BossConstructor is sort of a 2D spaceship simulator/builder with RPG elements. It reminds me a bit of the old school game; “Asteroids”, as well as other 2D space shooters. The game has you in control of a ship that you can modify and re-build to your liking. You get different ship parts from completing tasks as well as defeating enemies. You can harvest ore from asteroids, trade, make allies with different factions, and much more. There’s quite a lot to do in the game. In addition to this, there’s a few different game modes to keep you entertained if you’ve had too much of one thing. Exploration mode is mostly what I’ll be covering the most of, though there’s an endless mode where you fight waves of enemies, mission mode where you can choose different challenges to complete, an evolution mode which which deals mostly with AI and their progression, and a skirmish mode which has the user define it’s settings.
Author: Roger
Steam: Fully Released
Developer: Mirko Seithe
Publisher: Mirko Seithe
Genre: 2D spaceship simulator/builder
Release Date: 24th of October, 2016
Type: Single Player
In exploration mode, where I feel the most of the game’s depth is, you jump from sector to sector (“FTL” Style) and have to complete different objectives in that area, there are also random events that can occur. You can also stop in at different outposts and upgrade your ship parts.
Graphics:
The graphic style is just fine. The default ship designs are nice, and really, whatever you want your ship to look like, that’s up too you, as it’s very customizable. The user-interface is laid out nicely, nothing is too cluttered and the menus are easy to read and navigate through. Of course the game has the standard space theme and objects/models to go with it. The combat animations are nice, as well as the battle effects. The backdrops during combat are usually different and are quite beautiful to look at, but not distracting to the point where it interrupts your gameplay.
Although the visuals are somewhat generic, they get the job done while looking very nice in the process. The game has quite a bit of resolutions and graphical settings, so it should run fine on almost any graphics card and CPU. It’s a 2D space shooter, and doesn’t demand that much to run.
Sound:
The sound assets of the game are delivered nicely, and at the right time. They don’t become annoying or repetitive, as most of the combat noises are different from each other. The game has very satisfying explosions and attack sounds, even when you’re the one being destroyed. The background music is decent, it’s not something I found engaging or interesting. It was very generic ambient space music and sounds, though it worked well and fit with the motif of the game.
Mechanics:
The game mechanics are really solid. After going through the tutorial, you can understand how the game works as well as how to play. Your ship’s core is a command center module/piece. Designing your ship is almost like doing a jigsaw puzzle. You add other modules/pieces to the command center, and then more pieces to THOSE pieces, and so on and so on. Each piece does something different like shoots fireballs, or thrusts the ship in a certain way. There are of course shield pieces, pieces that store or generate energy, and some that store ore.
Some pieces have an energy cost (or production) value. Your ship, depending on the pieces, need a certain amount of energy to function. Firing off different weapons also consume energy. Pieces have costs, a value that’s assigned to each piece that determines the overall ship value. Though in some parts or modes of the game, you have a certain cost/ship value that you must meet or stay below. Pieces also have a weight assigned, and depending on the weight, the ship can move faster or slower. Position of thrusters also matter, as you need them in-front to break, and in the rear to obviously make it you go forward. Though putting thrusters on the sides or stacking them close to each-other can help you fine tune your turns, and leave you with more accuracy.
Combat is like any other asteroid-like game, you move and float around trying to attack enemies or complete objectives. Every ship-piece has hit-points, and physically get destroyed in combat when the hit-points are depleted. This doesn’t mean your ship is destroyed when a piece is gone. You keep fighting until your command center is destroyed.
You’re given a universe map, and can make “jumps” to different sections, and then jumps from THOSE sections, and so on. When you hover over these sections, it tells you what missions are available (you usually have a primary and secondary mission), how many enemies are there, and any other details like if there’s a outpost or an event. There’s a variety of missions such as eliminating enemies, moving asteroids, collecting ore, and more.
Final Personal Remarks:
(click on the image to see the rating explanation)
The game is a lot of fun, and it has a lot of potential. There’s a lot more updates coming to this game, however me being me, I find the game very difficult. It’s hard to control the ships even when you understand how controlling the ships work. The enemies are hard to kill especially if your ship loses it’s guns/cannons. I do like the game, but it’s not the type of genre I enjoy, though it IS starting to grow on me.
Thanks to the devs for giving me the opportunity to review the game, as well as anyone who took this review into consideration, I hope it helped.
