Infinite Space REVIEW

Alas, my fingers grow frail and I feel the carpel tunnel settling in. I look at my nintendo dsi charging peacefully and think of the cartridge inside. Infinite space. Where to begin with this...interesting game?

Well. *Knuckles cracking as I set my fingers on my laptop* This game is a rather peculiar one indeed. When christmas 2010 came around, I saw this game and thought, "Why not? I have $34.99. And those graphics look mighty tasty!". Okay, so those have not been my exact words, but I am close. This game hooked me in with its stunning graphics that I thought were near impossible for a DS game. The story I found was very interesting (you are a boy who wishes to journey into the sea of stars to find the secrets of the Epitaph that your father gave you). The time line the game takes place in is very different one from our own. Massive ships parade pirates, the military, and inter-planetary invaders (they are still human, not little green men) around the colonies that the human race has established all across the universe. Also, in this odd new era, little clothing is required as space armor as shown by Nia, the launcher who helps you into space. The game is played as Yuri, a character determined automatically who speaks on his own. The only real input you will have is certain story branching points, battles, and customizing your ship. And spoiler, unless you looked this game up on wikipedia earlier, the game is separated into two parts that are set ten years apart. Both stories are directly connected and the voices of Yuri, the MC, change along with all the young characters profiles.

On your journey, you engage in space combat in your highly customizable ship and you engage in a form of melee battle that is similar to "rock, paper, scissors". The game-play is interesting with the battles similar to battleship. But the main difference is that your ship can be upgraded and customized to your liking or you can choose from another ship out of the hundred you can ultimately choose from. But the game lacks in some areas. My major issue is the battle's sound system. Your ships can fire cannons, lasers and other little fighters. All of which is in full sound effect. This doesn't entirely make sense because I thought that in space, sound doesn't travel, right? I guess by the time Infinite Space takes place, the laws of the universe will change... The game also gets very repetitive and lacks a good system to let you know your level and stats. Not that that even seems to matter unless you are worrying about what level ship modules you can have and what level abilities you can preform. But, I haven't sold it back to gamestop yet.

Overall, I am not a huge fan of Infinite Space. Many people would beg to differ with my opinion, but I think this game could have used a more certain identity. I am still scratching my head at if this is just one big game of Battle Ship I am playing with the CPU or if it is actually a RPG. And what kind of RPG really is it? I suppose you will have to try it out for yourself. But heed my warning: turn your volume down.