Basically its a 32-bit retro game that mostly just creates impossible and random events which is supposed to be entertaining and fun? There is a reason its on sale for <$3 all the time. It sucks. Lazy developers, poor strategy, and sucky gameplay. Its not worth $2.75.
if it wasn't for the cheer amount of luck you need.
Don't get any weapon drops in the first sector? You'll get blast to pieces in no time. Lucky hit to your weapons in the first round of battle? Go and restart ...
Could be fun if difficulty was adjusted and mega powered random enemies fixed
First off, the initial play of the game is fun. Once you learn the strategy, you can see where you should go but the randomness and difficulty of the game take away from enjoying it. You can build up a ship with good weapons and add-ons and the AI will throw a triple shielded, transporter equipped and mega missile enemy at you when you are not anywhere near the last system. All this on the easy setting. If you play the Advanced Edition mode, the random experiences and difficult enemies is even worse. Stay away from this game until the developer learns the meaning of the difficulty setting.
With certain ships it's almost impossible to beat the final boss, even on easy, due to the RNG. You can prepare for it, never see what you need even if you check every store, and still have an excellent build, and then 3/4 of your shots will miss an already damaged final boss. The entire game revolves around the final boss which is by far the weakest aspect, and is entirely reliant on the "RNG" not screwing you over.
Played this over the years and it's never gotten better. If you don't get the exact right build, it's all over no matter what you do. Not every build is viable, and having fun in the game is trumped by the fact you always have to consider this end boss, which entirely relies on meta knowledge.
Sorry, developers, 'dying is part of the fun' is not true when it's entirely up to what feels like a highly unfair RNG. Middle boss, with the drones, seems to have about 75-85% evasion. It's purely unfun once you hit that point. But you're gated from unlocking new ships and progressing in the game and unlocking more things due to said "RNG".
I wouldn't buy it again - very repetative and too random to plan anything, eg. trying to get achievement which requires certain opportunieties to appear during the game. In few games it didn't happen even once. With that level of repetiveness it should at least involve some strategic planning or the games should be much shorter to better see the meaning of tiny decisions.
After +5 hours I don't see any point of playing it. It's just time consuming clicker.