LadiesGamers Spacejacked

Spacejacked Review (Nintendo Switch)

Game: Spacejacked
Genre: 2D, Arcade, Action, Tower Defense
System: Nintendo Switch (also on PC, Xbox One, and PS4)
Developer|Publisher: Rotten Mage|Ratalaika Games
Age Rating: EU 12+ | US Teen
Price: UK £9.99 | EU € 9,99 | AUD $14.99 | CAD $13.64 | USD $9.99
Release Date: 12th June 2020

Review code used with many thanks to Ratalaika Games!

The trouble with towers

Of all the genres in gaming, one that I haven’t really got into is the tower defense genre. It was because of an opinion left over from my days of mobile gaming on ye ol’ iPod Touch. I played a few games in the genre and mostly found it kinda boring and lacking in that something extra.

However, Spacejacked is a game that immediately perked my ears up because the catchy tagline of the game is “Build, Shoot, Survive Invasion by Filthy Alien Scum”. Well Spacejacked, now that you have my attention, let’s see if you can also turn my opinion around on tower defense games. No pressure.

LadiesGamers Spacejacked
Uh-oh, I detect aliens.

All about Dave

Spacejacked has you playing as space engineer Dave. Aliens are attacking the ship and it’s up to Dave to save the day. Since I have a very close friend in my life of the same name, I fantasized that this Dave was a distant descendant of my good chum.

Dave is a man of many talents. He can shoot aliens but also build a variety of machines to defend against the oncoming alien horde. Along the way, it was fun chatting with Dave’s crew members in between the action, and there is nice attention to humour in this game. For example, when you rescue a crew member they do a fun little dance. And story-wise, I was nicely surprised by a twist that happens in the plot about midway through. But that’s something you should really experience for yourself.

LadiesGamers Spacejacked
I wish more people I rescued danced for joy.

Walk on the ceiling

The controls are precise and easy to pick up. The game starts with a simple tutorial which explains all you need to know. Dave is able to move around the spaceship, but he can’t jump. Instead, with a push of the shoulder button or using the analogue stick, Dave will start walking on the ceiling. This style of movement is fast and smooth and particularly handy when you need to move about quickly.

Although Dave has a little gun to fend off aliens, it’s not enough. He has to place defenses in designated points of each area. These cost metal, which is dropped by the alien scum coming your way.

LadiesGamers Spacejacked
This is no time to hang around.

Prepare for the waves

In your starting ship, you need to defend three areas: the med bay, robotics, and engineering. Things start off simple, with waves of enemies appearing in one location. Soon into the game, you need to move between locations through the designated portals to check defenses as well as help kill aliens. It gets crazy pretty quickly, but once the level is finished you can check if everything survived.

Between levels you can also upgrade Dave’s gun at the cost of metal, and you can play a delightful minigame which acts as a 2D space shooter in which you may be able to acquire a little more metal to help you in your quest. This minigame was really hard, but I had fun playing it in between levels.

LadiesGamers Spacejacked
Loved the little space shooter minigame in between levels.

Build your defenses strong

There are three types of defenses: a stasis module which slows and damages enemies; a laser that does large damage but takes a while to charge; and finally, a gun turret—pretty self-explanatory what this does.

There isn’t a particularly right or wrong placement of the defenses, but some certainly work better than others in certain positions of a level. It’s satisfying to see what works best, and if you feel you’ve made a mistake you can remove a defense, which refunds all your metal spent on it.

Each defense can also be upgraded twice, and not long into the game you can even switch out each of the three defenses for something else at no cost.

LadiesGamers Spacejacked
Things get crazy pretty quickly.

Choose your preferred difficulty

Spacejacked lets you play the story mode in two types of difficulty. One is titled “Planner Mode”, which offers you more time to plan your defenses between waves—something handy for gamers that want a casual experience while still enjoying the full game.

The default mode is “Original Badass Mode,” which is the way the developers want you to play. This reduces wave countdowns and requires you to think on your feet even more between waves. While things do get hectic in this mode I wouldn’t necessarily say it was super hard. Yes, I failed loads on my way to the end, but I had fun trying different defenses in different places. The gameplay loop was very addictive so I never got frustrated.

LadiesGamers Spacejacked
Making original mode just that bit more interesting.

Long load-times, though

The graphics are simple retro aesthetics. Cute sprites for characters, simple retro backgrounds, and aliens like blob monsters, snail-like aliens, giant hulking behemoths, and—you know—the usual things you find in space. This is all accompanied by retro sound effects which fit great. It won’t blow you away, but the humour and wit of the characters make up for it.

One of my few issues playing this game was the loading screens. For a game that looks this simple, later on it really took a long time to load. This may be because with each new level, it saves the location of all your defenses in each area, which amounts to a lot. It’s a nuisance but didn’t break the experience. At least you get to see Dave make a funny comment while you’re waiting for the new level to load.

LadiesGamers Spacejacked
Dave has many comments on load screens.

Short but endless

The main story will keep you busy for around 4 hours. The first time through, it may be shorter if you’re well-versed in this type of game.

The story certainly left me wanting more as I enjoyed it so much. Absolutely short, but I can see myself replaying it again. The game does offer an Endless Mode, as well as additional challenges to complete which I was very keen to dig into.

LadiesGamers Spacejacked
It’s Dave against the aliens. Who will win?

Dave Rules

Spacejacked accomplished the impossible. It convinced an oldish dude that you can mix in some tower defense gameplay and it can still be a ton of fun. If you’re looking for a nice coffee game, something you can enjoy in handheld mode with a nice warm drink, you can’t go wrong with Spacejacked. It’s funny, enjoyable, and full of little surprises. The game’s main crime, though, was that its enjoyable story was over far too soon!

Final Verdict: I liked it a lot

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