Done Playing: Infinite Space (Nintendo DS)
So much potential, wasted!
My interest in Infinite Space started all the way back in the dark ages of E3 2008. That’s twenty-zero-EIGHT, almost two years ago, that I first saw concept art from the game and couldn’t get it out of my mind. Back then it was known as Infinite Line and pretty much ever since all I could think about was scouring the depths of space for Tetris-like chunks to bolt onto my spaceship. Seriously, this post I made in September ’08 was pretty much the first and last time I saw the game until this past week when I finally got to play the full retail release.
The anime intro video was a nice touch that I haven’t seen since Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia and the combination of 2D and 3D elements throughout the game helps it stand apart from about 90% of the games on the DS at this point. I was also pretty fond of the ship management system where you first have to:
- Find or unlock access to ship blueprints
- Come up with the money or resources to have a shipyard build it
- Assign a party member as Captain
Once your new ships are operational you can find or buy new parts that come in little colored Tetris-like pieces that augment their abilities. Red chunks effect weapon stats and effects, yellow add secondary abilities for your crew, and so on. The catch being that these pieces must fit within a gridded silhouette of your ship and are most effective when you put a colored chunk in its matching highlighted area. I love the interior design aspect of it but suffering through a JRPG just for combat that’s slow and too Rock/Paper/Scissors-y wasn’t worth it.
A missing sister, a sassy Han Solo-type mentor, and a mysterious kid that an entire planet is trying to keep from going into outer space didn’t bode well right from the start and it didn’t take long before I was shutting the game down for good. It’s really sad because I’ve spent years waiting to finally play it only to wind up enjoying one-third of its design. Maybe I should just stick with Captain Forever for my interstellar, colored-block, ship building kicks.
P.S. I talk a bit more about the actual combat gameplay on this podcast if this post has you intrigued for more.
