Developer: Ragiva Games e.K.
Publisher: Black Shell Media
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Scott in Space – Review
What would happen if guinea pigs where actually the inhabitants of a foreign planet? Would there be a lot of greenery? Or some nice carrot farms maybe? Guess we’ll never find out, as their hometown is being attacked by rhinos. Thank goodness you have Scott to save the day, if that is even possible.
Story
There isn’t a big story value at the start of the game. You can see how two animal clans seem to clash, as the rhinos are invading the guinea pig territory. Scott, a brave rodent, was fighting bravely against his foes when he was shot down and crashed into a planet.
This is where you can actually give life to little Scott as you will need to run around and gather several elements to save the day. For starters, you will need to find some parts of your spaceship so you can find your friends. Even more, you’ll need to get back in touch with your supervisors and save the day.
It has to be said, the story isn’t very thick as you can only follow one storyline without any sidequests or extra lore. This is quite a shame though, as it could have been exploited more. The conversations aren’t that great as well, as there are a lot of obvious ‘puns’. Although some of them are funny, there are just too much in one chat, which makes it an overkill.
Graphics
Scott in Space is a 2D sidescroller in which you can move good ol’ Scotty around. It has to be said though, the surroundings really feel rather flat on certain planets, while this isn’t the case on others. It’s a shame that there isn’t any consistency on this matter.
The same goes for the characters. Both guinea pigs as enemies only have one or two different sprites. There isn’t even another visual representation when our hero jumps around, which is rather disappointing. Even more, both the main menu and dialog screens are rather simple and could have been less boring.
On a good point, the overall graphics and the used colors are really fun and it is noticeable that every planet has its own particular elements and color scheme which gives it a certain feeling. For instance, a gloomy forest with haunted spirits next to the rather Avatar-looking surrounding.
Sound
Playing this game for the first time, you might be impressed by the music but you might be less enthusiastic after a while. The tunes loop quite fast and the overall tone of the music might be a tad overdramatic. You’ll probably get the feeling that you’re in a vividly orchestrated opera performance rather than playing a relaxing game.
There are some sound effects, but not that great as well. You’ll have some basic noises like jumping, while others might seem rather far-fetched. For example, when you die, you’ll hear a nice crispy buzzing sound, even though you’re nowhere near electricity. Overall, it feels like this game lacks a bit of punch.
Gameplay
As mentioned before, Scott in Space is a 2D adventure sidescroller in which you need to fulfil several quests to save your planet(s) from the rhinos. This means you’ll need to face several dangers in order to restore the natural balance. You immediately start as you need to find some parts for your spaceship or when you need to awaken an ancient ghost. It is a shame that you only have one quest at a time and it is being tracked by a picture. After you get a new mission, it is impossible to get an update or some text about what you’ll have to do. This means that, if you don’t play for a while, it might get tricky finding out what you were doing.
Of course it isn’t that easy, as you’re being attacked by rhinos and their rather annoying friends like owls, rats and evil haunted pixies. It would have been nice if you would have something to defend yourself with, but nope. The only thing you can do is jump on them until they’re eventually vanquished. This method isn’t always that efficient, so thank goodness that the enemies drop some nice apples. These are needed to gain extra lives, while the bigger red ones will regenerate a bit of your health.
This is actually all that there is to it. You cannot level up, buy other equipment or set talents. All you can do is jump around and kill enemies to achieve certain goals. It would have been better if there were a bit more possibilities, as this might get boring after a short while. There is at least one bug in the game as well. When you die and the game is reloading, pressing the escape button will stop the screen from rendering, but you’re actually thrown into options menu as you can hear the buttons ping.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for something to play when you don’t have a lot of time, you might reconsider Scott in Space. Overall, the story could have been better and the graphics and music don’t really make up for it but it might be fun as you can smash rhinos as a guinea pig. It feels like the game had a lot of potential, but it wasn’t exploited.
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