Fractured Space (PC) Impressions

Fractured Space is a massive team-based combat game fought with giant ships that offers deep crew and ship customization and an amazing way to enjoy dogfights (dramatic pause) in space.

Graphically speaking, Fractured Space is impressive in its scale and depth, and with what the game aims to accomplish, the bar can only be set high. It actually looks similar to another massive team-based space combat and exploration game, EVE Online, so while the competition is tough, giving Fractured Space its own identity will be tougher to accomplish. Not entirely impossible though, if the developers try to keep things unique and more combat driven than something like EVE, then comparisons shouldn’t be a problem.

The ship designs all look great. though one can’t help but to compare them to the ships in Star Trek while the capital ships (the biggest craft possible) sort of reminded me of the doomed Event Horizon form the movie of the same name, but I found that interesting. While most of the ship classes have been established, I wish to see more types of each class.

The battles all look intense, though they can seem slow and complicated at first. The game offers no tutorial or forgiveness for the beginner which I found out the hard way. I delved into the only possible match up available and found my ship wrecked numerous times. It took a few tries, but eventually I got the controls down which, to my delight, were actually quite simple had they been explained properly. Design-wise though, the battles look amazing with gorgeous explosions and intense exchanges of laser beams- and with the right music to match the scene, things can only get better from here.

Speaking of music, the game is in dire need of an Original Soundtrack. The bleakness of space can only be emphasized by the silence that accompanies it, was the rationale here I guess. Though the game may be in need of an OST, I find that the crew’s voice actors did a good job with their roles. From the constant enemy warnings to the “Weapons fully charged” notification from the Ship’s Engineer, I felt myself getting into the game as I felt like Picard or Kirk  commanding my own ship. I have to say, it felt great.

The gameplay is pretty straightforward, as I mentioned, which is great. There are some objectives like taking over a neutral base for domination, but you can ignore all that and get straight into a dogfight with a Sniper-Class battleship if you like too. The controls are simple to use, though they kind of feel awkward with the keyboard and mouse to be perfectly honest. All of that is lampshaded by the sheer volume of information to process when starting the game as well, which again, would be easily solved by a mandatory but simple tutorial to get the player in the know. So lets hope that makes its way into the game before it’s final.

Final Thoughts

Fractured Space is going to be big. But before that can happen, the developers need to address the issues that I pointed out above. To be fair, the game is barely out in beta yet, but if I was to judge the game based on what I experienced before its release, then I can say that it’s looking good, but needs improvement.