Strike Suit Zero: Directors Cut – Review (PC)

Strike Suit Zero: Directors Cut – Review (PC)

I think I’m rapidly becoming the ‘Kickstarter guy’ here at Voletic. Penny for your thoughts?

Strike Suit Zero

Strike Suit Zero is a space flight sim that originally came out in 2013 as a result of a successful Kickstarter campaign. It was greeted with a lukewarm critical reception. Critics lauded it’s approach to a genre which hasn’t had an entry in quite some time, as well as how the addition of a manga aesthetic really boosted the game’s style and tone. However, it was condemned for some complete missteps, for example the Strike Suit for which the game was named could not be used all that often or for that long. The game also suffered from a rather sharp difficulty spikes as well as poorly laid out checkpoints.

The question to me is why does Strike Suit Zero:The Directors Cut exist? The simple answer is that the game is being released on the next generation consoles, so the developers decided to release an updated version for the PC. It seems that the developers have paid heed to a lot of the criticism that they received for last year’s release and have gone to lengths to resolve a lot of the issues. The checkpoints now make sense with the phases of each mission and don’t feel quite as arbitrary as they did before. The difficulty spikes have been smoothed somewhat, however there are some issues that remain with them. Lastly, the Strike Suit is now a viable tool to use in combat – who doesn’t want to destroy enemies as a giant metal space butterfly?

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The Strike Suit is pretty awesome piece of hardware. Ordinarily the craft is a reasonably powerful fighter/bomber that excels at tearing smaller ships to shreds and taking chunks out of their larger cousins. While the player is doing this they gather a special resource called ‘flux’. When the time is right they can choose to transform into the Strike Suit. It looks fearsome and stunning in equal measure. As is fitting with such an awesome looking machine, all your weapons become fearsome and stunning too. Honestly, I can’t think of anything more satisfying that launching an itano circus of rockets at my unsuspecting foes.

One issue that the game has is that it is incredibly difficult to conserve your ammunition, particularly rockets. Maybe this is because I like blowing things up, but I do get the feeling that the game intentionally hamstrings the player by giving them only a limited amount of missiles. I have found that I have to be incredibly spartan with them. Because the game clearly focuses on spectacle, it feels like a shame to have to reign in one of the best effects. On the other hand I understand that the developers have to stop the players from abusing the weapon, so I realise it is a tough balance to properly strike.

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Each of the game’s missions are done in phases. Often in first you will end up shooting down fighters or other types of small craft. In the second you’ll end up fighting a larger craft with fighter escorts. And in the third you will face some kind of capital ship. While the locations tend to change, it does leave the missions feeling rather predictable.

Just going to throw a slight spoiler warning in on this paragraph. It is worth noting that each mission is fully voice acted with an array of actors all of whom take part in one of the more manga video game narratives. There’s the renegade sergeant, Grace Reynolds, who makes sure to disobey or question her orders on a mission by mission basis. Another great is Control, an amoral cyborg who appears to be masterminding the war from behind closed doors. My personal favourite has to Commander Bowman, however, a disgraced admiral who launches a mad quest for revenge against his enemies – he reminded me a little of general Custer.

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All in all, Strike Suit Zero is a good, if not truly great, entry in to a genre which hasn’t seen a proper attempt in quite some time. It lays the path for future entries like Star Citizen and stands on its own as a title. Plus who doesn’t want to pilot giant metal space butterflies?

Pros

  • Players can now experience the Strike Suit properly.
  • The visual effects and style create quite a spectacle.
  • The over the top anime style really works in this setting.
  • The Soundtrack by Paul Ruskay is up there with his work on Homeworld.

 

Cons

  • You run out of ammunition rather easily.
  • Missions are predictable.

 

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
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