Strike Suit Zero Review
Game Emblems
The Good
A beautiful space fighter with many dramatic and frantic moments, marred by huge jumps in difficulty and lacking UI
Strike Suit Zero's thrilling combat and awe-inspiring world make space combat feel like a relevant genre after years of stagnation.
The Good
- Fast-paced combat feels new and exciting
- The ability to transform injects much-needed creativity into the old formula
- Captivating renderings of outer space draw you into the world
- Hard to acquire upgrades and multiple endings extend the game's replayability.
The Bad
- Most missions are too long for their own good
- Upgrades are valuable, but often too hard to acquire
- Underwhelming delivery of the narrative and scripted dialogue.
Earth's future hangs by a thread. After decades of expansion and colonization across the universe, man's disparate factions are fighting for independence from their homeworld. Strike Suit Zero puts you in the role of Adams, a faceless soldier, as you defend the United Nations of Earth from the Colonial onslaught. Though a few nagging issues persist throughout, Strike Suit Zero's strengths continuously rise to the surface, and whether it's the dramatic renderings of outer space or the heady mix of grace and aggression during battle, there's simply a lot to love about its modern twist on the decidedly stale space combat genre
Before acquiring the game's namesake war machine, you have to complete a few introductory tutorials in a standard fighter jet to get acclimated to the controls. Jets are fast, and your test fighter is no exception. You can engage thrusters for an additional boost of speed to keep up with fleeing enemies, but topping out can also send you slightly off course due to the effects of inertia. Unlike the strike suit you command during much of the campaign, jets have the ability to disable incoming missiles by emitting an electromagnetic pulse. The EMPs get the job done, but the lack of something like a quick barrel-roll feels like a missed opportunity for practical showmanship. The standard fighter is quite simple in that regard. After a few minutes, you'll have no problem mowing down enemy ships while jetting across the battlefield, and Adams will be cleared for his return to active duty.
Each of the four ships used throughout the campaign are capable of equipping various types of guns and missiles simultaneously. Most scenarios are flexible enough that you can develop your own loadout without jeopardizing your chances of success, since that responsibility ultimately falls onto your ability to strike or flee at key moments. Missiles that lock onto enemy aircraft have a finite supply of ammo, so it’s smarter to utilize standard machine guns or plasma rounds rather than auto-targeting every enemy from the start. Once you deplete your cache of ammo within individual missions, you’re out of luck since there are no items or supplies to be found in the vastness of space.
However, rather than lean on the notion that space is a mostly empty void, each stage is replete with fantastic images of gigantic celestial bodies and gaseous nebulae that make the entire experience a joy to behold. Debris and casualties of war decorate the foreground while jetstreams of red and blue dance across the screen. The balance of scale and visual flourishes make you feel like a part of the action, rather than a mere observer of distant wonders.
The relatively dull jet gameplay at the start leaves a lackluster first impression, but once the game puts you in the seat of the Strike Suit, it spreads its wings and never looks back.
From the handful of ships you’ll pilot during the course of the game, the Strike Suit remains the most enjoyable to use for it's ability to transform and out maneuver enemy aircraft. Once you’ve gathered the right amount of flux energy from shooting down enemies and space debris, your suit can change into a nimble mech with considerably stronger firepower and the ability to quickly dash out of harms way. Every shot you fire in strike mode depletes your flux meter, so finding the balance between your two states becomes a critical skill for success in later missions. The advantages the mech brings to the table include the ability to auto-lock onto the nearest target and the potential to train missiles on up to five enemies at once, but be careful: you can still get shot down if you neglect to watch your back. Once you get a taste of juggling the nimble jet and the powerful mech, it’s hard to go back to the less exciting alternatives. It’s too bad that you can’t use it in every mission, but thankfully there are only a few where it’s unavailable.
By
Peter Brown, Editor
Peter Brown has been writing about video games and hardware since 1999. He grew up with the NES and has an unwavering love for retro and arcade games. Though he's a New England native, he's called the Bay Area home since 2004.
47 comments
Woah, 15 meter tall mechs, bad controls, and way too many missiles? Sounds like Armored Core!! Now I can play as Nineball.
Good graphics , mediocre gameplay and very difficult.Also, if you lose one objective you lose several hours of gameplay and that sucks.
one question to developers: "did you actually play the game?" just stop sending millions of missiles and fighters at me!
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this game has " homeworld 2 " all over it... haven't played old school space sim such freespace nor wing commander, but the gameplay is like (a better) macross on ps2, which is a good thing cause i love both of them... a bit of nauseous after a while though. Don't really into space sim but the environment really brought back "homeworld" feel (thank you) , wonder why the game been having a bad review outhere, maybe this kinda game need joystik to be enjoy as many old school space sim, yet have i mention "homeworld"... ^_^ how about making a "homeworld 2" mod for this game, i'll be the happiest man ....
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Damn this game is hard n unforgiving, like Dark Souls, and that is a good thing! :D Support it to make it expand even further!
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Something I've been wondering about every time I've heard anything for this game.
Why does a space plane/mech need legs?
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@TorMasturba There are these things in space called "planets".
You might have heard of this one in particular called "earth".
It would be really hard to get around on said planet without legs, wouldn't you agree?
@wavelength121 @TorMasturba Yeah, because all our ground and air vehicles today on Earth use legs for transport. Logic, use it.
@vunacar @wavelength121 @TorMasturba Dumbass that dont mean bipedal mechs wont be used in the future. we are currently working on different types of 2 and 4 legged tanks and support vehicles that will make traversing normally impossible land with tread based units.
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Playing this game non stop the last three days, its pretty good but it has a steep learning curve which might enstrange the more casual crowd.
The upgrades like mentioned in the review are very difficult to aquire, I've managed so far to get to mission 10 with all upgrades unlocked, but it wasn't easy at all. I almost gave up on a couple of missions, but with perseverence and sheer determination I finally got past them.
The game demands both skill and patience, as you need to figure out how to go about to get to your goal, more often than not by the skin of your teeth, which makes it all the more rewarding when you pull it through.
If you enjoyed games like Wing Commander and can deal with its sometimes brutal difficulty without popping a vein, you should definitely try this out.
Peter, your voice is not that bad, i fail to see why people are knocking this so much.
It is a well informed review. Though i would prefer to know what hardware requirements are needed in reviews that are for PC games.
I just bought this game from GOG.com, until next thursday this game is on gog.com at $4.00 off so 15.99 for DRM free version and it states free DLC when it is released as well.
Probably the best way to go if you want it without the always online problems.
You also get extra artwork , the usual gog extras steam rarely gives.
who the hell let him read that dogmatic, monotonous drivel! Where's the passion!? and where can I get a copy of ELITE!???
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knowing steam this will be on a 50% daily deal in no time waiting for that to get this
@HADES2001 that is the only problem with steam . Far better wait for sales as you know they will happen soon enough.
just tried this game out and am probably gonna buy it. wish it had some mp tho. and if u think this game is hard then you have never played/beat a challenging game in your life
This game pretty much plays like the old Robotech game on PS2 but with slightly better AI and controls. The actual interaction between capitol ships and fighter craft is fun and entertaining. If you like spaceshooters its worth checking out. I picked it up for $15 on Steam but if you wait a while it'll probably drop to $8-10 which I think is about right.
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Does anyone else remember Colony Wars on the PS? I LOVED that game. HD remake please!
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Peter Brown's critique of the game having "Underwhelming delivery" is like the pot calling the kettle black.
@CHROMEFLAMIN .
lol stop being nasty the Ps3 would easily handle this game. Though the lower resolution would obviously hurt the look of it alot
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@ACWH dude seriously rate this game bad just because it's hard difficulity? really?. try Dark Souls. No Mini map? have you tried the forever awesome Skyrim?
@ACWH maybe they don't like this Genre. people are pretty biased when they review games on sites like these.
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@ACWH sounds like whoever was reviewing that game sucks at playing video games. difficulty spikes? i understand that the controls and mechanics can be difficult to get ahold of. but isn't that fun in it? any spike in difficulty is welcome to me, but this game is not so challenging that it can't be beat. breezing through a game makes me feel like a fool for wasting my money
Cheer up Peter bloody hell! For a 7.5 you can at least sound like you're enjoying the thing :P
I haven't played a space combat game since the PS2 but you got me excited with this review.
@queuing_for_PS4 No where on their Kickstarter does it say it will be on the PS3, just MAC and Linux later this year. Same for any news source I've checked. I've seen sites that have it listed as a PS3 game for some reason but no information about it.
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Strike Suit Zero
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GameSpot Fuse
- Publisher(s): Born Ready Games
- Genre: Action
- Release: Jan 23, 2013 (US)
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