Space Pioneer

The game feels skeletal, like raw wood piled in the shape of a building. It’s missing something essential in its new home on the Nintendo Switch. The stages, missions, and challenges all feel interchangeable. Even the bosses feel like palette-swaps from time to time. In spite of all this, the game is still compelling fun. You’ll find yourself trying just one more run, one more stage, over and over again. If you’re seeking out a little scif-fi arcade action, definitely check out Space Pioneer.

At £8.99, it’s not asking for much money, but it’s certainly asking for too much of a player’s time with the excessive and repetitive grinding.

There’s a lot of potential within Space Pioneer that is unfortunately largely squandered by its repetitive nature. Once you’re done with one chapter, it really feels like you’ve seen it all, despite another eleven lying ahead of you. Its core gameplay really is a lot of fun, and our hope would be that if a sequel is developed, this is backed up by an engaging story and meaningful objectives.

When you think of a twin-stick shooter, you probably picture something exactly like Space Pioneer. It's solid yet typical of the genre.

Space Pioneer is a simple game made for simple moments and while this mostly derives from its origins in mobile devices, there's also little sense of purpose in the game's progress. The local multiplayer mode turns out to be a very good way to extend its lifespan but for solo players, the experience will quickly run out of steam and become too repetitive.

Space Pioneer offers an addictive arcade experience that feels incomplete. Although the upgrade system is surprisingly deep, the rest of the game suffers from being too shallow to set itself apart from the pack. As far as isometric, twin-stick shooters go, this one is just okay.