Developer: Passtech Games
Publisher: Focus Home Interactive
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Space Run Galaxy – Review
Our preview of Space Run Galaxy has only recently gone live, and we are happy to already present you with our review of the game. We were still in a constructive mood and we were eager to explore the new galaxies that unlocked in the full version of this title. We were sure that being an intergalactic trucker had even more perils in store for us, as our cargo already became increasingly dangerous when we reached the end of the preview. Blast your way through hordes of looters, all while keeping your precious cargo, a.k.a. your paycheck, safe.
Story
The story hasn’t changed since the preview build, and thus you are still a lone space trucker that gets contacted by the ‘legendary’ Buck Mann, who is in desperate need of extra hands. Of course, he makes it seem as if he’s actually doing you a favor, as he tends to give himself a hefty amount of credit. Nonetheless, you prove to be a viable asset to his company, and if you do your job right, both you and him earn a pretty penny in the process. During your newly established trading routes, you’ll come across many big corporations looking for an extra hand, or shady figures that want you to drop off rather toxic cargo on other planets, no questions asked.
Overall the story value of Space Run Galaxy is rather slim, but you’ll be treated to an occasional dialogue from time to time, introducing new jobs or clients. These don’t really add that much to a global storyline, but they do add some content. Face it, you will not be playing this game for an interesting storyline anyway.
Graphics
Space Run Galaxy has a basic tower defense kind of vibe, which in all its simplicity still looks great. The space charts look rather realistic compared to the rest of the game, but they do suit the overall picture. The characters, even those who seem to be legit, all have a rather sketchy appearance, again in a different style than all the rest. Of course, you’ll be looking at your hexagon tiled ship most of the time and you will not be disappointed. Your ship, when fully equipped with weapons, cargo, defensive structures and so on, will become a pleasant colorful mess, that clearly indicates which category the weapons etc belong to. Your enemies will also be clad in the same style, granting you the chance to easily recognize what you’re up against, except for the smaller single tiled pirates.
Sound
The soundtrack is rather adventurous, but still subtle enough to never get on your nerves. Your AI companion tends to be a nuisance after some time, as she repeats the same one-liners over and over again, every time you perform an action or lose a structure. Nonetheless, the game does have a few decently voice acted sections, which add a bit to the overall immersion and the qualitative feel of the game. Other than the soundtrack, the most you’ll hear are the futuristic sounds of lasers, cannons and rockets, all while you try to blow your enemies and oncoming asteroids to smithereens.
Gameplay
This intergalactic transport simulator is all about delivering cargo from one planet to another, often in a straight line, but sometimes you’ll have to make a stop on planets that lie in-between or have to go back and forth several times if the cargo is too big to carry at once. Overall things prove to be rather straightforward and clear, but you’ll have to consider which ship you use for certain jobs or in which items you’ll have to invest. Transport cargo, earn money, upgrade and repeat proves to be this game’s motto.
At the beginning of the game you’ll start off with a small ship and it’s up to you to transport enough loads in order to get new weaponry, other structures and of course, a bigger ship. You’ll be able to unlock extra tiles for your ship, expanding its size, but it will eventually reach its maximum size. When this happens, you’ll probably have to look into new schematics, that allow you to build even bigger vessels. That being said, money is not the only requirement to be able to upgrade your vessel. To upgrade the defensive, offensive and utility items, you’ll need the corresponding materials. Sometimes you’ll only need one item from said category, while other times you’ll need the base items and some advanced items, in order to unlock the item of your choice, or simply to expand the stock of those you already own.
A difficulty this game brings to the table is the fact that your structure ‘stock’ is limited. This means that if you have eight basic turrets, you will only be able to place eight, and when some of them get destroyed, you will not be able to replace them with the same turrets during that delivery. As a result, you’ll have to spend your upgrade points on both new structures as well as extra structures that prove their worth during the runs.
The game’s difficulty is rather high, but it increases gradually enough to let you learn the ropes properly. While it’s a great plan to build a defensive hub on your ship to protect the cargo and fend off possible attackers, you’ll also have to consider a speedy and timely delivery, thus you’ll have to plan which structure to build next, during the entire mission at hand. As the game progresses, clean deliveries will become harder and harder, especially seeing the opposition will become fiercer and fiercer.
Earning money and materials is always a fun reward at the end of a run, but there’s only one catch. You will always receive your payment at the end of your destination, thus the planet which you were headed to. All of your materials aren’t stockpiled on the same planet, and you will only be able to do upgrades on planets that have sufficient materials stocked. Of course, you can transport everything to your ‘main planet’ of the solar system you’re in, but this tends to become rather tedious. Another option is to hire other players to transport your own cargo for you, and you can even do so, free of charge. Other players will still receive random rewards per piece of cargo they transport for you, regardless if you pay them extra or not. Of course, adding a bit of extra money to the equation might motivate them to pick your contract(s) over the other ones.
New galaxies are unlocked as you complete the quests, and thus you’ll be able to explore new areas the more story missions you complete. Nonetheless, everything pretty much remains the same, with the addition of new enemies, and bigger and better ships.
Conclusion
Space Run Galaxy is easy to learn and looks rather simplistic, but underneath you’ll find a fairly strategic experience. While the tower defense mechanics prove to be very interesting, it’s actually the diversity of the structures and the many different levels and obstacles that truly define this game. You’ll have a lot of content to explore, as well as a certain sense of interaction with other players thanks to the player contracts. If you like constructing, all while flying through space, you’d better buckle up and check this title out.
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