Stellar Interface Review (Diamondragan)
It's not fun. It's just not fun.
What I once experienced in a game called Tyrian, I haven't found anywhere ever again.
Everything seems so incredibly difficult, and so much information seems to be hidden. I saw someone start a game with a weapon available I've never seen. My starting weapons have never changed or gotten better.
Half of the end-of-stage/consumable upgrades don't even tell you what they do. Reading the description for the Fool's Double Projectiles makes it hard to take even literal things, like "only works for lasers" or "works better with shotguns, machine guns, or blasters" very seriously. Works better how? Deals more damage, fires faster, suffers less loss of mobility?
The purely random maps mean you end up regularly facing off against Lost Lords with no possible way of winning because you didn't get or couldn't find the merchants. The difficulty scaling means you can do a Threat 2 Factory for a new ship after getting a bunch of ships, but you'll never win because those ships take too many hits to destroy in order to unlock the ship. Cycle consumables? What is there to cycle? Each ship only has one consumable.
How many times am I supposed to run in totally blind and unable to keep my head above the water until it's possible to unlock what is necessary to win? Never? Am I supposed to put in hours and hours of time on the off chance that the game lets me win for once?
You're not buying a rouge-like horizontal shmup, you're buying a futility simulator. The game isn't different every time, it's the same chain of disappointing rewards, ad nausem until you give up. Complete a level, here's three bad upgrade options. Another one, three more. A merchant, but your weapons still suck. With two software upgrades and a slightly less garbage weapon, fight Bally. Why Bally? Beacause it's always Bally. It's Bally every time.
I've fought like 20 Ballys and after struggling playthough after playthrough I don't understand if I'm supposed to learn something or just enjoy being shit on over and over.
I guess everyone else is playing a better version of the game, because this is just plain terrible.
3/10