Even taking the grueling difficulty level into account, Infinite Space is a must-play for any fan of RPGs who has grown tired of overly-cute standard fare.
Those who enjoy it, like myself, will spend the next few months grinding through the game. However, many others will encounter the steep learning curve and stop playing after a couple hours, if that.
The gameplay has a strong feel to it and I have played it for a good 49 hours and have not completed the game at all. If you like games that dont have the best graphics in the world and dont mind playing them on the ds then your in for a nice relaxing game of destruction. :) The game itself is not at all hard you just have to be patient the dialogue will take some time. The developers put alot of work into this game and i would say that it is totally worth the 10-15$ you have to pay to get it, it is a slow paced action game though dont listen to the people who rate this game badly because its "too hard" they say this because they dont have time to read all the dialogue. When you get into space for the first time your character has to do some crazy **** to get out it is really slow at the beginning but it does pick up. Get it for GOD'S sake!
Now, I've played a LOT of games (going back to 1990 or so) and in my estimation, this game's plot ranks in my all-time top 10. I confess to some bias, as I love me some space operas, but let me quickly try to outline what struck me about this game's story:
-A Japanese anime-styled game that follows several genre tropes but also ridicules them periodically. (Line from the game: "What, you see anyone else around here with white hair?")
-Mature subject matter. Lengthy discussions on the nature of man, man's purpose and destiny in life, religion, etc. Friendly characters become enemies, enemies become friends. Unlike most JRPG's where you're clearly taking down a stereotypical "big bad," many fights are against characters with noble goals of their own. Sometimes the game takes the classic weasel route and has the character "miraculously survive," but yeah, sometimes, you KILL them.
-Compelling main character. Okay, yeah, you start out as the traditional "kid going off on an adventure," but your worldview adapts and changes. One bit that struck me (tiny spoiler): later in the game, you're directed to a generic informant NPC in an alley to learn the location of an important-to-the-plot NPC who's in hiding. Standard, right? Well, this informant starts boasting about how well he's adapted to the new regime in power, and how much money he's made informing on other people. Your character whips out a blade, and I'm expecting the usual "here's where the hero shows he can control his emotions bit." Nope. Murders the informant and leaves the corpse in the alley. Whoa. -Plot twists. Not predictable at all (though the ending reaches a bit).
-Epic length. Even if you skip all the sidequests and just go straight through the story, this is easily a 40+ hour game.
Gameplay: Unlike the amazing story, the actual gameplay is good, but not great. It's very complex; unlike most RPG's where there's only one system of character progression (gaining levels), you'll be dealing with new ships, new weapons and modules for said ships, crew (your characters, who do level up), and more. There's a couple tutorials, but generally, you'll want to refer to the manual or the in-game help system for details. This is all well-presented and fun. Module placement is unexpectedly interesting; frequently, you'll get upgraded modules that are actually worse in stats than earlier modules, but fit into a smaller space, forcing some interesting tradeoffs. Unfortunately, a lot of the game's complexity is wasted, due to fighters being vastly overpowered. Once you can afford two carriers loaded with fighters, you can win most every battle by launching the fighters and putting the DS down for a bit. Yes, even boss bottles, though you'll have to pick the DS up to relaunch the fighters every minute or so.
It would have been a lot better if they let you control ships individually; unfortunately, your entire fleet acts as one, and your options for the entire game are limited to "Dodge" (1AP), "Attack" (1AP), and "Barrage" (Triple attack, 2AP, misses if enemy uses Dodge). Okay, later on you can launch fighters (who act totally autonomously), trigger AA fire (useless), or board for melee combat (which uses a simple rock-paper-scissors mechanic), but those options are mostly superfluous. Compounding this problem is the lack of detail about enemy health; enemies are either alive or dead, and you'll never see a HP bar.
That said, almost every random encounter is skippable, and everything in the game is fast-forwardable. You can skip all the battle animations (both yours and enemies') which makes the encounters very bearable.
Overall: I know I've criticized the gameplay a bit, but this game's story is absolutely fantastic, and worth the pickup alone. Buy it if you can find it.
Despite its shortcomings, though, Infinite Space is a thoughtful and addictive space-based romp, with an incredible amount of depth waiting for those who are prepared to put the hours in.
A fun romp through space and various science-fiction cliches. There is also plenty of customization and stats for number-crunching RPG fans. Some archaic design decisions may test your patience though.
Infinite Space wonderfully replicates being in command of a fleet of spaceships, but is lessened by poor path-finding and unforgiving and prolonged battle mechanics.
So, to summarise, Mugen Kouro is an odd and unique mix of elements. The story holds the interest of the player even if the mundane battles don't. The customisation aspects provide a refreshing break and a more immediate goal. And the spaceships almost look like they're straight out of Star Wars! [JPN Import]
Really charming game, you really feel like you traveled to the unknown. Distracts your attention for hours.
Has a bit slow gameplay, so that you can't recognize how long are you playing for. The difficulty level alternates between an easy-like and a very hard level, and sometimes you will need a walkthrough if your maiden language is not english, even if you speak it well.
I recommend this because of the outstanding story and dialogues!
Infinite Space, while sadly overlooked by many, is an astounding masterpiece that manages to mix an high profile, long and extremely rewarding sci-fi plot reminiscent of Tanaka and Clark, well written dialogues and a believable, painstakingly characterized setting with a battle system capable to simulate the struggles of your growing space fleet (up to four ships on both sides). There is an astounding potential for customization (dozens of ships, modules, weapons, recruitable characters to assign positions in your army), and the battles themselves rely heavily on movements, weapon range and logistics, managing to retain their charm even when you hit the 60-hour **** you have even a passing interest in space-operas you ought to play Infinite Space as soon as possible.
I'm of a few minds with this unique title. On one hand it seems the story is legitimately great and expansive, depth and character a legitimate space opera and fun adventure spanning so much. On the other, Its clearly a system with tedious battles and frustration unless you enjoy this type of setup combat. The battles are mostly preparation and feel like they can take forever at times. It feels like this title is pretty great in some aspects maybe underrated but getting past the combat issues and some gameplay is definitely the barrier to story excellence.
Infinite Space is honestly one of the worst games I've played in my life. I started playing once and gave up by chapter 5 out of sheer boredom. Told that the game really picks up after that, I painstakingly forced myself to play deeper in some years later, and found myself converting my video game review blog into a detailed analysis of everything that is wrong with Infinite Space. An abbreviated list of atrocities is as follows:
The parts selection that it proudly boasts is lacking until late game. In late game, those parts are hardly a hard choice, because they are often scaling effectiveness instead of entirely different functions, and your ships are seldom lacking for space later on. The humour is bad (to the point of just trying to use the implication of **** as a joke ala that-guy-you-try-not-to-talk-to-at-paries. The gameplay is easy. The battle sequences are literally one-dimentional. As in, Infinite Space's combat takes place along straight lines of limited distance. The dialogue options are often inconsequential. The main character, Yuri, is the most vile, loathsome, stupid, bland creature ever to grace video game lead roles. You'll occasionally find yourself grinding so that you can buy a new ship that you probably don't need, but want. Smaller annoying quirks include being prompted for input (as though a choice was presented) when only one option is available, breaking up flow, ugly visuals, forcing the player to use touchscreen in menus that would clearly be better suited for standard controls, putting the 'database' function out of reach once you load a game for no discernible reason, and the crew-assigning portion of the game being so simplistic that the choices of who to put where are absolutely obvious. There are also unlisted horrible flaws that I can't get into without spoiling the plot, what little of it there is to spoil.
The handful of tiny praise points I could give it are just trivialized by everything that is wrong. Everything about it, from the core mechanics to the tiny details, it's just mistake after mistake in terms of good game design, and it spoils anything good that could be said about it. I'm honestly astounded that its reviews are this favourable; I felt it was my duty as a good human being to make a Metacritic account just so I could give the game the panning it so rightly deserves, and maybe warn someone who was thinking of getting it in the future.
SummaryInfinite Space is a role-playing game in which players assemble a spaceship armada and embark on a cosmic adventure that allows them to delve deep into the vast outer reaches of space, exploring a universe filled with planets and interstellar organizations each with their own culture. Infinite Space follows the story of Yuri, a young cre...