Like in Top Gun Air Combat, if you die it's Game Over. But in Spacetime Odissey, Pix Arts played fair this time and granted you the chance of retrying the mission and even save the game, resuming where you left off. Shooting down enemies will award you "Victory" trophies while clearing both mission halves grant you a mission reward, justifying its purchase as a Trophy Booster, until you finish the fifth mission where the damned trophy is broken and it won't unlock with nothing. And for a final kick in the groin, after clearing the final mission, the game doesn't have an ending. Instead, it sends you back to mission 1.
The inside view puts you in the pilots seat.
Graphically, it breaks with the real world realism from Top Gun Air Combat as the game takes place in space. While the change of military to sci-fi theme is a nice idea, the overall look of the game looks more simplified as an early XBOX360 game and that can be noticed on the ship's and structures of the game. Not to mention the floating stones in the planet based stages which look like random 3D shapes with no textures, being the starfighter's cockpit, the asteroids and the planets the most detailed part of the game. Not to mention the artificial structures that reminds me of the Promethean structures of Halo 4.
Yensid's War Stars: Quest for the Atlas.
There's borrowed things in this game, like the first planetary mission which has a No Man's Sky feel on the background, along with the ship's design that resembles an X-Wing from Star Wars, and the colorscheme inspired by Poe Dameron's X-Wing from Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Yeah, ripped off things again, but at least the game has a little more originality than Top Gun Air Combat.
Like in Top Gun Air Combat, there's no music in the game, only the laser firing and engine noises to break the silence. Pix Arts REALLY needs to address that issue in their future works.
SPACETIMED CURIOSITIES
- The name is a whole typo, it should be "Space-Time Odyssey".
- Most of the planet based targets take place on Gas Giants which is an astronomical error to place since those kind of planets doesn't have a well defined surface.
Indeed Nina, but thank goodness this wasn't crap as Air Gun Fighter.
Spacetime Odissey turned out to be a far more playable than Top Gun Air Combat / Air Gun Fighter, and it feels more like a simulator with a few Open World elements on it. But still has things to work with if it wants to go somewhere, along with fixing the broken Fifth Mission trophy. Not a bad game, but not a good one either. You might want to pick it for trophies if you want.
Don't let the review discourage you, Pix Arts.
TO PIX ARTS: You had great ideas this time, and I'm sure you can improve much further and this game is proof of that. Just fix the problems mentioned in the review and you'll see the difference.
Lea and Shizuka are not surprised with the overall aspects of the game.