This game gets too hard to fast. The first stage is almost a tutorial and the second stage is almost impossible to beat ( Spoiler to save the mothership ) without some upgrades (and to get them is necessary to beat the first stage few times). It's a balance problem in my opinion.
Looks fine to me (iPhone 5, iOS 7.1). Tried the first couple of stages, and the difficulty seems a bit higher on the smaller screen since there's quite a lot goin on around you. Also noticed that the ship movements were a bit faster on the iPad Air vs iPhone 5 (perhaps due to higher framerate, I dunno). No problems at all getting through the second stage (at least on the iPad), so I don't see any balancing issues. 1 star on both the first and second, but still ; ) Really great game. StarFox/Starwing would be a much better comparison then Epoch.
Lol yeah I didn't quite get it I guess. I suggest working on guns first with swarmers not far behind. Upgrade torpedo last because you'll only really use it in the last 2 stages. Never actually found the game hard till the last stage where I almost died because of sucking in the corridors (my ch. 10 vid). The only time I failed a mission was when I wanted to see what checkpoints do to answer somebody's question.
You'll have to maximize the use of your missiles and torpedoes. They dont consume any resources and run only on cooldowns so abuse those. Never had any difficulty playing the game and im on the 7th stage now, having only. To replay the 6th coz i died there, but then completed it the next attempt. I've only upgraded the main guns and the armor and the missiles once so i think the game is well balanced, as i never replayed a stage yet to grind. PLUS, the mothership will always be destroyed as part of the story.
Also take note the gun doesn't deal damage instantly. The shots still have to travel. Get a feel for how fast things die from gunfire so you can switch focus fire on other targets and prevent taking some heat yourself. Spam those swarmers and if you prioritize upgrading those, they'll one-shot pretty much everything but turrets until the last quarter.
Finally! Took 5 missions for me to really start having fun and to see what the game has truly has to offer. Spoiler Chameleon is the level i'm referring to. Once my weapons were at least level two and felt like there was actual power at my disposal, it seems the game felt more exciting. First four levels i felt like my weapons never actually made contact with the enemy. Anyway, while i cannot say this is the absolutely best looking space shooter on the App Store ( Spoiler Galaxy on Fire 2 HD ). I will say it's right up there: great ship models, lighting, explosion effects. Game moves great, has an okay story and VA, and includes a nice price for such a polished jaunt through outer space. Recommended. But beware the Spoiler slog through the first couple chapters.
Complete and utter disappointment. I'm a huge fan of these games, but this one was just average at best. Story: Non existent beyond a vague notion of something is happening, and even that is basically the most rehashed sci-fi plot ever made. Fighting: A joke, far too easy. You can just juke and shoot and you complete everything. I died once in the whole game Flying: This was arguably the most annoying part. I know suspension of disbelief is important, and that isn't a problem. But when your "AI" flies you as close to obstacles as possible, for no reason, it just gets annoying. It didn't add anything to the game. Didn't really make it any harder, since I only died once and it wasn't because of any obstacles. Would have been much more fun if you had at least some sort of free-roaming option. Like you have x distance within which you can do whatever you want, and once you hit the boundary the ship just automatically does a u-turn. Length: 9 mission, incredibly short. Total gameplay maybe 1.5 hours. Maybe less. Choices: Completely arbitrary, they don't appear to have a significant effect on the outcome of the game, if any at all. Dialogue: Terrible attempts at humour. I assume they were trying to be light hearted, but it just came across as tryhard. There was one joke at the end that made me crack a smile, but the rest... Terrible. Graphics: Decent, but nothing new for this kind of game on iOS. Sound: Best bit about the game. Music was good, standard in "spacey" games, sfx were good too. Value for money: £2.50/$3. I would have been annoyed if I had paid more for it. 5/10 at best.
^^ Ouch. After finally getting to play it last night (had some major iPhone issues and got a replacement), I have quite the opposite impression of the game. I can agree on two points: story isn't great (but space shooters aren't a genre typically known for spectacular storytelling -- so this doesn't bother me) and it's on the short side. But otherwise, WOW, this game is amazing. Aside from the gorgeous graphics, the gameplay is far superior to it main iOS competitor in this area Arc Squadron -- a game that I adore on its own. Arc Squadron truly felt like an arcade game, giving off that on-rails feeling and shooting gallery type mechanics. And yet it was still a blast to play. But even though Star Horizon is on-rails, for some reason, it gives a much more epic feel and, at least to me, you don't "feel" like you're on-rails. Sure you're directed where to go, but the controls and flight have a fluid feeling that gives it something different. And the gameplay is a blast. Fast and furious and satisfying. Explosions all over the place. A grand setting that gives that all-out battle atmosphere. I'm loving ever minute of it. And, yeah, it could be longer, but for $4, it's still a lot cheaper than a movie and I know I'll be replaying it. I also hope it's successful enough that maybe more content can be added. 4.5/5 for me only due to length, but still an easy contender for GoTY so far.
One thing about this game that is completely annoying is being hit offscreen and not being able to shoot back. I keep forgetting that this isn't Panzer Dragoon Orta. And i don't think the barrel rolling does anything to preclude this, whatsoever.
I lastly wanna add that this is one terribly addictive app, no matter the minor annoyances. Playing it more I can really appreciate the tiny nuances here and there i didn't get from my first impressions; this really is a beautiful game on my 5S. Not the most beautiful, but spectacular to look at. I really hope we'll be seeing more from the devs on the App Store; absolutely loved finding an update a date after launch.
I think some people dont know how lucky they are. Back in the 80's you often had dire games you bought and they cost about $12 each. Roll forward 30 years and you have a good game for a couple of dollars and people think its poor and 'worth' only $3. Yeah its not the longest game out there, the dialogue is a bit cheesy but for the money its well worth it. Granted we dont all have the same tastes but its depressing hearing people just think some games hardly worth the money. Dont know how lucky they are getting top games for a few dollars
LOL! You again with this? Times has changed dude! Nothing its like before. My grandpa used so say that cinema costed 5 pennies and now its 15$, get over it already!
Well when i hear someone going on about some game only being worth $2 (and not $4 ?!) i just find that quite odd. And yes us 'oldies' i think appreciate these great cheap games much more than youngsters who wait for a 99c game to drop to 'free' !
