Space Pioneer was recently made available on the Nintendo eShop from the publisher QubicGames and by the developers of Vivid games at the price of 9,99€.
The title, initially released for mobile devices, is one shooter with isometric view that puts us in the shoes of one Space Pioneer, a kind of soldier who can rely on different equipment to face the creatures present on each planet.
Will this title be able to land without problems on the latest Nintendo console? Find out in this new review!
Let's step into the shoes of a Space Pioneer!
The title will prove very simple right from the start: the player will be called to impersonate one Space Pioneer, a trained soldier with many tools at his disposal, which he will have to accomplish specific operations on every planet it encounters, finding itself exterminating aggressive aliens while in.
With these premises, it is immediately evident how the developers have aimed at creating a classic mobile game to be played in small moments of time, offering a gameplay quick and immediate and without placing any emphasis on the narrative sector.
Our only goal, in fact, will be to accomplish one series of missions on each planet, with the addition of several side missions who will go to give us a collectible detail, the stars.
Solid but repetitive gameplay
In general the commands are I am responsivi, however some of them turn out to be extremely uncomfortable in this specific version.
An example are i skill buttons: in fact, since we will have to move the character with the right analogue and aim with the left, press X, Y and A at the same time to use one of the 3 active abilities will be extremely impractical, if not by stopping aiming and therefore freely killing our enemies.
This flaw is also exacerbated by the fact that there is no way to customize the buttons.
The planets we are going to visit will be around 5 types which will be repeated during all 11 chapters, resulting after a while quite repetitive.
The same thing can be said for the types of missions to tackle, both primary and secondary, since in general our goal will always be to arrive in a certain area, stay inside it for several seconds trying not to die and then return to the extraction point.
Not even from the point of view of enemies all this variety will be present, with only a few exceptions that can be found in design on alcuni boss.
Content-wise, the game has, as previously mentioned, 11 chapters with at least 5 planets to explore, in each of which it will be possible to obtain 3 stars.
All missions can be tackled in co-op in 4 players, but not being able to find anyone to participate we could not test this particular aspect.
By taking specific actions, then, we are going to complete some of the 80 unlockable trophies, each of which will be divided into 3 categories based on the difficulty (gold, silver and bronze) and will reward us with some cards (which we will talk about later) or of the new equipment.
A deep enhancement system enough
In the title they will be present 3 Space Piooner classes: the Soldier, well balanced in its characteristics, the Recon, very fast but with less resistance and the Cart, with high resistance but low speed.
Each of them will differ for both stats and skills that we will be able to unlock and upgrade as we progress through the game.
In general these classes are well differentiated, but they are in general very few, even if you compare it to the rest of the game content.
We can then equip freely a weapon of our choice e 3 active skills, each of which can be suitably enhanced.
The game manages upgrades through some sort of carte, acquired by completing the secondary objectives of each level, earning trophies and opening some lootbox.
For each level, each piece of equipment will require a certain number of cards (indicated on the right in the bar below the icon) and the use of monete, another ingame currency that will be possible to obtain within the missions and in the same ways mentioned above when talking about the upgrade cards.
In general, we have the management of the upgrades initially quite balanced, proposing a not too much grind to upgrade our equipment.
In this sense, some missions that can be found in the menu will also help us rewards, which will provide us with a good amount of objects each time we perform specific actions.
An extremely basic technical and artistic sector
Graphically, the title is incredibly basic, with polygons very simple and settings in general bare and not very detailed, but not unpleasant at first glance.
The technical sector is then in general handled well, but presents scattered graphic bugs e drastic drops in frame rates in some levels in which there are more elements of the setting than normal (for example among the trees of the glacial zone).
The soundtracks that will accompany us will then be not very memorable, focusing on a classic 80s retro style that it will become repetitive after a short time.
In conclusion
Space Pioneer is a game without too many pretensions that manages to entertain the player for a few hours, thanks to his solid gameplay and a good amount of unlockable content.
However, the title suffers from one quite marked discomfort some basic commands and the repetitiveness of settings and missions, seriously undermining its attractiveness.
We recommend it only for those who want to play a game for a few euros not too complex that the ambition to entertain for a few hours.
