MadSpace: To Hell and Beyond
- May 1, 2015
- Maddox Games
- 2h median play time
Get on SteamIn "MadSpace: To Hell and Beyond" , play as a Proteus soldier with a human soul, tasked with destroying a Krakin spacecraft threatening Earth. Dual-wield a vast arsenal of weapons, tactically swap between them, and use your rocketpack to navigate through levels filled with puzzles and enemies. Immerse in the journey with high-quality Redbook CD audio, and be the human race's last hope in this sci-fi shooter.
PC
Windows
Linux
Reviews
- The game features an interesting dual-wielding system that allows players to equip different weapons in each hand, adding variety to combat.
- The level design incorporates non-Euclidean geometry, providing a unique and challenging gameplay experience that stands out from other shooters of its time.
- Despite its flaws, the game has a distinct visual and audio style that appeals to fans of retro FPS games.
- The gameplay can be frustrating due to confusing level designs and a lack of clear objectives, making it easy to get lost.
- The introduction is overly long and filled with walls of text, which detracts from the overall experience and can be tedious for players.
- Technical issues, such as frame drops and limitations of the DOSBox port, hinder the gameplay experience and make it feel outdated.
- gameplay12 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The gameplay of the game features unique elements such as non-Euclidean geometry and dual-wielding weapons, but suffers from technical issues and unclear objectives that detract from the overall experience. While some mechanics are innovative and ahead of their time, the execution feels rough and confusing, leaving players frustrated rather than engaged. Despite its potential, the gameplay lacks polish and coherence, preventing it from fully realizing its ambitious concepts.
“Loving both the right and left weapon mechanics and the unreal maps regarding geometry.”
“There are 26 levels to the game (alphabet A-Z) and the main draw of the gameplay is non-Euclidean geometry.”
“It’s got some unique progression mechanics which can take some time to get used to, but you’ll figure them out after the first few sectors, at which point pathfinding becomes almost second nature.”
“Tldr; generally confusing, rough gameplay prevents this from being the 2D FPS I wanted it to be.”
“Yet when you actually start the gameplay, the verbose text suddenly vanishes, and it isn't clear what the hell your actual goal is.”
“The combination of the two left a 'filler' taste in the gameplay that didn't leave.”
- story2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The story is criticized for its lengthy and overwhelming introduction, featuring extensive walls of text that scroll too quickly, leading to a confusing and tedious experience for players.
“The story you are greeted with is a massive wall of text that quickly becomes boring and nonsensical because it scrolls too fast.”
“The introduction is painfully long, full of walls of text explaining the backstory.”
- graphics2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are considered slightly outdated for its 1997 release, with some users noting that even contemporaries like Quake II offered better visuals. Additionally, the absence of mouse freelook and issues such as sprite scaling and projection warping detract from the overall experience, making the graphical presentation feel less polished compared to other titles of the era.
“Some level designs and puzzle-solving are confusing, which makes you turn around, and it looks slightly outdated graphically for a 1997 game. Some classic games like Quake II were much better at the time of Madspace's release. Also, strangely, there's no mouse freelook, which is a feature that most games had in that period.”
“The real villain here is the sprite scaling, projection warping, and other graphical issues commonplace in native DOS software rendering.”
