Rebel Galaxy: Review
“Six days ago you received a cryptic message from your
Aunt Juno, whom you haven’t heard or seen in over ten years. The message
provided access codes to the Rasputin, a near derelict spacecraft, and the co-ordinates
to meet her at Rust City. This is a place of liars and thieves. You wonder how
you let yourself get dragged to such a Godforsaken backwater.”
Welcome to Rebel Galaxy, where the Wild West meets the final
frontier of the universe. A place full of thieves, pirates, bounty hunters and smugglers, sometimes all rolled into one. Developed and published by Double
Damage Games, Rebel galaxy sees you take on the role of renegade who is on a mission
to meet his mysterious Aunt Juno. However, once you arrive at Rust City it’s
discovered she has disappeared, and it’s up to you to track her down, and so
begins your adventure across the final frontier of the Wild West of space.
From the moment you take control of the Rasputin, your
trusty steed of the stars, it’s easy to see that Rebel Galaxy pays homage to
the likes of Elite and Freelancer on PC, and all the old rusty ships and space
docks give the game a look that would fit easily into an episode of Firefly, and
a few other cool Sci-Fi TV shows. In fact Rebel Galaxy has a comfortable
element in which all your favourite Sci-Fi shows and movies come to shine. From
aliens that sound like Jabba the Hutt, and Warp Speed Mr. Sulu, Rebel Galaxy
sure is a cool little gem that offers plenty to do and brings out that little
Han Solo that is in all of us.
The graphics are crisp and bring the galaxy to life,
steering your ship through gas nebulas, and asteroid belts looks beautiful and
the details in the rings surrounding planets are superb. You're going to find yourself constantly
trying to look around to take it all in. The detail that has gone into the space
ships when up close is amazing, right down to the damage left behind after a
scuffle with the enemy.
Rebel Galaxy will see you mainly piloting your spaceship across
the galaxy, and the controls are fairly simple and easy to pick up. Steering
left and right to navigate your way through the stars, but the downside is
you're fixed to the one plane, and can only steer left or right. This is
particularly frustrating when your enemies can fly over and under your ship
whilst firing their weapons. The space battles are great fun too, and are reminiscent of the ship battles of the sea in Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag. You fire your
main weapons (broadsides) from port side or starboard and you also have a
secondary weapon (turret) from the top of the ship. The great thing with this
is that your weapons can be customised to automatically fire on enemies. This
allows you to take control of the turret, whilst your other weapons are still being utilised. Sometimes you will come across an enemy and blow them apart quick and
easy, and other times you’ll find yourself getting blown apart. There is no
real way to see whether your opponent is a match for you, and sometimes
dropping out of warp only to find yourself surrounded by bigger and better
ships can be a challenge. Sometimes it’s better to try and run, or if you have
the right cargo, you have the ability to hail your enemy and try and either
trade or talk your way out of a fight.
In regards to the music and soundtrack from Rebel Galaxy,
it is highly recommended that you turn it up and play it loud. It’s a cool mix of Southern
Rock, a mix of country meets rock and roll and those steel guitar riffs which
give travelling the galaxy a real Wild West feel. If it wasn’t for the music
right from the start to hook you in, then the interest in this title would quickly
fade.
Rebel Galaxy gives you plenty to do, gathering resources,
collecting bounties and trading whilst tracking down Aunt Juno, however it all
becomes very repetitive and a grind. At times you keep struggling along in the
hope for something greater to pop up, which doesn’t occur. It also doesn’t help
that there are bugs and glitches where your mission is to deliver cargo to a
space station only to find your contact isn’t even there.
Overall Rebel Galaxy is a decent game offering plenty to do
and see as you travel the vastness of space. The only problem is that it’s much
of the same stuff you find yourself doing. If anything, it’s worth firing up
for the music, and quick trip around the Wild West of space.
Rebel Galaxy is currently available as part of the PS Plus
games available for the month of August 2016.
SCORE: 6.5/10
POSITIVES:
- Great Soundtrack
- Space Combat
NEGATIVES:
- Repetitive gameplay
PLATFORMS: PlayStation 4, PC
GENRE: Space Sim
DEVELOPER: Double Damage Games
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Aussie Gamers Express
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