Exploration of the unknown is difficult to properly portray in games for one key reason; In real life, there will always be areas unexplored and those areas may contain that which has never been seen before. Making anything seem possible is difficult when the player feels restricted to the boundaries of a game, be it hardware limitations or the limited creativity, time and manpower of a developer. Space is fascinating because of its infinity and the possibility of finding that which seems impossible.
Infinite Space feels far from infinite, even cramped at times, but provides a deep and varied slice of space fleet simulation without bogging you down in too much micromanagement.
Infinite Space is a space fleet simulator/RPG for the Nintendo DS. Its main focus seems to be providing an epic space-opera experience, giving you the most interesting options and dilemmas a commander of a space fleet might face. RPG traditions keep this game from being all that open-ended, which is disappointing, and too many planets yield little to nothing useful. The game seems confined by its need to tell a complex and twisting story. The interface and character interactions also suffer from a lack of refinement. You’ll often have to stumble upon the one thing the game wants you to do before you can progress and it’s not always all that well-indicated. That said, RPG fans will be able to better handle these flaws, and others will learn the dance with some patience and determination. Luckily, despite its flaws, Infinite Space pays off with unique amalgamated gameplay systems and a story that’s interesting enough to keep you going.
Not long after the game begins, you’ll be a newbie captain of your very own first spaceship. In time, you’ll be able to acquire crew members with different personalities and attributes, more ships of varying classes, and modules with which you can customize your ships. Navigating from planet to planet and through warp gates is pretty limited to where the story wants you to go. Along the way, however, you can choose how to allocate your crew to best utilize their skills. Similarly, you can customize the ships you build with a variety of modules via a clever pentomino-type setup. The game takes a bit too long to give you a wide array of options in these areas. Stick with it and you’ll acquire a nice selection of crew members, ships, modules, etc., and really begin to feel in control of the ins-and-outs of your fleet.
How you arrange your crew and set up your ships has significant statistical bearing on both ship-to-ship space combat and hand-to-hand melee combat. Both combat systems have aspects of the age-old rock/paper/scissors concept, but with plenty of special abilities and an “active time battle”-like real-time structure. You’ll also gain the ability to switch on-the-fly from space combat into melee by boarding enemy ships. Retreating thrusts you back into space combat. As the game slowly gives you more control, the combat system goes from simplistic and somewhat abstract, to elegant and clever. The game includes a multiplayer mode allowing you to battle a friend, although I haven’t gotten a chance to try this.
Infinite Space is one of the most graphically impressive DS games I’ve ever seen. While the static 2D sprites, interface, and low-resolution video cutscenes are nothing new, the game’s 3D graphic capabilities are quite impressive. Giant spaceships seem sizable, complex, multifaceted and powerful. The sound effects, while a bit low-quality, help reinforce these concepts. Launching attacks results in dramatic camera angles and voiced crew chatter rife with science-fiction combat terminology. The music is a little underwhelming and repetitive, and seems like the kind of orchestral score you might find in any generic RPG, but it does its job.
Infinite Space‘s best quality is its ability to give you just enough control to feel like a commander of a space fleet without giving you too much to handle. Its biggest flaw is that it should have given more. That said, Infinite Space should please fans of RPGs and science fiction alike. I’d definitely pick up a potential sequel, and I’d hope it would scratch my exploration itch much more.
Good job, Tide. You brought it with this review.
Sound kind of fun. Isn’t Platinum making one more game for Sega?
If I buy this now, will it help Sega?
Aren’t they turning this into an anime? Is that where the top pic came from?
Is this this game you were talking about on the podcast?
I don’t see nay people in the screenshots. Is it all like that?
Who’s the busy girl in the top pic? 🙂
I might try it, but yeah, I’m down for a sequel.
The screens look nice, but my friend told me the explosions are kind of weak.
Whats the total playtime?
Seems like the perfect bargain pickup. Thanks, Mr. Karnov.
Looks like a combat game, not a RPG to me.
More reviews from TideGear would be good.
Didn’t this come out a month ago?
“The game seems confined by its need to tell a complex and twisting story”
What?
Thanks to your review, I learned what a pentomino was.
How does the melee combat work? Is it different.
Also it’s this more touchscreen or directional pad?
Sounds like something I may be interested in.
I can now tell a TideGear review from the other guys. Desert and NOLA writing the same way, so I can’t tell them apart yet.
I like the way you’re really straightforward, Adam!
How come you don’t come up with bad puns for the titles, Tidegear?
Good review. Adam. Keep the indie/niche stuff rolling!
I think they mentioned Desert writes those.
Games with “Infinite” in their title are destined to disappoint.
Hows the dialog? Conversation options at least?
How much is this selling for now? Any deals?
Ha, funny name you got here!
You guys should add how much you’d pay for the game.
Yes, indeed.
Nope, there’s a lot of characters that you mostly see in cutscenes.
They are pretty tame.
The dialog is good. Yes, you can choose what to say sometimes, and you’ll get stat boosts based on that.
That sounds cool.
Adam, now you answered some questions, the game sounds even better.
It seems the game is less open-ended than it could have been because they wanted you to stick to the storyline.
That’s why I link to put links in my reviews!
Melee is quicker and more simple than ship combat.
The game is mostly touch controls.
Thanks! I like getting to the point, but I also like to muse a bit in the first paragraph.
Tell those other navel gazers to get on-topic!!!