By July 19, 2011

Star Front Collision review on Android

When it comes to games on the Android platform there isn’t too much of large, lavish and ambitious titles. Especially when compared to the iPhone. Its getting there but the platform still has a bit way to go before it can be considered a gaming platform.

So, it takes a large company like Gameloft to put together the more ambitious graphical titles. Love them or hate them Gameloft have an impressive line up.
As with many of their games Star Front is an obvious copy of a bigger game on another platform. Just as Modern Combat borrows from the Modern Warfare games in the Call of Duty barrel and Shadow Guardian has an uncanny resemblance to Uncharted on the PlayStation, Star Front conjures up a familiar feeling of the Star Craft games on the PC. Whilst one could say this lacks imagination other will be pleasured to play their favourite games on the go.

Right from the word go Star Front looks good, and feeling a lot like the Star Craft 2 it mimics.


The main menu has some touch friendly buttons that will take you were you want to go. Given the scope of the game I didn’t initially realise that there would be a multiplayer element. I was pretty taken aback by this.


The Single Player has the two modes you are going to appreciate the most. The campaign has 20 original mission set out by the story arc. This varies depending on which race you choose.
Skirmish gives you more of a sandbox, choosing who and where you fight as and against. You can fiddle with the likes of a handicap and aggression of the computer foe.

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There are three campaigns to this game and in each one you are battling as a different race. Each race has their strengths and weakness, these will become apparent as the game progress and you will get to know your enemies race well for when you play against and as a different race.


The game has staggering in-game graphics considering the level of technology for which this will run. The play areas are not scarified in favour of smoother game-play or any such drawback. It all just works. All units on the battlefield have decent Artificial Intelligence also, a feature that can also slow down game-play however it doesn’t affect anything here.


Clicking on the units on the battlefield brings up the menus and build queues. Her you can see off the main building you can being a Drudge, a pinion that is used to man the refineries. You can build up to 5 at any one time.

 


You can also upgrade all the structures in various ways. For example here, a popular limitation for a real time strategy is the population limit. We can expand this once we have enough resources allowing for a larger army.


All to often though there is an extended story sequence that plays out the plot of the game. Easily skipped however it takes place inside the game and this can become a little irritating.


There is no shortage of buildings available to you their placement is open to the players discretion. Aside from refineries and plants which have to be placed over natural resources to capture them.


Unlike some other real time strategy games the building animations are welcome. Buildings just don’t suddenly appear or fade in. Instead you have essentially scaffolding and the building rises from the ground.


Models and sprites vary from race to race and technology level is evenly balanced to allow for a challenging gaming experience as you process from section to section in the game.


Gameloft have also included their own online leaderboards with which you can compare your performance with other gamers. This also provides a platform for Gameloft to keep you informed of other games they are pushing out.


At the time of play there wasn’t much in the way of challengers for me to flex my muscle at in a bit of online battling. However, I’d like to think this will change in due course.


Not only can you play online however you can play adhoc also. If you have a chum with a copy can clean up an alien landscape with his butt.

All pretty promising, what wrong with it? The plotline isn’t particularly interesting, I tended to skip the little story segments to get back into the action. I mentioned this above however having played through a large amount of the campaign I found myself caring less about what was going on an just wanting to get to the next level to see what it was I would be doing.
Things can get a little chaotic on the battlefield and sometimes the controls can let you down. Sweeping around the battlefield with your fingers initially feels ideal but when in the faster paced gaming moments it can be a real crutch and I was hoping for my mouse.
I have Star Craft II on the PC, I like it very much. It seemed like a great idea to have what is essentially a scaled down version for your mobile, terrific, if in fact it was Star Craft II. In the back of my mind I kept thinking this was a budget version of a designer brand that copies it to within an inch of a lawsuit. There isn’t anything new here if you have been through Star Craft II if not, then go for it, you’ll love it!

Whatever few short comings the game might have are easy to overlook for the sheer depth of game-play. I’m in love with Star Front and its the only game I’m playing right now. On the Samsung Galaxy Tab in particular this game shines. The generous screen help considerably with the tiny sprites and its the only device I’d really recommend playing on.

Star Front: Collision is really a complete package. There is a huge amount to play here for not very much money. It’s hard to believe this only costs a few pounds. Gameloft have made some pretty impressive mobile games for the money and I hope they continue to add these to the Android Marketplace as we are starting to see. I heartily recommend this, it might cost a little more than your average game but you are getting well more than you are playing for.

Posted by Gareth

Posted in: Reviews

About the Author:

Seasoned tech blogger. Host of the Tech Addicts podcast.
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