Official Review Virtual Reality Updated

Review cover Ziggy's Cosmic Adventures (Virtual Reality)
Official GBAtemp Review

Product Information:

  • Release Date (NA): November 9, 2023
  • Release Date (EU): November 9, 2023
  • Publisher: Stardust Collective
  • Developer: Stardust Collective
  • Genres: Action, adventure, spaceship management simulator

Game Features:

Single player
Local Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
Co-operative
Ziggy’s Cosmic Adventures is a new VR title for Meta Quest 2 and PCVR with a gameplay that mixes space combat and spaceship management. Should you take the pilot’s seat of this space-borne vessel?

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In Ziggy's Cosmic Adventures, we are not put in charge of the green alien blob called Ziggy but instead, we're the bounty hunter that stole (or rescued, depending on how you want to frame it) the titular alien and a spaceship from the evil Empire. The latter isn’t willing to part ways so easily with Ziggy, as the creature is also a potent energy source, and so chases you across the galaxy. Now it’s up to you to survive and free Ziggy from the Empire’s clutches.

Taking the pilot’s seat

Opting for the VR medium, rather than FPS for example, for Ziggy's Cosmic Adventures was definitely the right choice as the game’s setting lends well to the platform. While it’s confined to the spaceship’s cockpit, arguably the best way to experience such a setting in a game is through VR. The immersiveness brought back a similar feel to the excellent Star Wars: Squadrons  which I played with a VR headset as well. 

However, they pack two distinct flair, with Ziggy's Cosmic Adventures adopting a more cartoony and lighthearted style to its presentation. That doesn’t mean it’s lacking in details but on the contrary, the cockpit is filled with minutiae across its 360° environment that really makes you feel like you’re in the pilot’s seat. Further adding to the immersiveness are the game’s controls where you have to perform actions such as flicking switches, extracting batteries and pulling on levers as you manage the ship, and even with VR controllers these feel close to the actual motion.

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Going on a cosmic adventure

Ziggy's Cosmic Adventures also differentiates itself from other space combat games as it includes a significant component of spaceship management. While you’ll often be manoeuvring your ship to dodge asteroids, space debris and enemy vessels, as well as shoot the latter down, you’ll need to maintain the integrity of your ship.

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Through the ship management mechanic, you’ll need to ensure that appropriate power is supplied to various elements of the vessel from the engines to the shields to life support. When you need to refill your power supplies, Ziggy will provide some assistance. You see, Ziggy is a unique specimen as it can provide fuel source and when fed, can provide fuel again. You can also spawn more Ziggys from the ship’s matter generator to serve as backup energy sources when one Ziggy is running low. Sounds a bit twisted but as long as you keep the alien companion fed and occasionally pet it, it won’t object to getting its energy drained, I guess…

That’s not all in terms of ship management as you’ll have to also adjust the stabilisers, temperature and extractor as required. Failing this, you’ll be at a disadvantage against the Empire’s squadrons which you’ll also need to fend off at the same time.

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A crash landing

From this description of the game mechanics, it sounds like there is a lot going on and to handle in Ziggy's Cosmic Adventures and it is indeed the case. Unfortunately, it’s not in the best interest of the game. The sheer amount of actions you have to handle on your own to ensure that the ship is running quickly becomes overwhelming; add the need to dodge space debris and fight your pursuers on top of all that at the same time, you can imagine the chaos that ensues. Sure, you can leave some elements hanging while you fend off some enemies but failing systems of your vessel quickly add up, leaving you with even more tasks to complete.

It quickly became clear within the first mission that the pacing was in dire need of improvements regarding gameplay balance in order to provide more breathing room for the player between ship management and combat segments. In its current state, there is practically no such breathing room and I am unsure if this can be fixed in future updates as the balancing issue persists even in other levels of the game; unless the developers are overestimating the multitasking abilities of players. 

Sure, having to look after your ship while in combat can somewhat add to the immersive aspect but then I’d also want a co-pilot to handle the ship’s management while I handle combat. One could also argue that it adds to the challenge but having to monitor your spaceship's status and fight off pursuers at the same time feels more like an unfair challenge than a fun experience.

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Also in need of better pacing is the tutorial which consists of a lengthy and often confusing monologue. The confusion arise because some ship elements are not clearly indicated nor relate to what the ship’s virtual assistant is referring to during the tutorial. Even when tackling the game’s level, the assistant will notify you of some failing systems but these aren’t always clear.

Ziggy's Cosmic Adventures does have some minor redeeming aspects in its design such as branching paths based on your in-game decisions. This can entice replays to discover new areas/levels as you won’t see all of what the game has to offer during a single run that lasts around 2 hours. However, the difficulty spike and unbalanced hybrid mechanic makes it hard to even get through a single playthrough. 

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This is a shame as, on paper, the game has some unique aspects such as the plot, a detailed and immersive VR environment, and even the hybrid gameplay could have made for a compelling experience. However, in practice, the poor execution of the gameplay elements are so overwhelming and frustrating that it crash lands the experience, and will entice only the most masochist of gamers.

Ziggy's Cosmic Adventures - Release Date Announcement

Verdict

What We Liked ...
  • Immersive VR environment
  • Pettable Ziggy!
What We Didn't Like ...
  • Poor gameplay pacing and balance
  • Mixture of combat and spaceship management quickly leads to overwhelming situations
  • Some unintuitive and unclear elements
5
Gameplay
On paper, the hybrid space combat and spaceship management would make for an original experience in VR but the poor pacing between those segments in practice leads to an overwhelming need to multitask that’s far from fun.
8
Presentation
Ziggy's Cosmic Adventures shines with its presentation with detailed cockpit and immersive actions but it’s a testament that we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.
5
Lasting Appeal
The frustratingly unbalanced gameplay that inevitably leads to an overwhelming experience makes it a challenge to see through the game; except maybe if you’re looking for a very very steep challenge to overcome.
5
out of 10

Overall

Despite having an immersive VR environment and, on paper, an original premise and mechanic, Ziggy's Cosmic Adventures performs a crash landing in practice by failing to properly balance its hybrid gameplay which inevitably becomes overwhelming and frustrating.
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AlexClarkeGames
Hey!

Thanks for the review

One of the developers here, we're definitely aware that balance is something we need to iterate on.

There is a difficulty selector but in pre-release builds it was defaultng to hard, on post-launch builds it should default to easy now, which should allieviate some of the balance issues.

We plan to make it into a full flow where you select difficulty from the get go (as the difficulty option is currently hidden away in the menus) but that's going to be a later patch !

Thanks again for the review/feedback, and hope you didn't get to frustrated!
 
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Prans
AlexClarkeGames said:
Hey!

Thanks for the review

One of the developers here, we're definitely aware that balance is something we need to iterate on.

There is a difficulty selector but in pre-release builds it was defaultng to hard, on post-launch builds it should default to easy now, which should allieviate some of the balance issues.

We plan to make it into a full flow where you select difficulty from the get go (as the difficulty option is currently hidden away in the menus) but that's going to be a later patch !

Thanks again for the review/feedback, and hope you didn't get to frustrated!
Click to expand...
hey there, thanks for your reply and for providing some clarifications. Glad to hear that you're taking the feedback into consideration and will work on the balancing and learning curve. Looking forward to these updates and trying the game again later. All the best!
 
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Review cover
Product Information:
  • Release Date (NA): November 9, 2023
  • Release Date (EU): November 9, 2023
  • Publisher: Stardust Collective
  • Developer: Stardust Collective
  • Genres: Action, adventure, spaceship management simulator
Game Features:
Single player
Local Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
Co-operative

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