Squadron 51
Warning! Extraterrestrials from outer space arrived in our planet bringing promises of a bright new future for the earthlings. However, this intergalactic partnership soon reveals its darker side as the VEGA CORPORATION, the alien enterprise led by the hideous DIRECTOR ZAROG, is imposing its predatory politics on the human kind. In the midst of this oppression, the rebel group Squadron 51 rises as a response against the violent acts spread by these inhuman beings. Will the brave pilots of Squadron 51 and their aircrafts stand a chance against the Zarog’s diabolic fleet of flying saucers?
Join the rebel cause as LIEUTENANT KAYA, facing flying saucers, alien fighters and monsters in the skies of the 1950’s! Remember: the future of the Earth is in your hands!
Features
Classic gameplay
Squadron 51 is a SHOOT ‘EM UP! game with four different aircrafts to play and set up with special weapons.
Cinematic experience
Glorious black-and-white aesthetics, live-action FMV sequences and dubbed voices will tell the story of the battle between the Squadron 51 and Director Zarog’s alien supremacy.
11 levels
Fight against enemy ships and bosses in many different environments - snowy mountains, forests, cityscapes and many others.
Dynamic difficulty
No matter you are a rookie or a veteran shooting star, Squadron 51 supports dynamic difficulty which allows every pilot to enjoy.
Multiplayer
Feeling lonely against Aliens? Invite a friend! A second player can enter a level any time. Earn points with your friend and unlock together new special weapons and upgrades.
Read More: Best Space Shoot 'Em Up Games.
Iron Sky: Invasion
-Do you know how to drive this thing?
-Well, can’t be any different than playing “Wing Commander”!
~Iron Sky
I totally miss the times when we used to get at least one video game for every major motion picture. It was like… a part of the experience. A way to prolong your experience with the movie you liked. Together with comics and other stuff of the kind. I must say, though, Iron Sky was not the movie to make you expect video game. I mean, sure, it had quite big space battle in it, but the thing is – it wasn’t just a Sci-Fi movie. It was a satire. Pretty toxic one too. And toxic movie about Nazis in space is not something that instantly calls for a game. I mean, back in the days, when even Home Improvement TV show had its own game (insert Tim Allen’s grunt here) - sure. But nowadays, when even the biggest movies often don’t have any video game adaptations? Let’s just say that this game came out as a surprise. Especially since we’re talking a pretty big project here, not just yet another casual s… stuff for mobiles.
– Real player with 31.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Space Sci-fi Games.
I picked this game up in a BundleStar game bundle, and have finished the game before writing this review. I have used a controller for a majority of my playthrough, and have entered this game without watching the movie.
Let me start with the postive-
1 The graphics are subpar to good; they look 2012-2013ish with decent lighting effects.
2 Some of the charachters such as the Indian diplomat are memorable and funny
3 When used with a XBOX360 controller, the game handles itself very well
Here are why I cannot recommend the game-
– Real player with 25.7 hrs in game
Next Space Rebels
There are many aspects of this game that are good, and their are many things about this game that are not so good. There are also some things that are infuriating. I will try to to break things down into the good the bad and the ugly as I love classic films and it is simple to follow.
THE GOOD:
The acting by the FMV actors is amazing. Rocket girl is extremely animated and emotive to the point where you forget they are an actor. Every actor gives a passionate performance that is both enjoyable and at time amazing. Not gonna lie 3 Rocket girl.
– Real player with 117.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Space Crafting Games.
Honestly, I was surprised by this game, in a good way.
Way more in depth than I originally thought it would be, already have 50 hours in and I haven’t even made it past 180 kms in space.
The acting is actually not too shabby, I was expecting some cringe worthy content, but I haven’t cringed yet at any of the acting, though some of the lines they use are sketchy at best.
They love making fun of youtube, like, LOVE making fun of it, which i guess is some political moves from humble games, but at least everything they make fun of is legit an issue with youtube. This can also help show the effects youtube will have on the future if google continues to grow and continues to literally censor everything.
– Real player with 56.1 hrs in game
Space Ace
Welcome to the game that made me poor as a kid!!!
It was originally released in 1984 a year after ‘dragon lair’ and followed the same principle that being a laser disc arcade. ‘Laser Disc’ technology was like the ‘future’ back then and playing a game like this would make a kid feel like he was time travelling into the future of gaming. Oh what little we knew!
Like its predecessor its art style was all thanks to Don Bluth who worked on masterpiece animation films such as ‘The American Tale’ and the ‘Land before time’ amongst other great works. Like FMV games today, the novelty of controlling a cartoon by moving a hero around the screen away from incoming danger was a popular trend. However ‘Space Ace’ added another dynamic which ‘Dragon’s Lair’ did not have. Not only was the objective to move your main character in the direction of provisional yellow flashes, or to hit the shoot button when the heroes gun flashed yellow, but now you could also occasionally change the main character to an older version of himself changing the dynamics and pathway of that adventure which provided even more animation fun and a very large number of novelty death scenes.
– Real player with 4.6 hrs in game
This is a really fun game, and it is definetly a game I’m glad I own.
However:
If you are new to Space Ace/Dragon Lair, these games are basically just a bunch of QTE’s with good animation. The gameplay is fun, with the problem of it being short. At this time, when I have approx. 3.5 hours, I have beaten the game multiple times. The game is pretty short. If you think you’ll replay it alot, I can recommend this game. On the other side, if you want to have a game with more hours of gameplay, I cannot really recommend this.
– Real player with 4.3 hrs in game
Star Trek™: Starfleet Academy
This was the first PC game I ever owned and - wow! - does it take me back! I understand why many gamers don’t feel that this game matches up to Starfleet Command or Klingon Academy but I was one of the few that thought this was an AMAZING game. Sure, it’s dogfighting with Trek ships, but who cares?!
As a professional composer, I have to make mention this upfront: the soundtrack by Star Trek TNG Allum Ron Jones is exquisite and about as Star Trek as it gets! A huge thumbs up for the sound design too!
– Real player with 34.7 hrs in game
In the 90s, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy was heavily anticipated and it was supposed to be best Star Trek game ever. Certainly, it ended being a great game but did not end up meeting the hype and high expectations. Years ago, I bought the physical copy of Starfleet Academy but didn’t realize that a working joystick was essential and all the controls you had to memorize was overwhelming at the time so I gave up on the first mission.
Imagine my excitement when I picked it up on sale recently and now I finally get to give it a second chance. As a big Trek fan, I really enjoyed it. The basic story is you play as cadet on the command track who is working his way through Starfleet Academy by completing a bunch of simulations and at the same time, you must manage all the different personalities of your crew. The game does a good job with its FMV (full motion video) cutscenes which were common in so many 90s games though some of the acting needs improvement. Periodically during these cutscenes, you will have to make several choices which will change the direction of the story and affect your crew’s performance. William Shatner, George Takei and Walter Koenig do a fantastic job reprising their old roles from TOS.
– Real player with 32.9 hrs in game
Wetlands
When I saw this game appear on Steam, a long forgotten memory came back to me! This is actually my very fist video game! I remember when my parents bought me my first PC, this “new game” was delivered with the PC. I didn’t like it because it was too difficult (for a 9 year old). The cutscenes are excellent, beautiful cartoony style, but the gameplay itself is a very bland railshooter … which is fine, I guess … but if you don’t care to play this game (which is a challenge if approached without nostalgia glasses), then just watch the cutscenes on YouTube. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2536351711
– Real player with 2.7 hrs in game
XF5700 Mantis Experimental Fighter
Earth had no warning.
Out of nowhere, an army of insect-like creatures from a distant world, using technologically advanced space weapons, ambushed and devastated Earth. Perhaps more horrendous than the nearly three billion deaths was the portion of the remaining population that was used as host bodies for gestating alien offspring. The Fist of Earth world government was formed to defend humanity and repel the looming alien threat.
You’re a member of FOE’s elite fighter corps – a recruit fresh from the Academy. You’ve studied diligently, spent countless hours in simulations, and prepared yourself in every way possible for battle. But, until recently, the alien technology and firepower were far superior to Earth’s.
Now, you’ve been assigned to the XF5700 Experimental Fighter (codename: Mantis). The fate of the world rests in your hands.
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Complete edition: Includes the Rexum missions, voiced audio, and cinematics added for the expanded version of the game.
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High-tech fighter: Sporting a shock-proof electro-luminescent HUD, Quad-Jump drives, and a sophisticated navigational system, the Mantis is the weapon Earth desperately needs.
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Epic sci-fi story: CGI and full-motion videos (in all their early-90s glory) present a sweeping space drama in a vibrant futuristic setting as you progress through the game’s missions.
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Awesome firepower: the Mantis comes heavily armed with Mass Driver cannons and an impressive array of missiles.
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Realistic ship physics: Ship flight and movement are modeled on Newtonian physics models that give the game a distinct sense of motion.
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Fearsome enemies: The Sirian insect race can form a powerful collective group mind capable of obliterating the human race. Only you can stop them.
Playing God
Didnt work htc vr vive. Waited a long time to see if it would launch over 10 minutes nothing ever happened. I restarted it waited 5 minutes a few times and gave up assumed it didn’t work on first release day.
TECHNICAL PROBLEMS:
1. The start up screen is on PC ONLY NOT THE HTC VIVE so can’t see it at all looks broke to HTC VIVE user like myself – WE DON"T HAVE PC SCREEN every game I launched it FROM INSIDE VR so I had been claiming the GAME was broken for first REVIEW since I waiting for a screen in VR that never would come because you have a PC DISPLAY only question to start in VR… This made me pissed off more than anything with game.
– Real player with 0.7 hrs in game
Playing God is a free VR experience, It worked on my HTC Vive system, looked ok, sounded ok, played ok, was understandable. Tried two runs with different decisions, and saw some different endings. One of those No Win Scenario tests. At the end, it gives you a breakdown of your decisions and the percentage of people choosing them.
Try this, if you like thoughtful experiences.
– Real player with 0.6 hrs in game
Star Control III
This game gets a lot of flak for not being Star Control II. However, on the whole it plays very well. The diplomatic puzzles are of the same calibre if not better, the Story is pretty much exactly where you’d expect the story to continue from the last game. On the whole, it’s pretty fun.
There are a few things in the game that disappoint, and on a replay 25 years after I originally played it, the come off as little more then a game that was rushed to market. Land grinding has been replaced with a colony building system which feels like they were trying to (poorly) copy civilization games (or maybe master of Orion?) games of the day. But managing colonies does little to speed the game along other then sacrificing ship production for fuel production if you manage to run out of gas. And that’s all the part of the game ads up to: establishing little more then an inter-stellar network of fuelling stations. There’s a lot of potential in this, but rather then fun at all it’s a meaningless chore and a distraction.
– Real player with 28.6 hrs in game
Like Star Control: Origins is a reinvention of Star Control II, Star Control 3 was (and is) a bad, mid-90s attempt to re-invent the original Star Control. I’m a big fan of the Star Control series and played them as a kid starting with SC1 in the early 90’s.
Gone is the Hyperspace with galactic borders of SCII and in comes the 3D starmap and colony building of Star Control 1, re-imagined with Accolade’s attempt at the “hyper realism” that was in vogue in the mid-late 90s. Colors, music, and art is all muted and gray, set in a new quadrant devoid of all life.
– Real player with 16.9 hrs in game
STAR WARS™ Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II
DISCLAIMER: THIS GAME TAKES A BIT OF WORK TO RUN PROPERLY AND THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Brief overview:
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II is the first game in the Jedi Knight series. Taking place several years after the events of Dark Forces I. Albeit being non canon as of now, Dark Forces II chronologically take place one year after the Battle of Endor. I remember having fond memories if this game when I was younger, about five or six years old when I played this game for the first time. The game itself is very enjoyable, but a common complaint is that the level design can be confusing at times, it is easy to pick up the trail again though, usually by taking a second look at certain things in the level. But that’s definitely not anything to take away from the overall experience.
– Real player with 69.3 hrs in game
Star Wars Jedi Knight Dark Forces 2 was a long awaited sequel for me. By that, I mean I bought it last Christmas and couldn’t get it to work properly. Basically, the music wouldn’t play in the levels and me being a Windows 10 user was a bit frustrated.
Thankfully, on August, there was a music patch, but that meant I had to start a new save file to hear it, which I didn’t mind since I just gave up on the second level back then so I didn’t get too far.
And now I finally beat this and it’s an improvement over the first Dark Forces. The familiar weapons like the blaster and the Stomtrooper rifle return. So do the mines and grenaids. Plasma rifle and pulse rifle. They work just as they did in the first game, but the movement feels more fluid than ever.
– Real player with 26.9 hrs in game