Orch Star

Review

The Red Haven Galaxy is home to many races, but has been under the control of the powerful Merovian Empire, which is a bloodline of the human race. A small group of Orchs (strong human body, blue skin and a head that strangely resembles Alf), who goes under the name of the Tusk Clan, has had enough of the Merovian’s oppression and starts a revolution. Mind you, to win this conflict, they’ll need to reunite the entire Orchs clans. The Galaxy is full of surprises, and this one is Orch Star.

Orch Star is a space strategy / action game where you take control of Orca Wartusk, his clan and lead them in the rebellion they have started. You can play this game on a normal monitor and with a VR setup such as HTC Vive or Occulus Rift. I must admit up front, the VR option will give you the greater experience. You’re in space, surrounded by planets, asteroids and a sun, and in the middle of that, you are controlling your fleets.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s fine playing on a monitor, but it is not as immersive.

The game offers three modes of play: campaign, multiplayer and skirmish. As this stage, this game is currently on Early Access and the campaign has 12 missions available to play. The multiplayer will allow you to search or host a game. I couldn’t find any games myself (probably due to the time zone). However you can setup either a free-for-all against three other players, a one versus one or a two versus two game. The skirmish is pretty much the same as the multiplayer mode against bots, and let me tell you the AI is pretty damn good on a normal level.

The gameplay is absolutely fantastic and I personally enjoy the VR option (I had to stop because one of my controllers ran out of charge).

Before starting any game modes, you’ll appear on the control deck of your spaceship. As you launch your first mission, your vessel will speed up to a light jump, which is superbly done. To be honest, I was not expecting that, and it made me jolt back in surprise.  From here, you’ll be prompted by a box if you want to play this mission with hints (small tutorial). Each of the missions will have a certain number of asteroids and planets; some will be under your enemies’ controls and the others will be free for the taking. Each of them has a specific number above it, as well as what type of vessels will automatically be built when you manage to conquer them. There are four types of ship classes: fighter, corvette, frigate and warlock. For example, you might send part of your fleet to one asteroid with the number 20 above it, and at this location it will only built fighters. While on another one, you might get 10 frigates and 20 corvette ships. It’s extremely easy to split your fleet regardless of whether you are using a VR setup or your mouse and keyboard. The fighting will only occur when you attack a location and you can easily zoom in or out of the action. The trick is to successfully send part of your fleet from different locations you have already conquered, and make sure don’t lose them back to your opponents. You do have a few extra on hand when you progress through the campaign. The AI is really good and it will get substantially trickier with each new mission. So far, this is very neat in all aspects.

Graphically, the game looks good and I haven’t encountered any issues either while using my HTC Vive or my mouse and keyboard. There is not much of a soundtrack and there is no voice over which I think it would enhance the experience. Unfortunately for me, I couldn’t find an online game.