Spaceport Hope isn't a complex or overly long game. As implied, it is a Jump and Shoot mans. You play a smuggler or courier named Cole who transports drugs (of the beneficial kind, we infer) between regions and planets in 'the system'. You get framed, have to unravel the mess and visit every planet in the system to do so. The 'planets' generally have a level or two, maybe a dungeon, some loot and some other nonsense. There are more than a handful of planets, but not exactly a dizzying amount of content. I saw most of the game, through my playthrough, though I didn't get all the achievements, so I must have missed something.The story is, as implied, pretty simple - But it's not bad. It's a little smarter than just 'kill the bad mans' and while the mystery isn't mind-blowing stuff, I found it a little better than the mediocre average. The plot isn't exactly save the universe stuff, and Cole is a catalyst not the be-all end-all savior of man, which is refreshing?
He's just a courier.The game's visuals are generally good, though there is sort of a sliding scale in action. The levels and their background are fantastic, the scrolling background is just gorgeous stuff. Yes, it is pixel art, but it is really well done. I really like the set of screenshots I took, while it isn't hard sci-fi, it has some roots in trying to evoke stronger elements. The enemy models look good, and are well animated, and the weapons (of which there are many) have nice looking little animations. Your character isn't good looking, and the faces of talking NPCs are really terrible. It's a bit jarring, but most of the game looks good, if you're into pixel art. If you're not, well, it's simple stuff - but the color scheme isn't drab and it has lots of variety in the chosen palettes, so it's a little refreshing even for that.
The music and audio are nothing special, but they fit and aren't ever off tone. Good enough is good enough when it doesn't feel weird or too repetitive. They're just normal, nominal background sounds. Gameplay ... Like I said, jump and shoot mans. Cole has a double jump, and is surprisingly maneuverable in the air. It feels good and slick, and not at all weighed down. You enable and disable weapons in the weapons menu, and then switch between them with shoulder buttons, or whatever the keyboard has. It's simple, satisfying stuff, though you will find most of the weapons useless and several of them life-savers. The rocket launcher and homing plasma gun are pretty much your go-to tools, once you get them, for most of the game. There is a weapon heat mechanic, and ammo in action, which can get a little grating. The cooldown mechanic is in, I think, to get you to chance your weapons on the fly. Problem being is most of the weapons just don't take to every situation. Weapons, other than your basic automatic rifle, draw from three pools of munition - fuel, missiles and shells or whatever you want to call them - which isn't as well balanced as it should be.
There are lots of boss fights, and a couple trickier platforming sections, which are the game's main charms. Most of the boss fights weren't too punishing and took a bit to figure out, then execute. I didn't have to attempt them a ton, so maybe they're a little too easy, but I did appreciate how most of them required figuring the boss out and trying different things. The platforming is pretty forgiving stuff, since Cole's double jump makes him insanely agile, but there's more than a few good sections.
All in all, Spaceport Hope is a solid execution of a simple premise. It does have some issues with dps uptime on some trash enemies and the weapon balance is a little off, but on the most part I found very little to actively complain about. It is a simple game of moderate length, so if this is what you're looking for to spend a couple days on, it'll be fine enough.
No comments:
Post a Comment