Sigma Star Saga DX Review

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Fast Facts

Delving into Outer Space

Sigma Star Saga DX is a unique blend between a top-down adventure game and a shoot-em-up. Throughout the game, I explored planets searching for upgrades, completing tasks, and making friends along the way. The novel genre mash up makes this game stand out, but is it worth playing? Find out in this Rapid Review.

When I first booted the game up, I was introduced to the main character of the game. He is a soldier fighting an interplanetary war. As a part of his assignment, he gets sent into enemy lines as a spy, working to further the interests of his motherland. However, as the story progresses, facts emerge that make the main character think more closely about his role in the world, and how he can best support all life. I will not get into detail here, but the story was enjoyable. The game does not take itself too seriously, but the narrative flows nicely, and I chuckled at a handful of dialogue lines too.

This is due in part to the characters. I worked closely with a few different characters, which while static, had distinct personalities that made them memorable. I enjoyed seeing how each character interacted with one another, and the drama that ensued kept me engaged. Despite having a detailed narrative and lots of dialogue, I could not seriously impact the behaviors of my main character. The story and characters made the experience better. The narrative was simple, yet fun.

Getting to Work

As enjoyable as the story was, if that was the only thing the game offered, I would be wanting more. Thankfully, the developers of Sigma Star Saga DX did not stop there. For starters, I got to navigate through themed planets. On these planets, I fought enemies, sought out upgrades, and communicated with other members of my team. Exploring these planets was quite enjoyable. I was given a detailed map which highlighted where I needed to go, but there were no indicators on-screen unless I needed assistance. This made it easy for me to remain immersed without getting lost. 

As fun as it sounds to navigate from point a to point b on a map, arriving at the destination was often less engaging than the act of getting there. To do so, I maneuvered through barricades and took out enemies. I enjoyed this part of the game, but I would not say it is a key driver. The enemies in the overworld were not challenging, and the obstacles were simple restrictions to ensure I had powerups unlocked. It was fun to navigate the world and see the different pieces of the map, but the top down sections did not have much to offer in terms of complexity. The adventure piece is also a bit hit or miss since many areas could be traversed linearly. Though the overworld was a bit simpler, I had a lot of fun exploring the maps. 

Taking to the Skies

In addition to the grounded sections, Sigma Star Saga DX features shoot-em-up random encounters. As I explored each planet, every so often, I would get beamed up into a space ship with the opportunity to fight some monsters. As a premise, I enjoyed that the random encounters took this unique form. However, the fights themselves were not consistently engaging. Since these were random encounters, I often faced the same selections of fights multiple times within a brief time frame. Unfortunately, as a result, many of these battles felt similar. Moreover, even when the fights were different, many of the foes I faced did not force me to differentiate my playstyle. Most enemies either slowly moved towards the player or remained static. Only a few enemies actually fired projectiles at me. This meant I could fight almost everything in the same way, which was a bit boring.

The simplicity of the enemies and repetition associated with these encounters is especially significant in this game since another draw to the game is the number of customizable gun pieces that are used in these sections. There are a wide variety of different gun pieces here, and it was fun to explore a few different options. However, since many of the enemies were on the simpler side, and I rarely needed to deviate my strategy, I hardly felt the need to go in and alter what I leveraged. This was neat in premise, and I did enjoy playing with the different options I did use, but it was not a core focus during my playthrough.

Despite the repetitiveness and simplicity of the combat, I did have a fun time playing Sigma Star Saga DX. It was an easy game to play after a long day at work.

Ambiance and Theming

To round out the rest of Sigma Star Saga DX, the developers included a chip-tune soundtrack to accompany me while I traversed the world. The music was okay, and in some places catchy. However, there were other times when I found the music annoying, and at multiple instances I noticed the music abruptly looping. I am certainly glad that the game had music, but it did not add much to the experience for me. 

On the other hand, I greatly appreciated the visuals this game has to offer. The colors the palette uses here are fun, vibrant, and kept me engaged. The planets were nicely designed, and while the themes were somewhat simple, I had fun exploring. I also appreciated that the different abilities I unlocked to traverse the world were thematically interesting. The visuals were nice. 

As a whole, Sigma Star Saga DX is a good time. It is a bit simple, but the novelty of being able to engage in both overword and shoot-em-up combat adds to the overall package. The story is a fun addition, and I was consistently excited to see what happened, which is not typically the case for a game that does not focus on the narrative. For those looking for a challenge, I would not expect that you will get much here, but for a relaxing jaunt through a few planets, Sigma Star Saga DX can be a great time. 

Rapid Reviews Rating

4 out of 5

4

You can purchase Sigma Star Saga DX on the Nintendo eShop here.