“…it is essentially a survival game with an Asteroids 3D minigame within it, if you can imagine such a thing!”
Ok, so if you haven’t come across this game yet then this first part is going to sound a little crazy. Admittedly, I had to read about it twice myself when I heard about the game, so stick with me for a minute and I will try and explain what’s going on here. Asteroids: Outpost is a follow up title to Atari’s 1979 classic Asteroids. The game is being developed by Salty Games and published by Atari themselves, but it might not be quite what you expect at first. You see, Asteroids: Outpost is a first-person open world sandbox survival game – yep, now you understand the confusing part. When I heard about this, I clearly had to give it a go and see how exactly it worked. So with a lot of crazy ideas going through my head, and a consideration for the fact that this title is still in early access, I downloaded the game and jumped on for a look…
My oh my has Asteroids changed. Once I was a triangle shooting blobs out of the sky for points, and now look at me. I am a spaceman with my own mining base, wondering around with guns and tools, shooting realistic looking asteroids out of the sky so that I can collect conveniently coloured resources from them and expand my operation. It’s funny how things turn out, isn’t it? At some point whilst you play Asteroids: Outpost, I can pretty much guarantee that you will have these same thoughts. Ok, so maybe some of the gamer kids of today who never played the old Asteroids wont, but I imagine the majority of the people who give the game a go will. At first glance after all, this game is nothing at all like the game which has supposedly inspired it. Once you play a little bit and you hop on your base’s turrets, you will realise that shooting asteroids out of the sky is still a key part of the game, and of course either you or the base being hit by falling space rocks is still something of a disadvantage, but that is about as far as the similarities really go. So at this point in the preview, I am going to drop the comparison and just take a look at the new game in itself to see what is on offer.
The game is set in “The Belt”, clearly referring to an asteroid belt, during a point in the future where humans have expanded their economic reach to the likes of the moon and even Mars. Under the promise of a “new Gold Rush” as the game puts it, you play as one of a few brave folk who are putting their lives on the line in this new and untamed environment to mine the riches from the asteroids and find their fortune. Of course with the promise of riches comes competition, and in some cases competition can be fierce. There are other players on “The Belt” with you, and not all of them will be friendly – this is a multiplayer survival game after all! You have to learn to manage your resources, upgrade your base and equipment, defend yourself and your property and trade your way to prosperity if you are to become a success story of “The Belt”, and not just another corpse in its wastelands… It all SOUNDS very exciting, and is a pretty solid idea for a game, but how does it all play out?
In my opinion, it is somewhat lacking. The premise is there, but the game does not quite feel whole, or engaging enough to really make me want to get deep into it and play more. Perhaps it is the lack of impending doom that makes it feel less like the survival games myself and others I am sure will be used to. There are no zombies, or cannibals, or aliens, or monsters in Asteroids: Outpost. The asteroids themselves can be dangerous yes, and of course other players pose a threat, but nothing is really coming at you with the intent of causing you harm, and thus there is a lack of intensity or an immediate battle to survive. That is not to say that this is not a survival game, and we will come on to its survival elements, but it almost feels as though it is pretty low-risk as survival games come, and that takes a way a piece of the excitement…
Despite the lack of impending doom, the game is still a survival game at core. In fact, it is essentially a survival game with an Asteroids 3D minigame within it, if you can imagine such a thing! Your main survival needs are energy and oxygen – you are out in space after all! When you venture out of your base, the oxygen in your space suit is limited, and if you stay out too long your health will start to deteriorate rapidly. Without energy on the other hand, you cannot hope to gather the resources of your desire and work towards the riches that they promise. So these two elements are crucial to the game. In order to make life easier then, it is important to upgrade your base and your equipment to better suit your needs. For example, you can build a rover to allow you to cover more ground and stay outside of your base for longer. You can add turrets to your base so that it can protect itself and do some of your hard work for you. Upgrading your tools and weapons will allow you to obtain resources more efficiently and better defend yourself on your travels. Essentially, all of the core elements of a survival game are present, apart from the threat.
Playing the game is pretty simple and the controls are easy to pick up. To begin with however there is little to do, and things are a bit systematic. You shoot asteroids, go outside, mine them for resources, then hurry back before your oxygen runs out and repeat the process. You have to do this until you gather enough resources to make your first upgrades, and then you can begin to do more with the game, at which point it gets a bit more interesting. Before any of that however, you need to place your base. You aren’t given any advice on this, and I found this to be a problem. Naturally, I presumed in terms of targeting falling asteroids and defensively speaking, high ground would be a good choice of placement. I was wrong. I did not realise until I came down from my hill to collect resources that I would not be able to get back up it again afterwards, and died pretty much instantly. I had to start the game again, and this made clear that one thing that this game definitely does need is a little bit more tuition in order to help you grasp the basics.
In terms of the look of the game, things are a little crude at present, but that is ok for an early access title. The sound effects match this, but presumably all of this will be updated and upgraded as the game develops. For now at least you can see what is going on and that is enough to get by with. Textures are visibly beginning to be put in their relevant places, animations are being formed, and everything looks to be heading in the right direction. Graphics and audio for the time being then are best left out of the elements to be considered until they are fully polished and complete, or at the very least improved.
In these early stages of its development, Asteroids: Outpost shows the humble beginnings of a survival game coming together, but does not look or feel quite as exciting as some other that are also in early access on the market. The need to collect resources, upgrade one’s home and defend oneself are all present, but what the game really lack is a clear objective outside of randomly shooting down asteroids and collecting resources, and any key threat or impending challenge to contest with. Hopefully, as development continues and more pieces of the game fall into place, we will begin to see some more unique and exciting elements emerge. For now, perhaps hold on to your money and consider this one to be watched…
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