- Space Pioneer is a sci-fi themed top-down shooter

Space Pioneer is chock full of retro inspiration, but not in the form of the pixelated experiences that other top-down/side-scrolling shooters exploit. This game presents the player with an isometric, polygonal aesthetic similar to the likes of Star Fox, just prettier. Planetary environments are varied. You’ll see everything ranging from fauna and rock structures to battlefields of ice and forests.

Each mission in Space Pioneer presents the player with one main objective, which will advance the story to the next mission upon completion. Each level also contains three separate “goal objectives“ that may also be met in order to earn more points for upgrading after each mission. These objectives include a wide range of trials and goals, but they usually revolve around achievements such as finishing a level with more than 30% health or finishing without using grenades and turrets. If you need Buy Space Pioneer Items, you can visit our site z2u.com.

The missions you complete on each planet earn you stars that are used to unlock the next chapter of the game. With eleven chapters, followed by an unlockable endless mode, you have something to work towards. However, the game is short as I was able to blow through the main chapters in about three hours and the endless mode continues this game’s monotony problem to the extreme; this isn’t a game I will find myself revisiting after the initial completion. Grinding can be done if you really want to hit every star and objective in order to get the shiniest of weapons and most powerful of abilities but, all in all, isn’t a necessity.

Space Pioneer, at its core, is an entertaining twin-stick shooter that offers a fantastic amount of player choice regarding weaponry, equipment and abilities. It doesn’t get bogged down in needless plot: offering a brief setup, guns and stuff to shoot is all that’s needed with a title like this. Make no mistake: there’s nothing particularly special about the gameplay on offer, but for such a low price the gameplay more than holds up its end of the bargain. Unfortunately, some errors have been made with translating the game from mobile platforms to the Nintendo Switch, essentially breaking the upgrade system as the game progresses. This glaring issue, combined with a lack of level variety, significantly weakens Space Pioneer as an overall package and —frankly— leaves it feeling unfinished.