StarDrone Action Game Review and Game Download
Game Review by Jonathan Tran
Game Rating = 3.5/5 Balls
What if gravity weren’t an obstacle, shackling us to the ground, but instead a tool? What if it could be flicked on and off like a light switch? And what if your life depended on it? Stardrone by Big Fish Games challenges the player to answer those questions, all while handling the minor problem of “staying alive.”
It wouldn’t be entirely accurate to say you control a spaceship in Stardrone. Much closer to reality is that the spaceship floats around while you control the effect of gravity on it by dozens of small round nodes scattered throughout the level. Clicking and holding on any one of these nodes will pull your craft towards it, while releasing the mouse button will let your ship freely fly in whatever direction it’s heading. By manipulating the timing and duration of your clicks, you can have your drone orbit or slingshot around the nodes at incredible speeds.
Of course there’s much more to Stardrone than being a glorified Physics 101 course. The game’s broken down into more than 50 levels in which you must clear various obstacles while gunning for the high score. In some, you must hit every “star” (small switches) on the stage, in others you must collect and assemble puzzle pieces, and sometimes you have to defeat enemies by building up star power and ramming them. There’s a great deal of variety, and the challenge steps up at a reasonable pace.
The graphics are detailed, bright, and well done, with cool explosion and power-up effects. The interface is fairly intuitive, and every gravity node has light displays estimating your orbital distance and escape trajectory. The sound effects are whimsical and musical, though the actual music is bland and gets tiresome after the third or fourth loop.
One puzzling aspect of Stardrone is that although the graphics are fairly simple, the game often suffers from a poor framerate and frequent slowdown. Mind you, the PC used to review the game is a fairly powerful 3D-gaming rig with the ability to play most modern first person shooters, no sweat. Given that, I can only imagine the game runs as badly or worse on most computers, even those that meet the game’s paltry system requirements. Luckily, players can see how the demo runs on their PCs before paying full admission.
If it sounds like Stardrone isn’t either amazing or horrible, that’s a pretty accurate assessment. The game is well designed and has few points of contention, but unlike so many other shareware space action games, Stardrone simply isn’t addictive. The game’s mechanics work well and the levels are sharp, but there’s no “soul” or “one more try” feeling common to the genre. Though it’s a good game, it’s a shame that something with such a unique take on gravity isn’t more capable of pulling the player in.
Stardrone
Org Games Created Stardrone.
Discussion Area - Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.