1. GabrielBelmont

   10

   I don't often post reviews but after reading what has been said on this game, I feel that I have to somewhat rectify how it's perceived. As an avid gamer I believe Infinite Space is the one the best games of the decade, and I think any Sci-Fi and/or RPG enthusiast ought to check it out while they still can.
   
   Let me start right away by saying that the game is austere. It's impossibly grand in scope and runs on the least powerful of all current platforms, so concessions were made. And it's got a pretty steep learning curve. I think that's what turned off most of the people who didn't like it. When I read that the game is "extremely hard," I take it the person just didn't have the patience and tenacity to learn all the subtleties of the game. Because it's deep and rich, but once you understand how it works, it's incredibly accessible and not any harder than most of the games of this era.
   
   But what's bad for some can be good for others, and one thing I've enjoyed about Infinite Space is that it doesn't hold your hand. It doesn't hammer plot points or tutorials on you; if you miss something the first time it shows up there's a chance you've missed it for good. And it also treats your wannabe character as he ought to be treated. The downside is that it can be unforgiving if you aren't quick to "get it". For example there's a very well done Help Menu, but it's up to you to go check it, as the game won't go over every little detail for you. I can get behind this philosophy myself but it might not be for everyone. It's old school.
   
   To briefly mention the gameplay, you play as the captain of a fleet of space ships. You'll start out with one, and over the course of the story come to command over a maximum of 5 ships at once. You'll fight enemy ships in battles involving a maximum of 5 enemies at once. To do so there are a wide variety of different strategies you can use, and you can fashion your fleet in very different ways depending on your preferences (e.g. favoring carriers that use small fighters to attack enemy ships, investing in heavy duty battleships, focusing on fast and agile cruisers, etc.). There are tons of possibilities and combinations, and well over a hundred models of ships.
   
   Aside from battles, an important part of the game is the management of your fleet. There are two sides to it: managing the ships themselves, by having new models built and equipping them with dozens of modules (a surprisingly fun, challenging and addictive activity), and managing the crew, by recruiting new members and assigning them to various posts depending on their faculties (count over 35 posts to fill and over 60 available crew members).
   
   Last but certainly not least, the game's plot is absolutely brilliant. Many games nowadays use their story merely has a means to put the player in a battle situation, but not in Infinite Space. The plot is very well crafted and rather complex (space politics!) and the characters behave like you'd want them to most of the time. In other words it vastly outclasses most video games in that department. If you like Sci-Fi or just good stories in general you'll have a blast playing this.
   
   In conclusion, I believe this game has been unfairly and somewhat hastily judged by most "professional" reviewers because of its low profile release. I highly recommend to experienced gamers and I give it a 10/10 simply because it does to perfection what it set out to do. Games of this caliber are much too rare nowadays.… Collapse

   • Helpful? 5 of 5 users said Yes.
2. colafred4

   10

   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!… Expand

   • Helpful? 2 of 2 users said Yes.
3. Hedja

   8

   Infinite Space is definitely not a game for everyone. If you're a fan of space, space operas, coming of age and the more general JRPG traditions, this is definitely a game to try out.
   
   It has a great story spanning years, likeable characters, good music and great customisation. I spent hours between story arcs just checking out new ships and parts and customisation. There's quite a bit of grinding involved to get money. The fights themselves can be challenge with some requiring multiple battles before being able to save which can get frustrating at times but rewarding in the end.
   
   The one major downside however are the two combat systems (ship and melee). Both rely heavily of luck and are based around rock, paper scissors. There's always an element of luck with JRPGs but Infinite Space pushes it a bit too far into the region of annoyance.
   
   Also, due to the nature of most JRPGs and their heavy dialogue and scarce save points, it's not a portable game, I spent most of the my time playing this in my house for hours on end, clocking around 40 hours in total for my first run. Quests do not have any indicators; after the initial dialogue, you'll need to remember or take note of what was said as it's never repeated.
   
   Infinite Space is definitely one of my favourite games on the DS and with the DS's huge library of great games, that's saying something.… Expand

   • Helpful? 0 of 0 users said Yes.
4. No3Mole

   2

   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 rape 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.… Expand

   • Helpful? 1 of 1 users said Yes.

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