I have enjoyed space combat games all the way back to the Mattel Intellivision (games such as “Space Hawk”, “Star Strike,” and many more impressed me from day one). It’s a genre that we haven’t seen much in more recent years, with the last standout entry in the genre that I can think about being Starlancer on the PC and Dreamcast. Well, “Spatial Rift” is here to help fill that void.
It’s a 3d space combat game that’s unmissable at 240 Microsoft Points. You have full 3D control of your ship, the presentation’s very good (particularly graphic fidelity and ship detail). But perhaps more impressively of all it’s a strategic game, with you issuing tactics to a squad of starfighters under your command two ways: jumping around from ship to ship, or staying in one ship and issuing commands to the others (a surprising level of flexibility for a console strategy game). I often like to point out that a game is similar in quality and cheaper than comparable Xbox Live Arcade games, but I can’t actually think of an XBLA game like this at any price (and, if there is one, it’ll definitely be more expensive). And the feature set is fantastic, including:
– solo play
– local co-op for 2-4 players
– system link play for 2-4 players
– Dolby Digital audio
– online multiplayer for 2-4 players
– online co-op for 2-4 players
Highly recommended to people who, like me, grew up on a steady diet of space opera, and an insanely cheap price for a game with great presentation, a robust feature set, and strong presentation.
Here’s what the developer (Waypoint Games) has to say about the game:
“Go head-to-head against an alien menace, and command your own space fleet in this fast-paced tactical shooter. Spatial Rift has a single player campaign, survival mode, and online play with or against friends.”
Writings of Mass Deduction 