Star Splitter 3D: A beautiful free game which will wow your eyes…
Every now and then we always see a spectacular looking game which we earmark for reviewing. Obviously we’re searching for good and worthwhile timewasters for our readers, but there’s always the anomalies which totally throw us. You’d think that a snazzy full 3D game (which other review sites also vouch for) would at least deliver a decent play around… unfortunately this isn’t so. Instead Start Splitter 3D is a pretty frustrating waste of time! It can be unfair to negatively label a game outright, but let us tell you why…
Gameplay: Star Splitter 3D is a “Rail Space Shooter”. This means that the game is viewed from behind and moves into the screen. The action is seen from behind the spaceship while the player retains control over dodging. If you’re old school enough then the best description of this type of game is Space Harrier.
Story and Aim: You play as an intergalactic pilot who is exploring the vast universe. Along the way you’re commissioned with special seek and destroy missions by intergalactic corporations. Apparently there’s a large overarching storyline but effectively this is a shoot and kill game. The more you zap, the more points you get and this can then be converted into ship upgrades. So far we think the aim is to just fly through space and blast everything you can whilst avoiding the asteroids (eventhough the game description mentions something about extraordinary secrets somewhere!).
Design Flaws: So far this all sounds pretty normal – over half the games on the market are mindless destruction games anyway. Unfortunately the problem here is the controls and the gameplay. You can either pilot the ship using the accelerometer or you can fly using a D-pad. In both cases you directly control where your ship will point and the direction it will shoot… and this is the ridiculous flaw in the game. How can you only have one control method for both of these things?!? Where you shoot isn’t necessarily where you want to fly to! It’s pretty absurd that this is how the developers decided to arrange the game and somebody should be caned for this mistake. In their play testing they must have had people (like me) who crashed into the humongous asteroids just because the game is so hard to control and this should have been a sign that a fix is required… *sigh*… Something went wrong in the creation process and to be honest a single button for shooting seems a bit weird too… I feel like the shooting button can be another directional pointer which can then turn this game from diabolical to pretty darn good.
Strong points: Let’s not totally slam this game, the element of space is really cultivated here. The graphics are awesome and the great starry constellations are absolutely mesmerising. I’ve always been a sci-fi geek so the feeling of actually flying through the stars is almost like a dream come true… although there are other space shooters out there, they very rarely make space look as elegant and pretty as this.
Negatives: Unfortunately Star Splitter takes the reality of space travel a bit too far and I’ve spent many minutes flying through the desolate space in isolation and with nothing to shoot or dodge. The result is that the game just becomes dull and boring.
We’ve spotted a heap more of problems, but we won’t taint your minds any further. We don’t think much of the game and we don’t even think its worth wasting your time trying!
Rating: 1.5/5 Star Splitter 3D takes space and makes it extremely beautiful but the game itself is very lonely and dull. Eventhough this is free to download, you’re better off using your phone memory for something else!
Star Splitter Promotional Youtube Video
Star Splitter Tips from Android Games Review
- If you do decide to commit to playing Star Splitter, we suspect the reward is in the ship upgrades. However you’ll have to grind through a lot of poor controls to reach this point. Otherwise you can spend real cash to buy the addons.
- The left hand side bar can be moved up and down to control speed. Make sure you use this to fly past the boring parts of the levels.
- When you’re engaging in the enemy then slow down to be able to turn and shoot them faster.
- Enemies can be positioned on the back end of asteroids. To hit these you need to fly the ship far away, and then turn in when you’re close to the target to get a good angled shot. The common mistake is to fly directly towards the asteroid and then you’re too close to shoot the enemy. If this happens fly away at top speed to avoid being shot.
- The targeting lock-on doesn’t always work. It sometimes doesn’t register for some enemies. So look out for detailed asteroids or targets which are moving.
Developers: StepGames
Star Splitter QR Code
(Click on the image or scan the barcode with your Android phone to goto Google Play)
