There are 49 sectors to mine. You can go at them at your leisure. Missions come up at different points during the game. You have a choice to accept them or not. Once you accept the 23rd mission, you are warned that once you complete it, you will have beaten the game, and you can't go back and complete unfinished sectors. You can, of course, decline the mission and keep on mining till you've cleared the board -- then do the last mission.
To mine and clear enemies 100% I took around 12 hours. Can be faster if you don't take your own sweet time like me. Onto hard mode now. I hope I don't take 50 hours to do all three modes.
I like the game, but people have talked it up to such a high level that I must sound a somewhat dissenting voice. As a pure arcade shooter, it matches or exceeds meteor blitz only graphically, and falls well below on controls, pacing and general arcade feel. So you have a B grade shooter (as opposed to an "A" for meteor blitz), to which they added RPG progression elements and a story many seem to find fairly humerous (didnt really add all that much for me, but tastes differ). Its an appealing package, and certainly a good game, but not great in my book. I would wait for a price reduction.
Are we expecting any DLC or will this game likely remain as is content wise (except for bug fixes etc..)?
You're the second person who's tried to compare SM to Meteor Blitz. I understand that everyone's got a different opinion, but the comparison just doesn't hold: your objectives as a player are far too different. In any event, the idea of evaluating SM according to its separate components doesn't work either. By that criteria, you would say that GTA:CW is just okay, since the driving component is B grade, and the shooting component is C grade (or worse, since you can't actually aim). Just like GTA, SM works as a whole; if the RPG elements doesn't add that much for you, then you're really playing the wrong game. There are plenty dual-stick shooters to choose from -- SM is not one of them.
MB has no thrust, it's a pure arcade experience. Best example would be the MB is like Ridge Racer which anyone can drift without much trouble, SM is like Grand Turismo which one has to learn the mechanism of the car and maneuver in order to pull out a good drift. Devs could make SM look like MB. But if there's no thrust, then there's no point to have engine and ship mass weight. If you really want something close to MB, use old jalopy and equip with the best engine. The powerful thrust plus super low mass on the old jalopy makes maneuver close to MB, the only drawback is no dual stick. MB and SM have different mechanism, SM is more realistic on the control.
Heh, right after deciding not to buy any more games until after finishing the ones I already own (still haven't completed MC: Sandstorm even), I cruise this thread and see nothing but positive comments, as well as the great developer presence. Downloading now.
This game needs to be featured. I wonder how some game with less than 50 reviews and 3 stars gets featured while this game has 150+ reviews and 5 stars not in it. p.s: Some dick name "Paradox" gave 1 star review.
Is there online play like co-op or something where you're going head-head with someone to get more astroids then them? This game looks good i will probally buy it
Have no problem with thrust. I do, however, find the control ring somewhat awkward, and substitution of a stick + keeping the thrust button could really enhance the arcade elements for me. Wouldnt make it any more or less realistic that I can see. You can still have an arcade experience with thrust; heck, look at the venerable Asteroids. I do not believe that enhancing the arcade elements would in any way detract from the RPG elements.
I think some prefer a stick or rotation buttons, others prefer the ring (I'm on the ring side, myself -- feels more accurate). Perhaps having the option would end up pleasing the most people.
Well, most features by Apple come up approx. 2 weeks after release of the game. TA is really fast by spreading the word.
