It started so well for Space Pirates From Tomorrow. Starting with a loading screen akin to a Commodore 64′s was an inspired touch. One that instantly made me want to feel great fondness for the game. Throw in the fact that everything I’d read about the game suggested it was trying to be Elite, and I was really rather keen to give it a shot. So it’s unfortunate that it turns out that Space Pirates From Tomorrow is really rather poor.
It continues to demonstrate promise at first. The tutorial, although a little daunting, displays the wonderful promise that Space Pirates From Tomorrow has. It suggests a huge world of exploration where almost anything can be done. Just what Elite fans want really. To be fair to the game this is possible, assuming you manage to survive the atrocious flight controls that is. It just doesn’t feel intuitive at all, add the fact that there’s no sense of speed when travelling and it just feels downright shoddy.
It’s understandable that Indie games won’t look as amazing as retail games, but in the case of Space Pirates From Tomorrow, the visuals really are quite poor. I assume much of this is down to the developer’s wish to have over 6,000 star systems available to explore, meaning that graphical capabilities had to lose out. However, it would have been a better idea to have toned down the ambition, have fewer star systems but more detail to the planets. Although graphics are certainly not everything, Space Pirates From Tomorrow’s really are noticeably dated.
Beneath the poor graphics and dodgy control system, there is promise here. Although none of the missions felt particularly memorable, there are certainly many, many to play. There are also some nice moments of humour which need to be expanded upon for future releases. The options do feel limitless with the potential for trading, bounty hunting and mining amongst others. It would take hundreds of hours to play everything that is on offer here. But it’ll take a lot of patience to persevere with the dream through the many irritants that this game has to offer. Space Pirates From Tomorrow also offers a slightly excessive price at 240 points. If it was as enjoyable as the idea suggests, it would be the bargain of the century. As it stands though, and with other superior indie games priced at 80 points, it makes no sense to take the plunge. All existing owners can hope for is an improvement to the control system which is the real problem here, fix that and Space Pirates From Tomorrow would be instantly improved. For now though, steer clear.
VideogameUK verdict: 2/10
How many better Elite-like games or space shooters are there on the XBLIG service? Which are they? Answers to these questions would be valuable to your readers.
Although poor controls certainly is a valid reason for staying away from a title, I think you should expand a bit on what you disliked in the game. That would be valuable to both your readers (so that they know if they are likely to share your impression of the game) and to the developer (so that he/she can do better next time).
I didn’t state there were better Elite-like games on the XBLIG service, I stated there were better games on the whole :) Space Pirates From Tomorrow wins by default as the ‘best’ Elite-like game but that’s not really a very difficult accolade to gain and it’s certainly not a worthy winner! Just because it’s the only one still doesn’t make it a worthy purchase unfortunately.
Better Indie games would be the likes of I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1, Your Doodles Are Bugged and Mithra Episode One.
As I pointed out, the game does hold promise but the controls are so atrocious it ruins any enjoyment that the game could offer. They practically stop you dead in your path to any chance of fun! Which is a shame as it’s a very ambitious title let down by a quite terrible and confusing control system.
Hope that helps :)
If you dislike the default control model, you can always follow what it says in the tutorial and change them in the game options screen – assuming of course you’re playing the updated version of the game. The updated release contains options for control changes which came directly from the user-base and recieved much positive response when a) we proposed the changes and b) when the update was released.
The graphical style is pretty simple, and that is by design. Firstly the aesthetic is set (deliberately) by the C64-style NovaLoad screen. Quite frankly, we made a mistake in thinking that people would see that connection. That’s not a criticism of you, or your review, but to be honest we expected people to see the load screen and *expect* a minimalist graphical style. I would however defend the game against the label of “poor” visuals. Perhaps we could or should have added more ship models, more complex shield effects, bigger explosions and so on, but we were trying to walk the line between enough flash and polish to bring people in, and adding so much that it swamps the player and gives the impression that overworked visuals are being used to mask poor gameplay.
Since release we’ve had people tweeting their gameplay as they play, we’ve had lots of good feedback and support from the dev community and the gamer community (not always easy to have positivity from both camps), good reviews and I personally have had a few dozen messages on LIVE from gamers who are more than satisfied with the game.
I have to say we’ve spent a lot of time asking for – and getting – feedback from a fair-sized group of gamers who have got hold of the game, from pre-release to post-update, and your specific points aren’t really something which I can see supported in the feedback that we’ve had. Yes there are problems with the game, yes it’s not perfect, and we certainly aren’t expecting to win any awards at all, but if I’m honest my first reaction to your review was that you were playing the wrong version of the game.
I’m honestly sorry that you don’t think much of the game. We’re in the home stretch on our next title and once that’s done we’ll be working another update to help people who can’t seem to find the control options or find the tutorials incomplete. I will certainly add your criticisms to the list of items we need to consider, but I have to agree with Johann that your points seem rather vauge. If you want to send us more comments which we can action, then please feel free.