Xbox Series X Review Code Provided by Only By Midnight Ltd.
Having recently released earlier this month onto consoles and PC, Curved Space is setting the stage for a revival of the classic twin-stick space shooter arcade game. Only By Midnight Ltd. and Maximum Games offer an awesome pairing of music and retro-style gameplay, feeding the need for nostalgic simplicity in video gaming. As an indie studio and game who’s seeking to recreate a classic arcade experience, my review and playthrough via Xbox Series X approach it at face value for what it is.
Story
When I think of an arcade game, the story typically plays second fiddle to the actual gameplay and experience it offers. That holds true for Curved Space, a game that puts the action and music first and the story feels like a supplemental guide to the experience. This game’s limited futuristic campaign story neither surprised nor disappointed me. The campaign is single-player and takes up to three hours to complete.
Without spoiling anything, I’ll simply point out that story is set in the future where humans are harvesting energy from robotic space spiders. You’ll experience a space-time warp of sorts, and see different versions of yourself and have to decide what to do with each one. Selections made at the end of each mission will determine your next location, goals, and ultimate story arc.
As the pilot of a small spider-fighting harvester ship, you’ll help make decisions that will advance the story. Generally speaking, your goal is to kill robotic spiders, gather their energy, and harness that power for more weapons and upgrades. This simple progression allows you to further explore new and more dangerous areas and continue the storyline. That pretty much sums it up. It’s light and easy, and reminiscent of the experience of popping quarters into a retro machine at your local arcade.
Gameplay
The gameplay is rather straightforward and enjoyable. In fact, I found it easy to really zone out and just enjoy the madness, music, and destruction of repeated waves of robotic spiders. You’ll gain new ship upgrade options along your journey, each offering unique perks depending on your playstyle.
Hand-in-hand, you’ll constantly have new weapon selections on each level. Killed robotic spiders will drop health regeneration orbs and weapon options that will swap out whatever you are currently using. You have the choice to simply not pick up a weapon type if you don’t want to use it. Some examples of weapon types are shotgun, sniper, energy beam, micro-missiles, and a flamethrower, among others. I found the variety of weapons and frequency in which they dropped to be ideal and well-paced. I was never tired of using a specific weapon and was constantly switching out my setup to keep things feeling fresh. Between the numerous ways to kill spiders and the ship upgrade options, the gameplay was always evolving and enjoyable.
Since the story is light, Curved Space really emphasizes core gameplay elements such as rapid action manoeuvering, shooting, and frequently dodging enemy attacks. It’s easy to get sucked in and enjoy the constant action of killing different enemies. It pleasantly brought me back to past experiences of sitting in an arcade and jumping into the hot seat of a high-octane space shooter game. Truth be told, I’d love to see this game ported to an arcade-style cockpit.
Visuals/Audio
This game’s visuals look solid, giving you an experience of flying tightly to an asteroid runway system. Each map offers different backgrounds of space and planetary objects, all looking majestic. In between killing waves of spiders, I enjoyed moving the camera angle around to soak in the view and setting.
The spider robots weren’t necessarily unique or extraordinary, nor did they vary much in colors. The limited palette of colors made it easy to spot the spiders when compared to their background. Whether that was an artistic choice or a practical one (from the development standpoint), I can’t say. Overall I think it works in favor of the gamer, making it easy to spot your enemies when you’re in the thick of the fast-paced action.
Where the game really shines is in its selection of music. This is best experienced with a good set of headphones and the ability to turn off the lights and zone out, so you can immerse yourself and enjoy annihilating everything around you. The soundtrack from FiXT NEON is fantastic and works perfectly. It’s incredible how well the Synthwave music composition compliments the story and action. Music from Scandroid, 3Force, and Fury Weekend all were great! I truly enjoyed turning up the music a few notches (in the settings menu) and going ballistic on swarms of mechanical arachnids. Audiophiles will appreciate the thoughtful selection and addition of the various tracks, likely agreeing with me that it deserves an A+.
Replayability
The campaign’s story offers numerous options that impact the outcome and progression. I think it’s safe to say you can enjoyably replay this game and try several different story arcs. Even more, the campaign mode is only one of many gameplay options. Curved Space features leaderboards for each of its various modes. You can jump into Arena Mode and take on dozens of random challenges, or simply take on waves of invaders in Survival Mode. You can also do Daily Runs where you get one shot to complete the daily mission and compete on that specific Leader Board. Overall, these modes add value and replayability.
What It Could Have Done Better
There were moments, especially on the final mission of the campaign, where my spaceship would disappear into the background at certain camera angles and in corners. This wasn’t a noticeable issue throughout the whole game, but I’d like to see the camera angle issues ironed out.
I also found the campaign’s female voice actor to be lacking and forgettable. The story doesn’t have depth, but that doesn’t mean the voice acting needs to follow!
I’m hoping for added expansions and new maps. I imagine it will eventually get old playing the current maps with the existing weapon and ship options. If the developers want to keep their audience engaged, they’ll need to add more content in the coming months and years. I believe they are on the right track and need to keep adding to what they’ve created so far.
Verdict
At an indie game price, this is everything you’d want or expect in an arcade space shooter throwback. It brought back some great memories of playing these types of games in my local arcade. The modern graphics and excellent music do a fantastic job of reviving a classic video game experience. I probably won’t remember the story nor any specific missions, weapons, or enemies, but I will recall that Curved Space is a fun game and it was totally worth my time. In an era of games becoming too long and seeking more time and energy than I have to offer, this game was refreshing and just what I needed.
This new title is now available on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch. To see the action for yourself, check out the announcement trailer!
