Download Size: 1.2GB
Hours Played: 3
Matches Played: 6
Unable to Connect: Half of the time
What I'd Pay: $7
Steam Price (4/19/12): $10
I wasn't expecting a MOBA-variant when I bought this game, else I might have declined to review it entirely. I've been playing League of Legends for a year and I'm still learning about the game; how could I do a MOBA game justice in a week? Especially when the servers keep seizing up? Luckily, I've got some LoL experience under my belt, so perhaps the best I can do is contrast it with what I know.
But first, an explanation for those who've never played a MOBA before: the goal of these games is to take your champion/ship/etc. and break through a turret line to destroy the enemy base with the help of mindless minions. Said minions follow a set path towards the base, clash with each other, and serve as a source of money & danger (if you get too close to enemy minions). These are usually played in teams of 5v5; games last anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour.
Stellar Impact throws RTS wrinkles like "terrain" and resource nodes into the mix. Space is filled with nebulae, asteroids, and stars that can hide, slow, or stun you. These are usually arranged in symmetrical, tactical positions around the planets, wormholes, and anomalies that provide resources to your faction. You capture them by stationing your ship around them; your enemies can do the same. Lose too many of them and your upgrades will trail behind the enemy team.
The game's resources are divided into Command Points and Tech Level. Command Points let you buy upgrades, but the Tech Level determines which upgrades are available. You can also pour Command Points into faction-wide upgrades, like stronger escort ships, to push your line towards the enemy base. It's an interesting twist combining RTS and MOBA gameplay that works pretty well with the slower pace of the game.
Let's talk about that. The pace feels positively glacial compared to LoL, even though the games take about as long to finish. That's because the capital ships handle like, well... giant ships. They move slow, they turn slow, and it was tough to get used to my ship taking a giant U-turn to change direction instead of instantly turning. The shooting is also slower-paced: your guns fire in bursts, taking seconds to reload and aim. Your ability cooldowns are usually 40-70 seconds long, instead of the 6-20 seconds of most MOBAs. The game feels more methodical as a result; it's much tougher to recover from a stupid rush here than in LoL, and constantly trying to change direction will mainly hamper your ability to fire. You may, like me, have to beat down your instincts about how to play a MOBA.
If you want to practice your fleet battles, the game provides a Skirmish mode where you do fleet vs fleet battles on simple maps with no respawns, best 2 out of 3. However, it provides a sliver of the XP and loot the main Conquest mode does. After each Conquest match, your ship gains XP and you can choose 1-2 pieces of loot as a reward. This loot passively increases your ship's strength and abilities. Unfortunately, XP and loot can't be transferred between different types of ships, making it difficult to play more than 1-2 ship types well. (Why dissuade players from buying new ships like that?) You can also change that ship type's abilities between games, which looks more interesting than the XP/loot system. (I stuck to the default loadouts myself, so I won't comment on them beyond "Well that's cool.")
This is an interesting game (albeit tough to learn the details of), and I would've happily given it 4 stars... except for the server issues. Half the time I wanted to play this, the main server just wouldn't acknowledge me. I couldn't see my ship loadouts, couldn't join games... nothing. Rumor is that if over 400 people are logged on at once, it causes the server to seize up. That's a pity, as right now the only times I can play, there's only 2-3 games with slots open. With so few games to choose from, experts and newbies get tossed together, and nearly every match I was in felt like a curbstomping going one way or the other. Hopefully they'll fix this in the future. For now, though, I'm dropping a score a full star to 3 due to the server issues. Pity; they could really have a space battle cult classic here if they get their act together.