Space Impact: Kappa Base Review

Alright, now some new-er games next.



Space Impact: Kappa Base was available during first access, but then it got held back from the launch later. It is by far one of THE most hardcore games on N-Gage.

For the casual player it is too much to handle as thousnads of bullets are flying on the screen and enemies constantly coming your way. There is no "Easy" difficulty, just Normal and Hard. And even Normal is hard.

The game looks incredible, with your ship and bosses modelled in 3D while the smaller fry are in 2D. The backgrounds are finely detailed and the lightning effects look awesome! Overall it is another N-Gage game with stunning graphics. And the framerate didn't drop on my N81 for a second. Well, untill an incoming phonecall interrupted me and the game paused. But it was all smooth after that.

The sounds are also greatly made. Lots of laser bullet sounds and explosions, elctronical sizzling and whatnot. The bigger explosions also have a nice degree of bass in them. And the music fits very well, with being slighly more peaceful in the lush green jungle, and going to a high tempo electric soundtrack in a boss. The final boss music is also impressive, reminding me of a japanese orchestra for some reason.

The game is quite simple to play in terms of controls. Use the D-Pad to move and the 2-key to use the special weapon. The game uses an autofire mode, which is a good addition as otherwise the screen would be shaking from constantly pressing a button, it can also be toggled on/off by pressing 8. Thogh landscape isn't fully supported, you can flip the device sideways and use the A-key to launch the spcial weapon and B to toggle autofire on/off. All the action is sideways, but thats what the game would look like in landscape, though REAL landscape support with the HUD reassigned and the dialogue set in the right orientation would have been a better solution.

The difficulty in this game is set on a very high bar. It really seperates the men from the boys.
The gameplay consists of getting through a level and defeating the boss with the highest score possible. If you die you have 4 or 2 continues, depending on the difficulty you set. The storyline doesn't really matter much as this is a pure high scoring game, though the storyline adds to the game depth. The ending is also left wide open, possibly for a sequel.
The N-Gage Points aren't that easy either. Unlike in other games where you get NGP from almost everything, here you need to get a 1000 kinetic combo and score 25 million points.
Although the game is really hard and the average rank you get from missions at first is a C or D, it feels very rewarding to get that S+ Rank and 100% kill rate. But it tends to be a little TOO hard at times.

Speaking of the Kinetic Combo, or Charge, the special weapon use is quite unique. You don't pickup a powerup to use it. You equip it before a mission and then dodge bullets very close to gain energy for the weapon. Theres also many different Skyblades to choose from and lots of wepons to equip them with. Most Skyblades can equip 2 weapons and a special one, while there is one that can equip 3 weapons and a special one. There is even a custom Skyblade you can tune to look whatever you want, and even set its attributes.

There is also an Arena mode. It's rankings with a twist, as you login, pick a level and play it. After youre dead or the level is over you upload your score. The modes are Max Combo, Killcount, Boss Attack and High Score. The Arena mods also have frequent tournament events for this great game. They're a (Plasma) blast!

Verdict:
A hard core space shooter with great graphics, sounds and challenging yet rewarding gameplay.
A must for people who want to brag in their superioty in rankings.
Though it can be frustrating hard at times.

Graphics: 95%
Sounds: 95%
Gameplay: 90%
Overall: 95%