I had very high hopes for this game, which is not fair, because when it failed to meet them, I just sort of lost interest with each passing scene.
First the good.
- The core gameplay is a pretty well done space tactics simulator. Nothing amazing, but its cute and fun and not a chore to play (props for giving a skip option).
- The artwork is gorgeous. The girls are pretty, and the set pieces and ships are lovingly crafted. I also appreciate that we don't waste development time making a hundred little variations on the same scene, where someone slightly changes their pose or something, this allows the game to be made much quicker, and frankly, is hardly a detriment. Use your imagination a bit guys.
The neutral
- I hate Unity. I fucking hate it so much. It's a buggy mess at the best of times. It was a less buggy mess here, so props for that, but still, the polish is lacking and its in the actual bones of the game.
The bad
- The writing. Unfortunately the game hits my particularly favorite genre, and I will pull no punches when I shit talk its butchering of said genre. And unfortunately, that same tactic mentioned above, where the Dev uses one still pic for the entire scene and just changes the writing, REQUIRES a strong skill at crafting a narrative, otherwise we just have one picture and words dumped on the page.
Writing is very difficult. Movies/books/comics/video games/whatever, all are composed of scenes. Each scene has a job to do. Whether its to develop a character or advance the plot. In a sci-fi or fantasy world, there is another option, worldbuilding. And in an AVN, there's another still, sex scenes. Every scene needs to do at least ONE of those things, good writers can do one or two in a scene while also being entertaining (info dumps versus a dialogue that might explain a concept in an entertaining or funny way). A great writer could do three or sometimes four. It is this efficiency that we like and enjoy in entertainment. Take for example, the Joker's introduction scene in the film, The Dark Knight. We get character development (meet the Joker), we get plot advancement (he basically explains his goal of opposing Batman directly) and its a little funny and very tense (entertaining). It's great writing that feels like a long scene (cause so much is happening), but its only a couple minutes long.
This game has the opposite problem, each and every scene drags on and on, I started out very invested in the story, and pretty soon I couldn't give a shit. The Royalists are bad. Okay, why? And is your side (that you defect from almost instantly) good? What connection does this have to the player? Now find a way to condense that information down to about half the length it currently is and then make it tense, funny or gripping.
I think this game has potential, which is the best I can say about it, for now. And I hope the Dev keeps working and I wish him/her much success in the future.
