Space Pirates from Tomorrow (SPfT) may very well be the Indie Games Channel’s truest sandbox title. MStar Games has submitted an amalgam of trade/spaceflight/dogfight simulations in what may be the biggest stretch of your 240 :MSPoints: to date.
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SPfT touts thousands of star systems awaiting an ambitious space vigilante. Developer DrMistry even noted that ‘it would take more than 100 hours just to visit every star system in the game’, a claim that should definitely get the attention of any gamer looking for an Indie Game that won’t grow stale after a single playthrough. That’s the best part, SPfT is far from your typical shooter-on-rails. As there’s no dedicated plot arc, players may race, trade, fight, or simply just coast through space at their leisure.
A long load screen greets players as they boot the title, providing a retro glimpse back at the days of Elite and Starflight, SPfT’s grandfathers. When the load is finished, you are then treated to the only real direction in the form of an Onboard Systems walkthrough that will earn the Docking License. While it begins with traditional text-delivered instructions which invite you to also read the rather extensive instruction manual, you eventually get some hands-on training complete with voice acting that calls for the destruction of aggressive ships prior to the player’s promotion to Hyperspace license. It is during the text-based tutorial that a second niggling issue surfaces, this time in the form of grammar. While many (most?) of the emails you’ll receive throughout the game will be intentionally garbled to satirize the spam mail of today, there is an unfortunate wealth of simple mistakes that will pop up from time to time in the game. There’s a silver lining though; in space, no one can hear you scream about misspellings.
The soundtrack of the game is what one would expect from such a title. Music alternates from space age laser medleys to more conventional music, such as Strauss’ The Blue Danube. Lasers pewpew as they should, while shield deflections resonate with ping pong-like sounds. Most ships are of flying saucer variety, while the occasional breed takes a form as odd as a bee. Heavenly bodies are large, bright, and an attractive contrast to the desolate blackness of deep space.
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After the tutorial is finished, players will want to dock by pressing Y at a nearby Station (indicated by a white dot on the map), as this is the only place to access the root menu without fear of attack. In fact, you can’t even fire weapons when close to a Station…though oddly enough, enemies can fire at you. The game warns you early on that “it’s usually best to wait until you’re docked to read your messages due to the risk of attack,” a precaution that seems to have real life practicality as well. While docked, different menus can be perused.
Status indicates your current system, cash on hand, cargo, and online weapons systems. Here you’ll also find your kill count (cumulative kills gradually award better shields), legal status (designated by your actions), ranking (the esteemed Arch-Privateer rank comes with a significant cash reward), and Licenses. The Email tab will show your inbox that will frequently fill with amusing spam (including an in-game advertisement for other games) though you’ll occasionally receive messages from employers who ask for you to engage in certain tasks such as killing and kidnapping. The Market menu lets you buy and sell cargo as you stop by the different star systems; players should watch the changing prices and apply the standard rules of stock trading.
The Nav menu has a large and local map of the sprawling star systems, whereas the local map’s yellow ring shows how far you can get with your current systems and fuel. The Shipyard tab features purchasable upgrades available for your ship, and it also lets you view your current online systems. The Work menu offers jobs in the form of Passage Required (bringing a sole passenger to another star system within the allotted time), Sanctioned Retirement (simple kill quests), and Cargo Delivery (bringing goods to another star system within the allotted time; this can be taken on more than once at a time). The last two tabs, Roster and Game, display your current jobs and let you load/save a game, respectively. A word of caution, however, is that there is no prompt warning you about saving over an old game file, so do take care before pressing B.
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The barter system of supply and demand, quests accessed from the Onboard Systems, space races indicated by shimmering blue spheres, asteroid-mining via probes, and reckless spaceship hunting all provide countless hours of fun for the lone space pirate. Though snatching up short-lived, free-floating cargo/powerups left behind by demolished ships or mined asteroids can be a challenge, practice (or the Teleport ability) will eventually streamline the initially tedious process.
For all the fun of the game, there are even more bugs that have yet to be fixed. Code 4 crashes were one of the reasons that the game was initially pulled from the Marketplace. Despite being addressed and reinstated, the game still crashed on my Xbox thanks to a Code 4. I followed advice posted on the MStar forums and deleted the game, reinstalling what I hoped to be an updated version. I did not crash with a Code 4, but I did continue to freeze and lag repeatedly in various segments of the game, from high traffic areas to sifting through the quest menu. The considerable lag had even forced me to lose track of objectives, as the ships I had been tailing and firing upon had disappeared by the time I regained control.
An oddity came in the form of an email quest. One JOVWEHOE DJIJUNVEN messaged me, asking for help putting down an adversary in a local star system. I travelled to this area and accepted once in the designated system. I instantly received a follow up email in which JOVWEHOE threatened to kill me; a popup notified me that my ranking had reduced due to mission failure. A bit put off, I tried to replicate this from an earlier save file. The only difference in my second attempt was a change in the subject line; the first time it stated that JOVWEHOE needed help, and the second time the subject congratulated me for my good work (though the body of the message still threatened to kill me while my rank was subsequently reduced for mission failure). The failure warning suggested that the time had run out, but the initial email noted that I would have a set amount of time once I replied and accepted the mission.
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The top of the screen displays collected powerups, the center features crosshairs and an arrow indicating direction/proximity of objects of importance such as aggressive ships, the lower left of the HUD displays missiles and target lock status, and the middle of the bottom displays the map all of which work fine. The problem area is the lower right segment of the HUD. This is where a player can access the Onboard Systems and check shield status by color, check email, use the cloaking device/teleport/probe droids, and activate Hyperspace travel to a location selected from the Nav screen. I experienced a number of instances when the cloaking device/teleport/mining droids either lagged severely or simply were not always synchronized with the icon currently displayed in the lower right of the HUD. This would result in messages about the probes when I had the cloak selected, constant activation/deactivation of my cloak when I had the teleport highlighted etc. A major annoyance occurred when I had selected teleport to quickly net cargo as I passed through hostile areas, but taking damage moved my cursor to the Home icon to display active shields. When I zoomed through the fray clicking the Right stick to teleport cargo on the run I was instead transported to the Onboard Systems. This provided a lovely view of my email while I was helplessly blasted to death by space pirates who clearly had more convenient systems at their disposal.
A final qualm again took place at the introduction. Occasionally when I got past the loading screen I discovered that my save files could not be found. This happened maybe 20% of the time. An inconvenience, but one of many that I believe should have been ironed out before the game was returned to the Marketplace.
While SPfT is a very ambitious game and absolutely worth the 240 :MSPoints: price tag, I don’t believe that it is fully ready for release. MStar Games shows promise in that it seems to be a label behind its game; this was evident in the resubmission of the game after a few critical fixes. I believe that in time MStar will address the issues I’ve highlighted, and once they do they will have provided arguably one of the best Indie Games money can buy.
You can find more information as well as download the trial and full versions of the game on the Marketplace.
Review by Iggypu.
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