Wot I Thought: Distant Space
Table of Contents
P.S. use the handy table above to skip to a section you want. :)
This article is around a ~6 minute read.
Part 1 - Introduction
Distant Space is a TINY indie game by PixelMouse which emulates the 80’s style of arcade game, especially shoot-‘em-ups such as Galaga and the like. So tiny, in fact, that I 100%’ed it in 38 minutes. I got this game for free, so I felt obligated to at least try it out, and I was not disappointed. It was pretty good. BTW, because I’m slow, the game is currently not free on Steam anymore :(. Sorry! I was too busy trying out the other bizarre free games I have on my account right now! (like Weapon of Choice DX, which I think is still free! Go get that!!)
Part 2 - Structure & Gameplay
The game has 26 levels in a single-player campaign of sorts with a boss at each multiple of 10 (except for the final boss which is on level 26); and that’s it. It boots you out to the main menu when you beat it with a ‘thank you for playing’, which is just so cute. Why 26? Well, all the achievements for beating each level have a letter on them, so I assume the developer built the game with that idea in mind. Speaking of achievements, this game is PISS-easy for 100% completion. There’s achievements for beating each level, beating each boss, beating the game, DYING (lmao), using up your secondary fire ammo all the way, and other easy to do stuff. Your goal is to exterminate each alien in every level, as they float down from the top of the screen, using your unlimited-fire left mouse button attack, and a limited right mouse button attack (which is never told to you that you can use). Some levels introduce new aliens, so I think it’d be cool to talk about ‘em all.
This guy right here is the first enemy you meet, and he’s not very tough. He just shoots a straight line at you, which is highly avoidable.
This guy is shaped like a heart, aww!! He’s a bit harder than the first enemy, shooting 2 bursts at once, but still very avoidable.
Umm… this guy… is… supposed to be… an ox skull?? Interesting design aside, this is the first enemy that can really trip you up in certain situations, shooting 3 bursts at once,
one in front of him, and two diagonally to the right and left, covering a lot of ground. Still, not that bad.
This guy looks VERY similar to the first guy, (sometimes even leading to a mix-up) and he also shoots only one projectile, though this time it’s bigger, looks like a ball and doesn’t go forward, instead,
trying to target your position. Can trip you up, but if you’re fast enough you can just move to another position where the ball isn’t going.
Quite possibly the coolest guy so far. He shoots a homing missile of sorts that not only targets you like the ball when shot, but KEEPS hunting you, even if you’ve changed positions.
The missile does disappear at the edge of the screens, though.
There’s also the 3 bosses, but I’m too lazy to go back and screenshot those lol.
So yeah, Distant Space has good gameplay. What about the other aspects? Well..
Part 3 - Aesthetics
The game looks really cool with it’s faux-3D-but-it’s-the-type-of-faux-3D-where-it’s-just-the-red-and-blue-lines-but-it-still-looks-cool. Y’know, that classic. Anyways, the game is clearly somewhat meant to emulate the looks of those old arcade cabinets in its visuals, and it shows. The background is sort of a black, grainy chalkboard, on which there are normal lines drawn in the shape of a grid, which glitch out and occasionally show their red and blue counterparts. Pretty cool looking for such a simple game! It was never a bother to look at, quite the contrary. As for the UI, well, I think it looks just as good! Everything is clearly explained, wordlessly to the player. This isn’t the game’s innovation, however, crosses and shields are just immediately recognizable to any person who’s played a game. But it’s cool that it uses them! Makes it so that they don’t need to throw messages at you explaining how the game works, unlike some other games I could mention… The character designs are just as good, in my opinion, my only complaint is that the enemies are drawn using vector graphics, (or at least use that sort of style with jagged edges) while the player looks much more pixelated. Anyways, all in all, the game looks pretty good, guvna’.
Part 4 - The (Few) Negatives
I had very few complaints while playing, so let’s get ‘em out quickly. First, gameplay complaints:
- The right mouse button secondary fire was NEVER explained to me, and I literally didn’t know that it was a thing until perusing the achievement guide I used. That’s a bit of a problem. I know I said I don’t like when games resort to a bunch of messages popping up on screen for a tutorial, especially when they’re simple like this game, but man, ONE message about this feature would’ve been fine.
- Also, the bosses had way more health than they should. First boss wasn’t that bad, but the second and ESPECIALLY the third were slogs to play through. If reducing their health is off the table, (which fair, I guess, it’s your game) then why not a health bar or AT LEAST some sort of state change like the alien ships slowly breaking down. Instead, the only way to know you’re in a new phase is to look at what the boss is firing at the moment, and the only way to know how close you are to victory is… nothing. You can’t. Bit scuffed.
Second, some visual stuff:
- As I mentioned, the fact that the enemies and bosses are vector and have jagged edges while you are pixelated and square-looking is a missed opportunity.
- Small thing, but the first and fourth enemy were super similar and I mixed them up a few times. Might just me having a skill issue though loool
Part 5 - Conclusion
gem gud :))..;;,
No, but this game was genuinely a cool little experience and for free? Even better. It now no longer is, sadly, but I liked it and if you have the money I would recommend supporting the dev and their games. (they have two other games as well, including a sequel to this one!) I think it was a pretty good topic for the first Wot I Thought.
Aight, peace,
/SvrBrnDmg