By Liyo Kikon
LOOKING for an action packed suspense game to keep you engaged on your phone? Look no further, Space Marshals 2 is the here! This game has it all - great graphics, awesome gameplay, tons of weapons and gear. Space Marshals 2 is a top-down shooter game with a very simple set of controls and great gameplay. The first version of Space Marshals was a big hit and the developers took all the basic ingredients of the first game and spiced it up to make this masterpiece. It is always a gamble when it comes to making a sequel to a great title, and I’m glad they kept all the good stuff and simply polished it more.
The game starts off with our heroes trapped inside their spaceship which has just been attacked by pirates. The first mission is all about knowing the basic movement of the characters such as sneaking around, shooting and getting used to the controls. Once this short mission is over, they crash land to a nearby planet and this is where they set up their camp after shooting up some more enemies. The base camp is where you will get mission assignments, practise your shooting skills, try out different weapons, heal yourself and more. It is like most role playing games where you can walk around the base and take care of your items.
On missions, you can either go offensive and shoot up everything that moves and get killed in the process or do the smart thing and go for the stealth mode where you quietly walk up behind enemies and take them out one at a time without warning the others, or use silenced weapons to take them out from a distance. I like the first Space Marshals since it reminded me of an old PC game “commandos” where you have to quietly move across enemy lines and take them out one by one. If an enemy is coming towards you, their point of view is shown in the form of a red “radar” and you can hide behind obstacles in “sneak mode” to avoid detection as you plan your timing and study their movements to eliminate them quietly.
When it comes to weapons, there is a huge arsenal to choose from and depending on your style, you can take your pick according to the mission at hand. You can take up to two weapons at a time, along with grenades or rocks. Yes, you can throw rocks but not to hunt down enemies with it, but to be used as a distraction since they always investigate the origin of the noise made by throwing rocks. As for the grenades, you can toss them at the enemy to deal with multiple enemies at once. There are two bars just below the main character which indicates your health and shield. When you take a hit, the shield goes down first and this can be upgraded when you get a better armour or vest and once the shield runs out, the health bar will go down until you find health icons which are usually spread across the map or when you take out enemies, and same goes for the shield. There are also other items which you can find while you are on a mission, such as ammo, grenades, tokens and sometimes you will find weapons as well.
Boss fights are another matter, unlike most games where you go in guns blazing and try to hit the enemy boss as many times as possible, while trying to dodge their bullets, this game requires a bit more thinking as you try to take them out at their weakest moment. This can be achieved either by shooting the boss multiple times or sneak up behind them and shoot them from behind, where they are usually vulnerable. And once a boss is dazed, you simply run up to them and strangle them. The bosses are usually surrounded by their henchmen and it is always wiser to take out the guards first before making the approach for the boss.
With each mission, the objectives get tougher and tougher, but the maps are very well designed and there is always a way to take out the enemies quietly. You just need a little bit of patience and study the enemy movements for the best strike point. And this certainly slows down the gameplay a bit but it does not bring down the fun you can have as you plan your moves.
I have spent countless hours playing this game and I have to say that this is certainly one of the most enjoyable titles for mobile games with awesome re-play value. This game is available for Free (with in-app purchases) on the Google Play Store and it costs Rs. 370 on the App Store for iOS. This game also works well with game controllers for mobile and I would highly recommend you to get one for yourself if you don’t own it.
