Welcome to the outpost, pilots. I’m surprised you made it this far, considering where we are and everything. What’s that? You want to know about this place? Well, stay a while and listen. You might learn a little something about Dead Star.

Dead Star shows you exactly what it’s like to engage in space skirmishes, arcade style. Most of the landscape is destroyed or in ruins, and this is where you’ll be fighting. They did a good job naming the area the Wastes, because that’s pretty accurate. The graphics aren’t anything too huge, but players can easily keep track of what’s going on in the game without any one thing overpowering the scene. Personally, I feel that’s a really good touch and I really like the arcade style of the game. I feel it makes the game a bit more unique and adds an interesting flair to the graphics. Might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s a nice change from most of the games of today.

The audio of Dead Star is pretty much what you’d expect. There’s ominous tunes everywhere you look, but space is pretty ominous, so I think the tracks fit. Aside from the tracks in the background, you’ll hear plenty of lasers and missiles going off but, of course, they have the arcade style explosion audio. The soundtrack for Dead Star isn’t overpowering to the gameplay in any way, but it greatly compliments the atmosphere of the game. While I do usually enjoy hearing great tracks from games, the soundtrack of Dead Star had its own appeal for the game and I really enjoyed that.

Alright, I’m sure you up and coming pilots want a little briefing about your mission. In other words, you probably want to know a little about the game modes you’ll be engaging in, right? First off, we’ve got the Conquest Mode. This mode is available for either 5v5 or 10v10 variants and players aim to take control of the neutral outposts scattered about. By doing this, you’ll open up the enemy base for invasion and also generate points for your team’s score. All you have to do now is capture the enemy base by force or wait for a strategic win, which involves a giant laser cannon obliterating the enemy base. Pretty crazy if you ask me. I’d recommend the 5v5 variant for newer players, but if you’re used to super hectic action, then jump right into the 10v10 variant by all means.

The other PvP mode available for players is the Escape Run Mode. This game mode has pilots assisting a capital ship in its escape from The Wastes in exchange for very valuable rewards, but only the best pilots are offered contracts to do this. If you don’t have friends, you’ll be flying solo on this one, but you can invite your own squad to help you. I’d recommend finding someone just to make it easier. Before you begin, you’ll be able to assign specialists to certain parts of the ship. The capital ship has four weapon stations and the main core. Assigning a specialist to any of these areas will grant bonuses to that area and assigning one to the main core will grant a ship wide bonus. You’re given a time limit, which indicates when the ship will warp out of there. As the timer ticks down, your job is to collect ore and bring it back to the ship to upgrade its systems. Once that timer hits 0, the capital ship warps to the next region where the player must defend the ship from enemies and upgrade its systems with ore. If the ship is destroyed, then the Escape Run ends and players are returned to the lobby. Work together with your squad, or show off your ace solo piloting skills, to get those ships out of here and claim those rewards. There’s some nice stuff up for grabs, so do your best.

Not everyone starts off as an ace pilot. The Training Mode gives players access to the Tutorial and Freeplay options to develop and improve their skills. Tutorial is just what it sounds like: you go here and learn how to play the game while being guided by a very nice lady. The Freeplay Mode allows you to set your own parameters for a match and play with those parameters. You’re also allowed access to any ship you want, so you can go in and test out ships while maxing out their levels and upgrades to see how they play. Think of it as a sandbox type mode where you can try before you buy, except in this case you’ll be trying before you go out and get yourself killed for not being familiar with what you’re using. We all know those guys, let’s try not to be one.

The main weapon for the player is their ship. You’re able to select a loadout of ships to use in-game and you can swap between your ships by deconstructing your current ship after death or by interacting with an outpost, which is done by pressing the (X) button while near one. You move your ship with the Left Stick and aim with the Right Stick. The cursor for aiming is a small triangle which appears around your ship and rotates around the ship in whatever direction you tilt the Right Stick. Your ship is equipped with health and shield systems, which are displayed at the bottom left. As you take damage, your shield gauge will deplete and once it is broken, you’ll begin to lose health from attacks. Shields recharge after staying out of combat briefly, but your missing health is gone until you die. To defend yourself, your ship is equipped with machine guns that you can fire with the (R2) button and destroy things. Take care of your ship, otherwise you won’t last long.

Oh, you probably need to know more about the ships, huh? Well, there’s three classes you can choose from: Scouts, Raiders, and Frigates. Scouts are small and fragile, but they’re incredibly quick and sleek. What they lack in power, they make up for in speed and the ability to capture an outpost about four times faster. Raiders are the middle class, having a mix of speed and power. They also have about double the cargo space, so if you’re looking to upgrade your base, this will be your class of choice. Frigates are the monsters of the Wastes. They come packing large amounts of damage and health, but they’re super slow. A good loadout consists of a decent mix of these classes, so experiment with each until you find what’s most comfortable for you.

Don't worry if your ship is a piece of junk, though. You can always augment it and improve it! By augmenting your ship, you can improve the ship’s systems and make it a deadly force. To augment your ship, you first need to collect the proper components from the battlefield. Once you’ve got enough, you’ll be signaled to the hangar to augment your ship. All you have to do then is decide which ship you want to augment and exactly what you want augmented. Sounds pretty nifty, eh? As they say, even an old dog can learn new tricks. That is how it goes, right?

Difficulty in Dead Star isn’t a major issue. You can’t choose the difficulty of the game since you’re going up against real opponents, and you can’t just tell them "hey, play like an easy A.I. bot" or something similar. Life doesn’t work that way, sadly. The most difficulty you’ll get is from learning how to play the game and trying to improve your skills against your opponents. Your skill level will dictate the players you’re matched up against, so I guess you could say that as your skill level rises, the difficulty will also. It’s not too big of a deal though, because if you’re improving, you should be fine at that level anyway. Either way, don’t think much of it and just keep playing and practicing. You never know how high you can fly until you give it a try.

Every RPG has some form of customization system. Most MOBAs also feature a way for players to customize their characters, namely through buying items to strengthen them. Dead Star also features several ways for players to customize and get an edge on their opponent. The first is contained in the level up system. Players can unlock other systems for their ship by placing level up points into these systems. This allows you to strengthen your base machine gun, but you can also unlock other abilities depending on your type of ship. Abilities range from missiles and targeting beacons to stealth and healing capabilities. All abilities feature a cooldown timer once used and the machine gun heats up over time, requiring a brief time of cooldown once bar fills completely. You can track cooldowns at the bottom of the screen in the ability icons. Be smart with your abilities guys!

Next up comes the alien ships. Each class features several different types of ships you can choose from and these are the Valant, the Ithid, and the Estari. These alien ships each have their own pros and cons, so players will have to choose accordingly and bring the right ships to the fight. You could also just bring your favorites. The Valant feature heavy weaponry and high offensive capability, allowing you to decimate the front line of the enemy. The Ithid caters more to the stealthy, cunning players. Ithid ships provide cloaking and teleportation devices, allowing for quick maneuverability and heavy flanking potential when used strategically. The Estari are more for the support-minded players, featuring high healing capabilities for damaged allies. Don’t think they won’t turn those energy beams on you if you’re an enemy, however. Pick and choose for the occasion and to fit the team composition for success, pilots.

I think Dead Star is a pretty interesting new PvP game. Sure, it’s not as massive or awe-inspiring as some of the other multiplayer games like it, but I think it’s a fresh take on an established genre. You can even cross play with your PC friends and enjoy the game that way as well. Give the game a chance and you’ll probably find it interesting also. Oh, but you might want to recruit some friends to fly with you. Like any multiplayer game, playing solo can get frustrating at times. Besides, everything’s more fun with friends, yeah?