MegaSphere
- August 25, 2015
- AKGames
- 51h median play time
"MegaSphere is a single-player Science Fiction Platformer game with stellar gameplay and wonderful visuals. As a special ops combat unit, investigate why stars around the Solar System are going dark in a dangerous world with tough enemies, upgradable weapons, and physics-based platforming. The game features randomized elements, perma-death with checkpoints, and supports both gamepad and mouse+keyboard control schemes."
Reviews
- The game features stunning pixel art and a beautiful atmosphere that enhances the overall experience.
- Gameplay is challenging and engaging, with a variety of weapons and enemies that keep combat interesting.
- The developer is active and responsive to community feedback, showing promise for future updates and improvements.
- The game has been in Early Access for a long time, leading to concerns about whether it will ever be fully completed.
- The save system is frustrating, as players lose all progress upon death, making it difficult to enjoy the game without repeated setbacks.
- Many players find the controls and gameplay mechanics to be clunky and unresponsive, detracting from the overall enjoyment.
- gameplay34 mentions
- 35 % positive mentions
- 56 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The gameplay of the game is praised for its immersive atmosphere, varied environments, and engaging combat mechanics, reminiscent of Metroid-style exploration. However, players note that the lack of clear tutorials and direction can lead to confusion, and some technical issues, such as pacing and enemy scaling, detract from the overall experience. While the core gameplay is enjoyable and visually appealing, improvements in user-friendliness and gameplay clarity are needed for a more satisfying experience.
“Love the megasphere concept, the game's various areas, bosses, and ambience, and its changing layouts make for richly varied gameplay.”
“Immersive atmosphere with a destructive environment, NPCs with animal-like intelligence, and Metroid-like gameplay.”
“Stylish graphics, lovely music and sounds, amazing gameplay!”
“The gameplay is not keyboard friendly, so if you do decide $15 is worth a spend in the current state, please have a gamepad ready.”
“There is a short environment-printed tutorial, but there is nothing for when you pick up new equipment nor for the teleporter and save point you find early; I had to go into the key-map menu to figure out how most mechanics work.”
“There are a lot of technical gameplay issues that need addressing, like pacing and enemy scaling.”
- graphics27 mentions
- 70 % positive mentions
- 19 % neutral mentions
- 11 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their stunning beauty and depth, particularly the pixel art and lighting effects that create an engaging atmosphere. Players appreciate the unique art style and visually stimulating environments, although some mention minor graphical glitches and navigation challenges. Overall, the visuals are considered one of the game's strongest aspects, contributing significantly to the overall experience.
“The art style is absolutely beautiful and has so much depth; it has a unique feel to it.”
“Great looking game, has to be the most visually stimulating pixel-based graphics game I've ever seen.”
“Spent a handful of hours getting lost and learning things about myself and the ridiculous environments I found myself in, and between being dazzled by some of the most beautiful graphics I've ever seen, challenged by both the environment and its inhabitants, and enchanted by the pleasant physics, the game's already been entirely worth its money.”
“The game shows promise, but these issues and a few minor graphical glitches seriously need to be fixed if they expect us to play this.”
“Simple, pixelated graphics.”
“But let it be known that even when putting the graphics on minimal, all of my issues still persist.”
- story22 mentions
- 32 % positive mentions
- 55 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The game's story is described as intriguing and engaging, with hints of a deeper narrative involving strange gods and a post-cyberpunk setting. However, many players feel that the current content is limited, lacking direction and depth, which detracts from the overall experience. While there are positive expectations for future updates to expand the story, the existing narrative feels underdeveloped and somewhat disjointed.
“The reason they aren’t completely random is because there is a story running between the different levels. I don’t want to spoil too much, but the game’s story seems to revolve around strange gods worshipped by whatever created the installation you’ve found yourself on.”
“There’s not a whole lot of story in there at the moment, but what’s there is most certainly intriguing.”
“Megasphere is a beautiful game with good gameplay and a mysterious story behind it, but the amount of content in the game at the moment, as well as the lack of direction, does let the game down a little bit.”
“Cons: as of now you won't get tons of enjoyment from the game as there is just a bit of story done.”
“There’s not a whole lot of story in there at the moment but what’s there is most certainly intriguing.”
“A lack of solid story, or any sort of flaws in gameplay are moot, since alpha games are not even at a solid state.”
- music10 mentions
- 70 % positive mentions
- 10 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its quality and ability to enhance the overall atmosphere, with many reviewers noting it as a standout feature alongside stylish graphics and engaging gameplay. While some describe the soundtrack as not exceptional, it effectively complements the gameplay without feeling repetitive. Overall, the music is considered a key element that contributes positively to the gaming experience.
“Awesome soundtrack, not too bad storyline and very good gameplay.”
“Stylish graphics, lovely music and sounds, amazing gameplay!”
“The music is spot on to set the scene with the sound effects doing their part nicely.”
“The music and sounds are okay.”
“The art, animation, and music are next-level, even by AAA game standards, much less for an indie game.”
- atmosphere8 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its immersive and beautifully crafted environments, featuring stunning pixel art, dynamic lighting, and a sense of tension that enhances gameplay. Players appreciate the combination of detailed backdrops, intelligent NPCs, and a fitting soundtrack that collectively create an engaging and adventurous sci-fi experience. Overall, the atmosphere is described as superb, with a strong emphasis on both visual and auditory elements that draw players into the game world.
“The game has a superb atmosphere and conception, left me so enthusiastic, can't wait to play more!”
“While slower paced, the game is by no means any less tense or atmospheric, it just does atmosphere in a very different way, with beautifully detailed pixel art for the backdrops, enemies and characters, and amazing lighting work and mechanical design, physics-enabled cabling, decrepit space stations that crumble apart around you, sparks, flickering lights, venting pipes and volatile chemical containers littering the structures, all while you traverse wide, sprawling procedurally generated levels, locating hidden weapon caches, recovering your suit's functionality, and trying to access a mysterious sealed area known only as syn.”
“The game's atmosphere feels really great, the graphics are without a doubt one of the best out there in terms of pixel art, the dialogue is easy and somewhat fun to read, the soundtrack is fitting with the game's atmosphere, having an adventurous upbeat sci-fi theme to it, and lastly the gameplay with the controls, platforming and shooting are great.”
- replayability3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- -100 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players appreciate the game's replayability, noting that the randomly generated maps contribute to a fresh experience with each playthrough. Although the current content can be completed in about 1.5 hours, upcoming updates promise to enhance the game further, adding even more value for repeated plays.
“The fact that the maps are randomly generated allows for good replay value.”
“I've completed the game in about 1.5 hours, but there's a ton of replayability and randomness to see.”
“I would highly recommend this game for anyone who isn't scared off by the fact that it's in early development; an update will be coming to the main game fairly soon, so there will be much more playable content to enjoy. The end result is absolutely marvelous.”
“I've completed the game in about 1.5 hours, but there's a ton of replayability and randomness to explore.”
“Once you finish the game, there's little incentive to go back; the story doesn't change much on subsequent playthroughs.”
“The lack of meaningful choices and consequences makes replaying the game feel pointless.”
- stability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game demonstrates potential, but users report stability issues, including minor graphical glitches, particularly on Windows, that need to be addressed for a better gaming experience.
“The game shows promise, but these issues, along with a few minor graphical glitches, seriously need to be fixed if they expect us to play this.”
“There are some graphical glitches that seem to be Windows-specific.”
- optimization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The game is reported to be poorly optimized, struggling to maintain a stable 60 fps even on capable systems.
“Terribly optimized; hard to maintain 60 FPS on a decent system.”
“The game suffers from severe optimization issues, making it unplayable at times.”
“Performance drops are frequent, even on high-end hardware.”