Spark Five

Review

Spark 5 is set in a time when mankind's greatest achievement turns out to be the end of the human race. Artificial intelligence was a remarkable advance in technology when it was invented. People had no idea that the A.I. would come to the conclusion that mankind was the greatest threat to the planet, and that they would set out to eradicate the human race. Prior to their extinction, humans devised one last plan to defeat the A.I.! Project Spark was born, with just one objective - to defeat the artificial intelligence once and for all and return intelligent organic life to earth. Take control of your android, using stealth and an occasional bomb to aid you in your quest, navigate through traps and avoid deadly guards that patrol endlessly through the corridors and complete your mission.

Released on Nov. 15, 2018, by developer TechBridge Interactivem, Spark 5 is an Action, Adventure, Casual, Indie title. Using the Unity Engine, the game has state-of-the-art graphics that are vibrant and crisp. It also has powerful futuristic ambient music. There is a tutorial, but you do not actually play through it, it is more of a video tutorial that just explains core mechanics. The game features 2 different campaigns, Spark & Nemesis, each utilizing alternate mechnics, along with Mercenarium mode, in which you will play custom scenarios as a mercenary, meaning you get a lot of different gameplay for the money. The title has a great price line. It also has partial controller support for you controller-users. And it comes with 16 Steam Achievement's that will require many hours of play to 100%.

For all the play styles, you will start each level with a set number of Replicas (used as a respawn area) and bombs (that make a big boom); use them wisely. I began my play time in the spark campaign; in this mode, you must avoid the guards as you disable lasers and collect the biomass needed to escape through the exit. I struggled at first, but as I pushed on deeper into the levels, I began to understand the inner workings of the game, and it became a little less difficult than when I started. When you reach the Nemesis campaign, you will change to destroying bio-pods, then make your escape. For Mercenarium, the objectives change for every level, so pay attention to the level requirements. Note: you can play any of the different play styles at any time you wish; Campaign mode does require that you beat the levels in progression, whereas in Mercenarium you can play the levels in any order you desire.

It is tagged as casual, but I found the game to be rather difficult, especially when trying to get 5 stars and complete the mission time schedules. I wouldn't call it Hardcore, but it is not what I consider to be a casual title, it also gets more difficult as you progress. There are no difficulty settings, with no easy or hard to alter the difficulty, it is one size fits all. The title would benefit with the addition of difficulty settings for those who want a less or more challenging game. I managed to advance through the game; it just took me a while to get used to the mechanics. There are only a couple of settings you can change; it contains just 3 areas: Graphics (high or low), Enable Indicators and Enable Ambient Music.

For those who love a challenging puzzle game, this one will fit your library nicely.

Review written by DamageInc.for Zeepond.com!