
Game Details
- Publisher: Double Damage Games
- Developer: Double Damage Games
- ESRB Rating: “T” for Teen
- Genre: Space Sim
- Pros: Great soundtrack; cool ship designs; satisfying combat
- Cons: Bad story; repetitive missions
- MSRP: $20
Rebel Galaxy is a single-player only game that plops you
into a procedurally generated universe with the task of finding your
character’s Aunt Juno. What you do from
there is totally up to you – mining resources, smuggling contraband, joining a
militia to fight pirates, transporting legal goods, etc. – but your best bet is
probably to follow the story missions which are your fastest route to upgrades
and bigger and better ships. The story
itself is kind of lame and the various alien species that populate the game are
pretty clichéd and predictable, but the overall Wild West in space theme is
strong and very appealing.
The real draw of Rebel Galaxy is that it starts you out in a capital ship. Unlike every other space game that makes you work your way up from slow freighters or dinky fighters or something, Rebel Galaxy just hands you the keys to a star destroyer right from the get go. And as you play and earn money, you’ll gain access to even bigger and better and more powerful and cooler looking ships until you’re strong enough to obliterate fleets of enemy ships all by yourself. That’s pretty awesome.
Gameplay in Rebel Galaxy is much more arcade-like than other
space sims and offers much simpler controls than something like Starpoint
Gemini 2. Controls are just simple
button commands, simple menus, and point and shoot combat. This is understandable as the game is
focused more on combat than exploration and realism, so letting you just jump
in and start blasting away, easily jumping to hyper speed, and having fun right
away was the right decision.
Combat is interesting in Rebel Galaxy because it features
oldschool traditional naval broadside cannons as your main weapons. The key to combat is keeping your ship
positioned relative to the enemy so your broadside cannons have a clear shot,
but you also have to be aware of your hull and shield strength on each quadrant
of your ship. The idea is that you keep
your best hull strength and full shields towards the enemy while also
maneuvering around so you can shoot them with your broadside cannons. You also have other weapons like turrets and
lasers and mines and missiles and stuff, but you can let the A.I. handle those
while you focus on the main cannons. It
gives Rebel Galaxy a really unique feel compared to other similar games since
positioning is so important. The game
is a little slower paced than most space games, too, but the combat is really
strategic and satisfying.
Outside of combat, the basic gameplay rhythm has you
accepting missions at stations, doing the missions, earning credits, and buying
new weapons / upgrades / ships before accepting new missions and doing it all
over again. The missions are a little
repetitive as they’re almost all just “go to point X, kill enemy Y”, but the
constant stream of better weapons and ships to play with makes up for it. The lust for power is real in Rebel Galaxy,
which makes the grind for new toys to play with worth it.
Rebel Galaxy isn’t as pretty as Starpoint Gemini 2, but it
does look nice overall. Exploration
isn’t really the focus here, anyway. That isn’t to say the star systems
featured here aren’t bright and colorful and good looking, just not as good
looking as some other games. Combat is
the real star here, and the ship designs are absolutely fantastic and the game
runs at a solid framerate regardless of how crazy the battles can get. The sound is extremely well done overall
with the awesome southern rock soundtrack that steals the show, but some great
sci-fi sound effects and surprisingly believable spoken alien languages.
In the end, Rebel Galaxy is the best arcade-style
space sim for Xbox One yet. The combat
is strategic and satisfying, the universe you explore is interesting, and the
presentation is just right. I have to
admit the soundtrack might be off putting for some people because it is pretty
in your face, but I loved it. I also
love the $20 price tag, which is just about perfect. If you have any interest in space sims, definitely give Rebel
Galaxy a try.
Disclosure; A review code was provided by the publisher.
Disclosure; A review code was provided by the publisher.