Starway Fleet Demo

The space sim genre is pretty crowded at this point, especially since there are multi-million dollar titles out there like Star Citizen, which provide you with exquisite graphics and open worlds to explore at will. However, arcade games can be a lot of fun as well, especially if the focus is on the action instead and you get to cause a few awesome explosions.

Starway Fleet is an arcade space sim with a simple combat system, in which you play the role of a fighter pilot as you undertake a variety of dangerous missions across the galaxy. Although there are a few sim elements in there as well, you do not have to worry about keeping an eye on too many flight instruments. Instead, you can concentrate on the action and have a good time destroying enemies.

The demo at hand provides you with a tutorial and an introductory mission, both of which are fairly straightforward. You get to experience a bit of combat, as well as get familiar with the mission mechanics. It doesn’t take much to notice that the game needs a bit more work in the gameplay department, especially since it’s a bit difficult to aim properly and keep you with the enemies.

The combat is about as straightforward as it gets, since all you have to do is aim for the enemies and unleash a flurry of plasma bullets. There are a couple of special weapons to make use of as well, some of which are powerful enough to take out enemies in one shot. Some are even capable to follow enemy ships and catch up with them, although it depends on how well they execute the evasive maneuvers.

As mentioned before, the camera movement can be tad too annoying sometimes, especially since the sensitivity is all wrong and it’s difficult to aim when the crosshair is constantly skipping on the screen. Thankfully, things might be a bit easier to deal with if you use a gamepad. The graphics are quite polished as well, especially since this is a small indie project designed by a small team.

In the end, Starway Fleet is still in early access at this point, which is obvious in many regards. However, it’s definitely on the right path, so it’s worth keeping an eye on the project as it evolves past the demo phase and into a fleshed out video game.