I have always been a huge fan of the Space Adventure game genre dating all the way back to my early Amiga days. It is a genre that has massively evolved over the years as both computing and game console power grew. Get the formula right and the potential for a great game experience can be huge, but get it wrong and you risk putting players off. Rebel Galaxy has just released on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 and aims to take the attention away from ‘Elite Dangerous’ and the ‘No Man’s Sky’ by doing something rather incredible with the genre:
Rebel Galaxy has totally taken me by surprise, and can honestly say that it completely blindsided me with little warning as to just how brilliantly it takes the genre and spins it on its head. The real power of Rebel Galaxy lies in the beauty of its simplicity and back to basics approach which focuses on the most user-friendly formula possible but keeping the depth and fundamentals of this genre. It achieves this by taking all the over complicated simulation elements that Elite Dangerous thrives and simply handles it for you. This creates a freedom to just play the game and not be bogged down with having to perform ship control checks before take off for example.
It is that sense of freedom that is at the very core of the game. By allowing players to get right into the gameplay immediately let’s you get to work right away. You start with a basic ship, weapons and defended and given a huge star system to explore but it is how you decide to earn your fortune that shows the depth of Rebel Sky. The natural goal is to earn credits to buy new ships and upgrade weapons and ship systems to help players follow the path they have chosen. Players can be bounty hunters and take contracts to take down pirates or help the system’s local militia defend merchants. You can become a trader and make a living buying and selling on the commodities market trying to buy materials at a cheap price and maximise your return by selling to outposts that give the best price. You can certainly make a good living being the good guy.
But you can also make money by not flying on the straight and narrow. You could perhaps trade in black market goods and try to avoid having your ships cargo confiscated by the authorities or take on contracts that aid the pirate factions or become a pirate and attack trade ships for their cargo. However you choose to proceed, different opportunities will become available. Stay on the side of the right and space stations run by pirates will be closed to you and pirates will attack you if you happen upon them. But go to the wrong side of the law and those space ports run by the merchant guilds may refuse to do business with you and the militia forces will focus on your activities more closely.
However you decided to earn credits, one thing is for certain. You will at some stage have to defend your ship in combat. I really loved the space battles in Rebel Sky from simple skirmishes with pirate raids of full on multi ship battles. It very much reminded me off the Naval battle gameplay from Assassin’s Creed Black Flag. Depending on your ship build, you will have broadside guns and turrets which can be controlled manually whist the other is controlled by the ships AI. The more powerful you build your ship the more damage you can inflict. Below is a video showing the third ship I purchased which I equipped with powerful mining lasers and partial lasers which as you can see are capable of inflicting great damage on small fighter ships and take on larger ships.
The space combat is made even more satisfying by quite frankly one of the best chosen game soundtracks I have enjoyed in recent years. The soundtrack adds a whole new level of brilliance to the Rebel Galaxy game experience with big power rock tracks that really elevates everything you do from the slow tracks that accompany you as you cruise to a location to when it instantly cranks up the tempo as soon as the fighting starts. The blend of music and gameplay creates a wild West kind of atmosphere that suits the game, which as a fan of Firefly and Serenity was highly appealing.
Although I am absolutely in awe of what Rebel Galaxy achieves, I do have some gripes with it. On a number of occasions some of the main story missions failed to complete despite me completing the requirements forcing me to replay that mission repeatedly until it completed. Contracts available from the message boards on space stations will have a risk level so you can judge if you ship is capable of handling it. But I found that even with a ship fully kitted out with best weapons and systems available at that point, a few of the ‘Low Risk’ missions proved to be anything but and I suffered a good few loss of ships as a result of being completely blindsided by an enemy force that obliterated my ship in seconds. Worse was the crashing of the game itself at times which despite being few and far between was very frustrating to lose progress.
At a time when the space adventure genre is enjoying a resurgence as Elite Dangerous continues to succeed and the hype for No Man’s Sky is simply palpable, Rebel Galaxy uses simplicity and a thumping soundtrack to make enough noise to grab your attention and keep hold of it with the depth and highly rewarding gameplay. This really has been an invigorating game to play which for me succeeds in making this style of game fully accessible to console Gamers but without sacrificing the elements the genre is known for. With a huge thirteen systems to explore and the freedom to play how you choose, Rebel Galaxy does more than just offer great value for money, but delivers an experience the genre needed to relevant to consoles once more.
A joy to play, exhilarating to experience, Rebel Galaxy is a game that deserves your attention and a place in your game collection.
