Interplanetary
- May 11, 2015
- Team Jolly Roger
- 8h median play time
Interplanetary Enhanced Edition is a hard sci-fi turn-based strategy artillery game, offering single-player and multiplayer modes. Develop your home planet, build massive railguns, missiles, and laser weapons, and engage in interplanetary warfare across a randomly generated solar system. With stunning graphics, challenging gameplay, and strategic depth, it's an exciting and immersive experience, but beware of potential bugs and grinding.
Reviews
- The game offers a unique blend of strategy and physics, allowing players to see the impact of their projectiles on planets up close.
- Highly enjoyable with friends, providing a fun and competitive atmosphere during multiplayer matches.
- The graphics and overall design are appealing, making the gameplay visually engaging.
- The AI is overly accurate and can make the single-player experience frustrating, as it rarely misses shots.
- There is a lack of a single-player mode or AI opponents for offline play, limiting the game's accessibility.
- The game can feel too dark and difficult to see projectiles and other elements, making it hard to track gameplay.
- gameplay57 mentions
- 35 % positive mentions
- 60 % neutral mentions
- 5 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by solid orbital mechanics and a blend of turn-based strategy, making it both engaging and accessible. While many players appreciate the unique mechanics and intuitive design, some find the gameplay to be simplistic and occasionally tedious, with issues like AI performance and user interface needing improvement. Overall, the game offers a fun experience with potential for depth, especially in multiplayer settings, but it may require further refinement to fully realize its capabilities.
“This game is absolutely amazing - orbital mechanics properly utilized with an almost infinitely replayable PvP or PvC experience.”
“The whole orbital missile and railgun mechanic is really very well done, the space setting and soft background music sets the tone nicely and the view system is pretty comfortable and intuitive for gamers who have had some time with these sorts of build/research/kill/defend type games.”
“Despite being a strategy game, it manages to be a game anyone could pick up and within minutes understand everything they need to know in order to enjoy playing.”
“At the time of writing, I've clocked up 24 hours, which comes as a big surprise to me because I still don't feel like I've fully learned the mechanics of the game or grasped any kind of strategy.”
“I now regret buying it because frankly the plodding gameplay is boring me and pushing me onto other things.”
“Really interesting concept and seems like it would be fun against other human opponents, but the AI makes single-player gameplay less of a game and more like a test of patience.”
- graphics20 mentions
- 45 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 15 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many praising the impressive visuals and aesthetics, particularly in the solar systems and overall design. However, some users report significant optimization issues leading to stuttering and crashes, as well as inconsistencies like missing planets in the system map. While the enhanced edition improves both graphics and UI, the performance varies across different systems, particularly on Linux.
“The graphics and sounds are well-done, so overall, this game delivers great aesthetics.”
“Nice idea, graphics on the solar systems are great, menus are a bit simple, but it's good fun.”
“There is a very quick and easy to use interface, no microtransactions, great graphics and physics engine.”
“The graphics are extremely unoptimized, leading to massive stuttering.”
“I experienced a black screen with only one frame's worth of graphics occasionally when I tabbed past the game.”
“The game has graphics... well, sort of: planets go missing after a turn or two in the 'system map'.”
- stability12 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's stability is heavily criticized, with users reporting numerous bugs, crashes, and issues with save functionality that significantly hinder gameplay. Many players recommend waiting for substantial patches before engaging with the game, as its current state is described as unplayable and frustrating. Overall, while the game has potential, its lack of polish and stability detracts from the experience.
“I like this game and its mechanics and pretty much everything about it, but the game-breaking glitches totally killed the experience for me.”
“When I did revert a save one time, my save was no longer there when I went to revert, forcing me to start over. I haven't played this game for days, purely on the basis that it's unplayable. I don't want to play a game where I am constantly having to save before I end my turn and restart my game when it freezes.”
“This game is currently extremely buggy (online multiplayer issues, can't connect to games online most of the time), and will probably need more content which is currently promised from the dev.”
- grinding8 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and frustrating, primarily due to cumbersome resource management and skill tree upgrades that feel more like chores than engaging gameplay. The lack of a streamlined weapon grouping system and inefficient tech research mechanics further contribute to the overall sense of monotony, detracting from the potential enjoyment of the game. While there are elements that could be enjoyable, the current mechanics make the experience feel overly laborious.
“The rest of the game is basic resource management and tedious skill tree upgrading.”
“Most of the player's time is spent doing tedious and annoying things that feel like chores.”
“I think this game could be great if the actual mechanics were made less tedious.”
- story7 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 57 % neutral mentions
- 43 % negative mentions
The game lacks a substantial story or context, with no campaign or narrative elements to engage players. While some users note that a deeper story isn't necessary for enjoyment, the absence of any storyline or AI opponents detracts from the overall experience, making it feel limited and less enjoyable for those who prefer single-player modes.
“I know there's no deeper story and that the game itself doesn't need it, but there is simply no substance there.”
“There is no story or context for why these planets are in this war.”
“There is also no story or general context, or diplomacy, other than to 'sink' those cities.”
- music7 mentions
- 86 % positive mentions
- -29 % neutral mentions
- 43 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with some praising its epic orchestral soundtrack that enhances the atmosphere, while others find it repetitive and lacking in variety. Despite the looping nature of the tracks, many players appreciate the overall sound design and its compatibility with the game's space theme. Additionally, the option to mute the in-game music and play personal tracks is a noted feature.
“Great orchestral soundtrack that adds wonderfully to the atmosphere.”
“The space setting and soft background music sets the tone nicely.”
“Music is very good, but it is on loop and there isn't too much variety.”
“The soundtrack is poor and doesn't fit the space theme at all.”
“The music feels out of place and fails to enhance the overall experience.”
“I found the audio track to be lackluster and not engaging.”
- replayability6 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 17 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's replayability is mixed; while some players find it engaging with high replay value in PvP or PvC modes, others criticize the single-player experience for its limited AI and lack of variety, leading to quick boredom. Many users express that the game lacks substantial replayability due to repetitive gameplay elements.
“This game is absolutely amazing - orbital mechanics properly utilized with an almost infinitely replayable PvP or PvC experience.”
“A very interesting turn-based game, recommended to anyone who enjoys space/orbital physics and longer games with high replayability.”
“Somewhat limited replayability, especially in single player due to weak AI.”
“It gets boring quite quickly and the replay value is virtually nil.”
“While this game is interesting and has a good concept, I simply find it to have little replay value.”
- humor2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is consistently praised for being hilarious and well-integrated into the gameplay, enhancing the overall experience. Players appreciate the balance between fun and strategic choices, making it both entertaining and easy to grasp.
“Fun, well balanced, offers actual interesting strategic choices, excellent game design, often hilarious.”
“Very simple and easy to understand game but ridiculously funny.”
- optimization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has been criticized for poor graphics performance, resulting in significant stuttering and an overall lack of smooth gameplay. Users report that the performance issues detract from the overall experience.
“The graphics are extremely unoptimized, leading to massive stuttering.”
“The performance simply is not there.”
- atmosphere2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is significantly enhanced by a great orchestral soundtrack that complements the immersive experience, while dynamic environmental effects, such as dust clouds, contribute to the overall ambiance.
“The great orchestral soundtrack adds wonderfully to the atmosphere.”
“The atmosphere is enhanced by a huge cloud of dust that rises dramatically.”
- monetization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The monetization aspect is perceived as potentially misleading or overly promotional, suggesting that it may prioritize profit over player experience.
- emotional1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players find a unique emotional satisfaction in the experience of completely decimating their friends' planets, highlighting a blend of competitive thrill and emotional engagement in the game's mechanics.