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Author Topic: Strike Suit Zero - Space Fighting Mecha - It's out  (Read 4860 times)

nenjin

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Strike Suit Zero - Space Fighting Mecha - It's out
« on: October 18, 2012, 12:16:32 pm »

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/43153532/strike-suit-zero



Funding Goal: $100,000
Pledged Amount: $174,804!
Days remaining: ZERO

Inspired by Freelancer, Free Space, X-Wing, Macross, Gundamn and other space fighting titles, the aim is to make a space fighting game that draws from the best of Western and Eastern traditions that appeals to fans of both styles.

The game is already pretty far along in development according to the promo video, and my does it look ppppuuurrrrrttttyyyyy. I've always liked Mecha Suit space fighting and this seems to be hitting all the right notes.

Features:
Quote
  • Fast, frantic space combat: you can freely engage multiple enemies, dogfight other pilots, fight massive fleet battles and defend vast structures.
  • The Strike Suit: strategically switch from Pursuit Mode (speed and power) to Strike Mode (a powerful, highly maneuverable combat mode)
  • Multiple endings: your choices in game - for example, the secondary objectives you choose to complete  - directly affect the state of Earth at the end of the game. With multiple endings, preventing
  • Earth’s destruction is your immediate concern but preserving its future is your ultimate goal.
  • Capital Ship Destruction: take capital ships apart piece by piece – take out their turrets or target weak-points to blow out entire sections of their superstructure.
  • Vibrant and vivid universe: space is far from the dark, featureless void you'd expect. Discover the colour and vibrancy of the Strike Suit universe across 13 unique locations.
  • Ship Designs from renowned Mechanical Design engineer Junji Okubo (Appleseed: Ex Machina, Steel Battalion.)
  • Music from award-winning sound designer Paul Ruskay (Homeworld) including a collaboration with Japanese singer/songwriter Kokia (Tales of Innocence, Gunslinger Girl: II Teatrino)
« Last Edit: January 31, 2013, 11:41:37 pm by nenjin »
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Frumple

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Re: Strike Suit Zero - Space Fighting Mecha - On Kickstarter
« Reply #1 on: October 18, 2012, 12:47:18 pm »

Looks too pretty for me to play.

That said, more giant robots is always a good thing. Hope it makes it.
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nenjin

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Re: Strike Suit Zero - Space Fighting Mecha - On Kickstarter
« Reply #2 on: October 18, 2012, 02:17:00 pm »

There is some obvious gameiness to it that flies in the exact opposite direction of games like Freespace. (Getting energy by killing your enemies? errr.......ok?)

That said, I think it's the aesthetic plus just the mecha fantasy that makes it appealing to. If the game looked less pretty or not as polished it might have gotten my attention.
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Cautivo del Milagro seamos, Penitente.
Quote from: Viktor Frankl
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
Quote from: Sindain
Its kinda silly to complain that a friendly NPC isn't a well designed boss fight.
Quote from: Eric Blank
How will I cheese now assholes?
Quote from: MrRoboto75
Always spaghetti, never forghetti

nenjin

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Re: Strike Suit Zero - Space Fighting Mecha - On Kickstarter
« Reply #3 on: October 28, 2012, 02:35:42 pm »

Looks like this has a great chance of being funded, and even making a little extra on the side.
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Cautivo del Milagro seamos, Penitente.
Quote from: Viktor Frankl
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
Quote from: Sindain
Its kinda silly to complain that a friendly NPC isn't a well designed boss fight.
Quote from: Eric Blank
How will I cheese now assholes?
Quote from: MrRoboto75
Always spaghetti, never forghetti

Trapezohedron

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Re: Strike Suit Zero - Space Fighting Mecha - On Kickstarter
« Reply #4 on: November 02, 2012, 07:00:47 pm »

« Last Edit: November 02, 2012, 10:36:19 pm by New Guy »
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Re: Strike Suit Zero - Space Fighting Mecha - Funded!
« Reply #5 on: November 02, 2012, 11:20:51 pm »

lack of mp or sandbox modes in these games put me off.

BuriBuriZaemon

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Re: Strike Suit Zero - Space Fighting Mecha - Funded!
« Reply #6 on: November 03, 2012, 02:56:00 am »

lack of mp or sandbox modes in these games put me off.

My thought too...
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nenjin

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Re: Strike Suit Zero - Space Fighting Mecha - Funded!
« Reply #7 on: November 19, 2012, 11:28:31 am »

I'm happy to say the KS closed pulling in nearly $175,000, well over their pledge goal.
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Cautivo del Milagro seamos, Penitente.
Quote from: Viktor Frankl
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
Quote from: Sindain
Its kinda silly to complain that a friendly NPC isn't a well designed boss fight.
Quote from: Eric Blank
How will I cheese now assholes?
Quote from: MrRoboto75
Always spaghetti, never forghetti

nenjin

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Re: Strike Suit Zero - Space Fighting Mecha - Funded!
« Reply #8 on: January 22, 2013, 02:31:07 pm »

http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/strike-suit-zero/1227215p1.html

First previews of the game are starting to circulate. Pros: The combat, the visuals, the mech. Cons: The story, the AI, some of the missions. Apparently missile swarms are where it's at in this game.

Still waiting on some price point information on this before I decide to get it at release.
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Cautivo del Milagro seamos, Penitente.
Quote from: Viktor Frankl
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
Quote from: Sindain
Its kinda silly to complain that a friendly NPC isn't a well designed boss fight.
Quote from: Eric Blank
How will I cheese now assholes?
Quote from: MrRoboto75
Always spaghetti, never forghetti

nenjin

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Re: Strike Suit Zero - Space Fighting Mecha - It's out
« Reply #9 on: February 01, 2013, 12:11:50 am »

So I'm about 60 or 70% through the game at this point.

It's pretty decent as an arcade-y space shooter. It's no where near as technical as, say, Tie Fighter or Freespace 2. There's not a lot to the game besides what you'd expect out of a console game (a couple different ships and weapon variants, upgrades you unlock by doing secondary objectives in the missions.) The beginning of the game was quite easy, but after the 4th or 5th mission it starts placing some difficult demands on you. Getting certain optional objectives (for ship upgrades) or just the sheer amount of stuff thrown at you in the course of a mission starts to get a little crazy. It's at its easiest when you're not on faced with time sensitive objectives, and can methodically boost out of combat at high speed when your shields run out, then swoop back in a few seconds later. When you've got bomber squadrons to protect, a cruiser or you're attacking a capital ship on a very tight deadline, the game starts to get frantic. Luckily when you restart a checkpoint it refills your armor and weapons.

It's pretty polished and handles decently, which is good because there's not a lot to the game. There's no multiplayer, nor does it seem like there's any kind of sandbox or wave mode. Just the story mode. The story is....well it's pretty bland to be honest. The voice overs are wooden and formulaic. Which makes the actiony, japanese pop soundtrack seem a little out of place, or tacky. That said, the game does look pretty nice and when you step back to watch a giant fleet battle, it's quite a spectacle, with flak exploding everywhere, capital ship beams cutting through the fight, and fighters zipping everywhere.

The Strike Suit is, so far, mostly a gimmick. Out of the 6 or 7 missions I've played, I've only been able to use the Strike Suit/Ship in 4. Other times they've stuck me in a non-transforming interceptor, or a bomber. You have to play several levels before they even give it to you. For a game that defines itself by the Strike Suit, its pointless absences are puzzling. And to be honest, it doesn't even really add that much to the game. And your ability to use it in missions is regulated by a bar that expends itself every time you fire the Suit's weapons. So you get about 30 or 40 seconds of floating around as the mech before you're dropped back into ship form and have to go shoot more d00ds to get more thing. It's like, can't you just let me play the freaking mech already? And when you do play the mech, you realize its real feature is an lock-on targeting system that will keep the suit pointed at its target, and acquire a new target as soon as the old one dies. You just transform, lock on, and start shooting until you run out of things in range of your weapons. You can fly into a swarm of fighters, transform, and kill 5 or 6 in the time it would take you to kill 2 in interceptor mode.

For all my negative comments I'm still generally enjoying it, even if it's a little brainless.

If you enjoy space fighting games this one isn't too bad. The dog fighting and epic scale of the action is pretty satisfying. It's not very deep but its visually and technically well put together, and it's way lighter on the mecha than it leads you to believe. If you're looking for a real balls to the wall mecha or space fighting sim, this isn't that game. While fun it has the feel of a light weight game, and whether that's worth $20 is up to you.
« Last Edit: February 01, 2013, 03:04:53 pm by nenjin »
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Cautivo del Milagro seamos, Penitente.
Quote from: Viktor Frankl
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
Quote from: Sindain
Its kinda silly to complain that a friendly NPC isn't a well designed boss fight.
Quote from: Eric Blank
How will I cheese now assholes?
Quote from: MrRoboto75
Always spaghetti, never forghetti

Burnt Pies

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Re: Strike Suit Zero - Space Fighting Mecha - It's out
« Reply #10 on: February 01, 2013, 07:38:50 am »

The main strength of the Strike Suit is the missiles; 40 insta-lockon missiles, of which you need 3-6 to kill most fighters in the game, or 4-10 to take out a turret, is just awesome. The guns, however, are not worth it. Keep dashing around to avoid enemy fire and give everything nearby a few missiles, which'll also refill the flux bar when everything you aimed at goes boom.

I feel the main weakness is the length; Freespace 2 felt like it had almost three times as many missions, although the majority of them aren't as long as missions in SSZ. Aside from that, the useless allies and wooden voice acting are my main gripes, with difficulty/checkpoint placement coming in 4th (After playing a few Freespace 2 mod campaigns (I'm looking at you, Blue Planet's escort mission), this felt almost easy. I only died 3-4 times on the nastiest parts.).

On the other hand, the Mech's awesome, the dogfighting's a lot of fun, the visuals are awesome and they're releasing mod tools soon, and there's a possibility of extra campaigns in DLC, which I'll likely give in and buy.

Well worth the $20 I spent on it.
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nenjin

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Re: Strike Suit Zero - Space Fighting Mecha - It's out
« Reply #11 on: February 01, 2013, 02:49:40 pm »

I find the guns to be decent against interceptors, it strips their shields like the interceptor secondary cannon does, but it does way more structural damage. It's least effective against the heavy turrets (plus you have to practically stand in front of them to be in range.)

I can't ever seem to gain enough flux to maintain the Strike Suit mode, even when I'm killing things left and right. I think the Flux was kind of a dumb mechanic, personally. With most of the best weapons not having unlimited ammo, and them refilling your ammo when you restart a check point...I would have preferred if they'd just let us transform at will (or made the flux bar drain slower.)

On difficulty:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I guess I just don't find the Strike Suit that cool. It does so very little other than a cool missile swarm, and a useful if not amazing dodge/strafe capability. The auto-aiming almost feels like cheating (I rationalize using it by thinking it's part of the amazing technology, since you can't auto aim in fighter mode.)

I guess when I first saw the game, I was thinking Gundam Wing or Macross levels of mecha awesomeness. Compared to them, SSZ only scratches the surface. That the weapon selection for the Strike Suit never seems to change either was also a disappointment.
« Last Edit: February 01, 2013, 03:51:34 pm by nenjin »
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Cautivo del Milagro seamos, Penitente.
Quote from: Viktor Frankl
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
Quote from: Sindain
Its kinda silly to complain that a friendly NPC isn't a well designed boss fight.
Quote from: Eric Blank
How will I cheese now assholes?
Quote from: MrRoboto75
Always spaghetti, never forghetti