9/10 Chorus reminds me of the old Rogue Squadron games but given a fresh coat of paint and modern upgrades. It REALLY wants to be Star Wars-level space opera, and that grandness of ambition and mythological scope actually set it apart. That said, the story sometimes tries too hard beyond the writing's capaticy to deliver, and some of the worldbuilding feels murky. Chorus is a compelling game, but not quite a captivating one. Space combat is the best feature here: this is the most fun I've had in a dog-fighting simulator EVER! Upgrades are handed out at regular intervals, and there is plenty of enemy variety. The Boss fights can get quite crazy, but I always felt like I had a chance of beating of them, and was able to without too many retries. The environments are beautiful and varied, vibrantly declaring that space is not an empty blackness but full of color and wonder. This is the "good" kind of open-world game where you aren't forced to engage in tons of side content to grind levels if you don't want to. That said, I played roughly 45% of the side missions and some of them are genuinely interesting, challenging, and different enough to give me plenty of variety. The characters of Nara and Forsa are engaging enough, and I was genuinely interested in their story. Their regular banter helped give context to events without slowing the game down for cutscenes; I could learn from them talking while cruising to the next mission. I actually think Nara's "whispers" of her inner thoughts help flesh out her character. The game starts to drag a little bit in the final act, when you think you are gearing up for the final battle but you actually have to now go and do 3 mission arcs in previously visited planets before you can go to the actual final battle. My only other real complaint is that the writing is just okay. They had a great story idea. The writing isn't glaringly bad, just not quite strong enough to make it a masterpiece.
