Rebel Galaxy (PC) Review

Space simulators have always had one fundamental problem with them: space is big. The distance between the earth and moon alone can go up to 406,696km, and that's tiny compared to how big the solar system can get. When a space sim comes out, then, even providing the basic feeling of these gigantic amounts of space requires a large amount of the area to be empty, which is made worse by requiring it to function in 3D, where 'up' and 'down' can be just as empty as the other dimensions. It is quite easy to enter into Rebel Galaxy and assume that the same will be true. It is an improper assumption at best.

Rebel Galaxy takes place entirely on a 2D plane, despite providing the feeling of 3D. Why? It looked out at all the other space sims, saw how boring constantly travelling about in warp drive only to miss the destination due to it being on the wrong plane of existence was, and decided to toss that to the curb, before driving off in its awesome car… which it forgot to put gas into. The result is a space sim with some really outstanding features that quickly feels as if it hit empty far too soon, and the only solution is tediously waiting about for another can of gas to keep going.

Right up front, easily the single best aspect of Rebel Galaxy is its combat. Unlike many other space sims that seek to capture the feel of a space fighter jet - which works well for a small-time fighter, but really struggles when trying to navigate a ship easily mistakable for a moon and is, potentially, capable of eliminating entire planets through a loop-de-loop - Rebel Galaxy opts for broadside combat in the vein of Ye Olde Space Pirate. It works beautifully. Instead of rapid, often sporadic, spaceship movement capable of leaving some feeling nauseous, it focuses, instead, on the feeling of two giant capitol ships slowly circling each other, trying to fire off massive volleys of laser cannons, missiles, and turret-fire, while smaller ships dart in between and try to keep a constant ideal face of fully-charged shields towards the enemy. In 3D, this would be impractical at best, and far more likely to be horrible. In 2D, this feels like two giant ships clashing in a massive slug-out with all-guns blazing.

It isn't just about engaging in massive spaceship battles, though. It's also about things like mining, which seems tedious until mining an asteroid surrounded deep in pirate space, where the primary salvation is not the massive ship brawls, but the speed of the ships' boosters and shields, piracy, and trying to ensure that an entire faction doesn't get mad enough to fire on sight, despite having the ideal trade spot for off-loading goods.

All of that comes to a screeching halt, however, when the grind starts. Soon, instead of slug-outs, Rebel Galaxy consists of boring runs of repeating ad nauseam missions, simply to get even minor upgrades. Instead of hunting down pirate lords, it is lengthy search-and-kill missions on minor pirates that quickly become one-sided, yet need to be repeated until the ship is strong enough to go after the real foes. It's not just similar to an MMO grind; it's a bit worse knowing that this could be fixed easily, without disrupting other players, since it is not an MMO, where things like raid balance need to be considered.

Also, the story and aspects generally not related to the combat feel a bit thinly spread, if not outright lacking. It's fun to head out and explore and duke it out with enemy ships, but there just isn't that much aside.