Rebel Galaxy Review (PC)

  Rebel Galaxy is the first “space sim” I've ever played to completion. I've tried getting into a few others (Elite: Dangerous and Dark Star One come to mind), but after the initially overwhelming but ultimately satisfying learning curve of those games had been conquered I got bored and dropped off once they devolved into tedious job simulators. Rebel Galaxy includes all of the main features of those more complex games, but streamlines them into something more digestible. It takes a hit on it's sense of “realism” and scale, but it's engaging and simplified loop of progress is enough to make up for that.

  Did you know space is actually a flat plane? It's a silly concept and not really a complaint, I know, but Rebel Galaxy's one dimensional representation of open space is a good example of what you're in for. You never have to worry about vertical thrust or rolling your ship, just 360 degrees of activity. This feels like literal, ocean-based ship-to-ship combat and navigation with a space backdrop. And it works if you're willing to accept it. What you're losing in freedom you're gaining in ease of use. Most extraneous, technical fiddlings are stripped out: just point your ship where you want to go and hit the warp drive. Hold “A” to dock. There are four speeds to pick from, but just go full throttle and if you want to slow down or stop hold back on the left stick. You know it's a casual sim when the game's launcher recommends you use a gamepad. Again, none of this is inherently bad, it just is what it is. It's an arcade representation of a notoriously complicated genre.

  Also unconventional is the personal story that is the driving force of the game. You inherit a ship from your aunt that contains some fragment of something or other that a number of local scumbags seem interested in acquiring. It's pretty clear that there's more to the fragment than meets the eye, and sure enough it soon awakens as an AI. The AI, Trell, directs you to other fragments scattered around increasingly dangerous sectors of the galaxy, which she uses to upgrade your ship to make it feasible to travel to even more dangerous parts of space. She also warns you that there are bad space guys after her, and if they get her it's bad news for everybody. This is all told through really nice looking close up conversations with Cortana's cousin Trell and other characters you meet in seedy space bars. You have some options for responses, but they're pretty limited and don't seem to matter too much. While the story starts off strong and shows promise, it ends up falling apart and fizzling out toward the end. It's the most disappointing aspect of Rebel Galaxy; it had the potential to be a grimy, emotional space opera but doesn't know how to progress or wrap up. It ends so abruptly I actually had to back out of the game and check my achievements to make sure the story was actually over. It was...

  While it's a shame the fantastic but rather shallow characters are underutilized, the story is just a jumping off point for the familiar loop of space truckin'. Earn money by any means to upgrade your ship to make it easier to earn even more money in order to buy even better ships to make more money faster. It's a grind at it's core, but the ships look cool and the job simulator repetition is painless enough. You pick missions up from job boards at any space station. These range from delivering cargo to other stations, hunting (space) pirates with bounties on their head, picking up data at dead drops, etc. The higher the difficulty the more money you receive. You could also buy and sell goods for profit, but I didn't find the investment worth it if you're not nuts; you regularly pick up salable cargo from defeated enemies that you can exchange for pure profit so don't bother. You'll also run into distress signals in your travels where you can assist for some easy cash, or take out random bounties. Basically: play the game to earn money.

  Almost any path you take will involve combat. Thankfully, like the rest of the game, getting into scraps is simple and enjoyable. You maneuver your ship as you would in naval warfare, with your main means of attack being your broadside cannons. The longer you wait to fire the more focused and accurate your shots become, so you can pinpoint a distant enemy for devastating damage or spam a barrage of wild shots to keep a ship's shields down or harass smaller swarms closer to you. You're also outfitted with a secondary weapon you can use with the “X” button. I went with flak cannons to destroy incoming missiles and smaller vessels, but you have options like homing missiles as well (which you need to buy ordinance for). Depending on how large of a ship you're piloting you can equip a number of turrets like shield destroying missiles, long range lasers, or mining lasers. You can control these manually, but I found the simpler my approach to combat the better the results. After experimenting with using the secondary lasers to take out smaller ships and targeting individual modules on capital ships, it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize I was overplaying the game. Just focus on your broadsides, spam your secondaries, and let the auto turrets do their work and you're playing optimally.

  Rebel Galaxy offers a custom soundtrack option, and it's a small feature that goes a long way. The included soundtrack is decent, twangy Space Western tunes that sell the premise, and the ability to add your own songs is invaluable. You have several pathways to store the music, so you can divide your list to play only while at space stations, at the title screen, while traveling, during combat, etc. If you don't have Deep Purple's “Space Truckin'” on there you fucked up, but other than that it's great to inject your own mark onto the game and it makes travels through deep space feel like a road trip. This was a standard feature of the Xbox 360 but has sadly dropped off, and having it fully integrated here is fantastic and certainly welcome.

  If you're looking for a deep simulation that requires every button on your keyboard for knobs and dials and subsystems Rebel Galaxy might not be the game for you. If you've come to the realization that those games are for crazy people and want to relax to some Johnny Cash as you cause some space wars and marvel at how such visual chaos can be distilled into simple arcade controls, Rebel Galaxy delivers. The promising story ends up being kind of crap and there's a definite grind to endure, but the game has heart and personality and delivers what I value most: fun.