Spark Rising – Early Access Review

Spark Rising – Early Access Review

By Nathaniel Liles

Titans = Awesome. Only one Titan = Not awesome.

Spark Rising has brought exactly what “Early Access” is to me into question, and not in a good way. Please don’t get me wrong, because I enjoyed what little content was in Spark Rising, but it’s no more than 5 minutes of gameplay selling for $10.99, and I don’t know if I’m okay with that, regardless of what plans the developer has for the game afterwards. Honestly, I gave Spark Rising my patented full, complete playthrough, including a full-length double take and experimentation in Creative Mode, and I only clocked in at 25 minutes. That’s how long it took me to beat everything twice, and screw around for a bit in Creative Mode. So, how good is this game that’s currently selling for more than $2 a minute? Well…

The particle effects are cool beans, and I love that the voxels stay voxels.

First of all, I want to put my complaints about this game’s completely unfinished state aside, because what is there is good, and I can’t rag on it for what it is. At its core, Spark Rising is an over-the-top arcade shooter that has you running around a fully destructible voxel environment felling Titans and capturing objectives that turn normal enemies into normal allies. The one level (one freakin level) that’s available to play and doesn’t look like a test room from Super Mario Sunshine is really nicely designed, albeit a bit small. It’s a sort of military complex, I take it, that has some floating islands ascending from the ground up to a bigger main island. All around this area are turrets and enemies, and staying on top of the constantly growing population of baddies is genuinely fun. However…

This city clearly had alot of thought put in to it, but… I mean there’s the entire thing.

This game is almost identical to Drunken Robot Pornography, a phenomenal and moderately successful first person bullethell with clever writing, sharp graphics, and every creation tool that Spark Rising has, aside from the admittedly cool (but still not implemented) advertised feature that will (eventually) allow you to import voxel-based structures from Minecraft. The way the game flows, the way enemies tail you, the boss that you have to kill one limb at a time… I’m not saying that this is a ripoff of DRP, I’m just saying that the two are a bit too similar and DRP (a finished game, and a great one at that) is only $4 more.

Here’s the only other level. Gorgeous.

There’s almost no content here. I get that “Early Access” means the game isn’t quite finished yet, but for the love of Mike, stop trying to sell a Pre-Pre-Alpha build that a game design student could put together in a weekend for full price! Release it to backers, fine. They know exactly what they’re getting in to, and I’m sure it would be cool for them to see how the game’s coming along. But give that to backers, don’t try to sell it publicly on Steam to anyone who thinks the finished game might be cool.

Here’s more of the city, aka the exact same thing from a different angle because that’s everything. In the game. That sells for $11.

Final Verdict. Leave this alone. Let it be finished, and judge it on your own merits when it’s something more than two levels of proof-of-concept fun, because it is that. This game almost nailed the arcade shooter dynamic, it just needs about 50 times the content, and the simple fact that this isn’t a free demo completely killed the experience for me. If your boss gives you a download code to review this, you’ll enjoy it, but if you shell out enough money to get twelve big-ass sodas from the gas station for 5 minutes of fun, you’re going to pee anger and disappointment. Developers, make this free, but don’t update it. Finish your game, and then start charging for it.

You can see more of our Spark Rising coverage right here.

[facebook][tweet][Google][pinterest][follow id=”Cliqist” size=”large” count=”true” ] [author image=”http://cliqist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/nathaniel.jpg”] Nathaniel Liles is a freelance writer, writing major, and indie musician based in Southern Indiana. While procrastinating or avoiding real-world responsibility, Nathaniel enjoys playing rhythm games, action RPGs, and very colorful games with many bright, flashing lights. You can listen to Nathaniel sing songs or download his music for free at http://nathanielliles.bandcamp.com/.  [/author]