Solstice Chronicles: MIA
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Top Critic
If you put up with its clumsiness, there's a tough-as-nails isometric twin-stick action-me-do (that's the one!) here to play. Just one that doesn't really stand out from the crowd.
Top Critic
While there are still some areas to be polished, and online multiplayer is unfortunately missing, Solstice manages to translate the souls of games like Alien Breed and Helldivers into a challenging two-player or solo adventure.
Top Critic
The red planet can be an extremely exciting setting in videogames, but here it's just another color palette.
Top Critic
If MIA were cheaper, or had more interesting art design, or tried to say or do something different than other games like it, or at least leaned a bit more into some of the silliness it gestures at (the dialogue has the occasional quip that indicates something the game could have been), then we'd have a something I could recommend buying. At its current state, it's worth playing if you can get it for cheap. Go save Mars in another game.
Top Critic
Solstice Chronicles: MIA is a bit hard to sum up. It's well polished and offers moments of great fun, especially in co-op, but as a single player experience the game is slow and starts to drag quite quickly. In some aspects it feels rough and unfinished. As it stands, if you have a friend to play Solstice with, you're likely to enjoy your time with it - but if you're going to attempt the game solo, then maybe wait for a sale.
Top Critic
The only area in which the tactics seems a bit forced was during the boss battles.
Top Critic
Solstice Chronicles M.I.A is a competent shooter, with its dynamic threat level leading to tense, frightening moments. The constant dread forces an engaging and tactical risk vs reward style of play - but the often awkward controls and derivative story let it down.
Top Critic
Solstice Chronicles: MIA. is a solid twin-stick shooter. I enjoyed the narrative, sequences, and even the sometimes cheesy voice work. I initially wasn't aware that the game provided skill points, in fact I accrued 19 points before I even knew the system existed. My main complaint honestly is the lack of online support, as that was hands down one of the best parts of The Red Solstice.
Top Critic
A solid top-down shooter, Solstice Chronicles: MIA is very easy to pick up and has enough versatility to keep you coming back to explore its different options even after you've made it home to safety.
Top Critic
A twin-stick shooter with good potential, but also afflicted by bugs and problems.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Top Critic
Bloody Alien Breed wannabe title on Switch is held back by technical hiccups.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Top Critic
A shockingly cliché and poorly-constructed narrative, combined with a sense of monotony that sets in far too quickly, does let this game down though. It’s best played in very short bursts, with big breaks in-between sessions.
Top Critic
It's not a bad game, by any measure, but it's not good either. And that's the worst place to be in for a game is a market that's dominated by mediocrity.
Top Critic
Solstice Chronicles: MIA is an enjoyable experience. Most of the gameplay is engaging, and when you're using all its mechanics and systems as intended, it's fun and gels well.
Top Critic
While the threat level system theoretically makes for some interesting moment to moment choices, it makes the campaign feel woefully unbalanced at times. Combat also lacks the smoothness one would hope for from the genre, with movement and aiming feeling choppy and imprecise. Between monotonous gameplay and a generally uninteresting story, Solstice Chronicles: MIA lacks the qualities that help shape a successful single-player campaign, and the co-op changes feel like a strict downgrade from its predecessor.
Solstice Chronicles: MIA knows that shooting things is fun, and the elements of the game work together beautifully to make the most out of the experience. It's a quality top-down RPG that has a lot of potential replay value.
In short we can say that we have found ourselves in a fun and interesting title, which offers the right level of challenge without being too exaggerated. A game that allows us to show our skills and skill and keeps us busy for several hours, offering us many ways to play.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Solstice Chronicles: MIA is a competent top down shooter that could have used a bit more time in the oven. Gamers who are not discouraged by annoying performance issues, a poorly written tutorial and mostly linear maps will probably get a great deal of enjoyment out of Ironward’s latest release, but it’s certainly not for everyone.
Solstice Chronicles: MIA encourages using tactics and forward thinking in a genre that wouldn't normally have it, and the drone is a really neat addition, but it isn't a compelling enough reason to play. The lack of online co-op which made The Red Solstice a standout is curiously absent and supremely disappointing. Solstice Chronicles: MIA is a twin-stick shooter that doesn't leave a lasting impression, either due to its writing or ho-hum gameplay. While it plays better than its predecessor and offers a unique gameplay hooks, Solstice Chronicles: MIA doesn't do enough, and there's better offerings out there that are more fun to play.
Top Critic
It’s amazing what Ironward’s done with Solstice Chronicles: MIA, and I can only imagine what they’d be capable of with a bigger budget, more staff, and more time. I want more of their version of Mars, and I hope to see it expanded upon in the future.
