Space Warrior

Genre: Shmup

Players: 1

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Review:

Space Warrior is a Shmup released in 2021 on Nintendo Switch. This game takes a unique approach to progression, tying it to player levels gained by completing goals within stages rather than completing the stages themselves.

Despite the game’s $3 price tag, the presentation here is pretty decent. The 3D visuals are pretty solid and well beyond what you’d expect for the low price. I don’t think the game does a great job making itself visually distinct within the genre, and both the synthesized soundtrack and the disposable story are completely forgettable, but nevertheless this game punches above its weight.

Unfortunately, the rest of the game isn’t quite so fortunate. The gameplay here is mostly bog-standard apart from an odd match-3 bonus system that means you’ll be dodging power-ups as often as you grab them to ensure you match the right colors to get the temporary power-up you want. There’s an upgrade system in-between levels that’s far too minimal for you to see a noticeable difference as you enhance your ships’ individual stats and eventually get new ships.

Even worse, the level design isn’t especially inspired and it just seems like the game is mindlessly tossing groups of ships at you without any rhyme or reason, and the only challenge you find is when the enemies start sending waves of unavoidable projectiles at you. And then there’s the progression system I mentioned above, which hurts the game far more than it makes things interesting, since it’s more complicated than it needs to be, and pretty much guarantees you’ll be repeating stages to grind and complete goals.

In the end, I don’t think Space Warrior is a bad game, and there was clearly some effort put into this, but it seems like the game’s creator doesn’t properly understand what makes for a great Shmup. And while its low $3 price tag means this may be worth getting as a time-waster, the price and the nice visuals are ultimately the only truly attractive thing about this otherwise mediocre game.

tl;dr – Space Warrior is a Shmup with a unique progression system that ties stage unlocks to levels gained by completing goals, a system that’s ultimately more trouble than it’s worth, and while the visuals here are surprisingly good given the low $3 price tag, everything else about the game is pretty mediocre. If you’re looking for a cheap Shmup to get as a time-waster, this isn’t a bad choice, but don’t expect this to be a particularly great or memorable Shmup.

Grade: C

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