Spacebase Startopia Reviews
Spacebase Startopia feels a bit too basic for a management game and is not something you could really spend hours cultivating once you have the station set up. What it offers is rather simplistic, and is marred by regular crashes on console and an AI advisor that you'll grow to hate.
Spacebase Startopia is not completely without merit, but it does lack in charm and depth, and simulators need one or the other (and preferably both) else they're in big trouble. With that being said there is a very specific audience for this game; it works as a competitive simulator where you learn the perfect order for doing things and then execute on that to cruise through to easy victories. In almost any other context, however, Spacebase Startopia lacks the creative whimsy and data-driven depth that we usually expect from a great simulator.
Spacebase Startopia has cutesy and cartoony xenos milling around, but that's all it has going for it. From questionable mission objectives and monotonous micromanagement, to audio hiccups, technical woes, and a lack of direction, it's a simulation of the doldrums of alien life.
Spacebase Startopia doesn't have quite the same charm and humour of the original 2001 classic. The campaign missions are short and fairly repetitive, and the combat feels really basic. It's a shame, but even with an online multiplayer mode, this shallow simulator is not a particularly engaging experience.
A complex space base builder remake that's marred by inadequate tutorials, clumsy attempts at humour, and a general lack of polish.
An interesting experiment gone horribly wrong, Spacebase Startopia is plagued with dull RTS mechanics, a grind heavy campaign, and bad writing.
I'm not done with Starbase Spacetopia (or whatever it's called, I give up), I still want to nail the perfect base, especially now I've fully understood all the games systems, and for the most part, I'm having fun. On top of the campaign and free play mode there's a perfectly serviceable multiplayer mode too, albeit the current small player base means it takes a while to locate a game. Is it the pinnacle of base management strategy games? No, far from it in fact, but it's a more than serviceable space station sim that satisfies the itch for galactic domination.
When it comes to management simulations there's no question that the pickings on the Switch are pretty slim, indeed, so when any new ones come along I have no doubt genre fans are immediately curious for details...
Spacebase Startopia is a missed opportunity to meaningfully build on a classic, but it's still an entertaining management sim.
A reinvented classic. Sympathetic and fun but with lights and shadows that keep it away from excellence.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Spacebase Startopia is a fairly standard strategy/simulation game at its core, with the balancing of resources, happiness and a bit of light RTS combat mixed in. Some technical concerns around the camera, balky control scheme and less-than-stellar AI diminish the overall experience, however. There is plenty of micromanaging fun to be had here for fans of the genre, but Spacebase Startopia is not among the best in the genre either.
A unique and complex gem, Spacebase Startopia is an engaging and constantly interesting take on the management genre. The Sims in space is selling it very short, because it is much much more. On console however, it’s intricacy and scope are its undoing, causing severe slowdown, frame-rate issues and regular crashes. Its campaign is a fun set of tests, but free mode (just running your station without parameters) is easy to get completely engrossed in.
Even after a dedicated tutorial and several early missions that function as another tutorial, figuring out Spacebase Startopia often feels like playing an obtusely old-school game without the benefit of a manual. That underlying complexity is also its greatest strength, however, because it allows the game to have a sense of constant discovery. At one point, I screwed up my early construction and left no room for the teleporter you need to move your hardier security mechs between decks, which came back to bite me when some bug-like creatures on another deck attacked. Around the same time, however, religious extremists planted a bomb, so I grabbed it and dropped it next to the bugs. This wouldn’t have eliminated them in most games. It worked here.
Spacebase Startopia may not qualify for iconic status, but it is hugely entertaining strategic game.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Spacebase Startopia is a decently comical management simulation that looks back at and expands on the original Startopia. With a wide number of buildings and areas to develop, aliens to satisfy and even hire, there's a fair amount to do. Spacebase Startopia isn't without its issues, such as too much forced 'comedy' and a campaign that drags like a marathon, but you're still likely to have a good time if you like management sims.
Spacebase Startopia is a great time if you like city sim resource management-based games, but unfortunately doesn't excel in any one area. Caution to those highly susceptible to motion sickness.
Spacebase Startopia is a complex management-sim, but once everything clicks there's plenty of fun to be had. It'll take time to learn everything, and the camera can be annoying, but it's still enjoyable.
That's not to say Spacebase Startopia is a bad game, it's just something of a disappointment. At best, it feels like a remake that makes a few missteps. It's a forgery at worst. If you really want more Startopia but can't stand to look at its dated graphics, there's definitely something for you here. Otherwise, you're better off docking with a different donut.
Spacebase Startopia is a reasonably fun management/strategy game, slightly too complex to play with a controller. Though genre veterans will not find much challenge here, Spacebase Startopia is unique and cheerful enough to make it worth a look.
A good management game, empowered by a very unique comedic sci-fi setting. Campaign isn't the greatest and a little bit more content would have been great, but all in all a nice return for the classic 2001 Startopia.
Review in Italian | Read full review