Starscape is an interesting game to play, at least in the beginning. At a first glance, it looks like a game of Asteroids on steroids. However, the inclusion of mining, resource management, a story, and a couple of other modes quickly dissuades this thought. Still, the addictive nature of arcade games makes its mark here, though other issues tend to bring the game down.

The game includes a story mode, though it's hardly necessary to enjoy the game. Your ship is pulled into an unknown area of space during a hyper-drive test and is forced into a conflict with a bloodthirsty conquering race known as the Arachnids. While trying to escape, you must find the way back home. The story is mostly a vessel to pull your small ship through various battles while upgrading its abilities and technology, and as such, it isn't terribly deep in itself but it does its job.

You can research technology and build weaponry to add to your ship as you fight the Arachnid and this feature starts out promising, but things tend to drag a little past the halfway point. The capabilities of ships are ambiguous at best: you're supposed to be limited on the amount of equipment you can put on your ship (set by the power of generators installed on the ship) but it's possible to go over without any noticeable consequences. There's also the option to build multiple ships, which I assume is to allow an amount of variety, but there's no point to building more than one ubership - the type that holds all the best equipment.

The story isn't exactly engaging, but it involves managing resources, finding new areas and alien technologies, and rescuing your crew, so it does have a fair amount of content. The people at Moonpod have successfully merged a story mode with a game that has its roots in quick-and-dirty shooting action. Repetition does sometimes rear its ugly head, especially near the end, but the enjoyability of the gameplay itself is good enough to hold it off for some time.

The most important part of a game like this is how the core mechanics and controls of the game perform, and Starscape does really well in this regard. Flying around, destroying enemies and mining asteroids is fun to do, and those features don't have any real problems. The effects are colourful and the action is intense at times. There are small ships of various sizes and power, as well as a bunch of motherships that need a lot of firepower to take down, so variety is not a problem. The gameplay is addictive and entertaining, and for this style of game, that's paramount.

Thankfully, there's more beyond the story mode because it's unlikely to reach the double-digit count in hours of gameplay. The game has Instant Action and Survival modes, both of which are entertaining and embrace the arcade-like gameplay of Starscape exceedingly well. In Instant Action, you're thrown right into combat with an objective to complete, competing against the enemies and a chance for the best completion time. Survival mode contains a lot more meat, however. It throws wave after wave of Arachnid ships at you, each of which gives you resources to collect when you destroy them. Gain enough resources, and you can increase the abilities of your ship and therefore its chances of survival.

Overall, the game plays fairly well, but there are some serious problems. One is the clunky interfaces. Menus aren't very important in this game except during the story mode for customizing ships, and navigating your main ship through space can become a hassle. Considering how often this is done, the problems with the interface become a real problem. The graphics also are lacking, and with a maximum resolution of 800 x 600, things can get very muddy.

Generally speaking, there's nothing great or terrible about Starscape. It's a pretty addictive game that's done a good job mixing progressive- and arcade-style gameplay in its story mode. If shooting things without worrying about all that plot and exploring is your thing, the game's got you covered there as well. It'll keep you playing more and more, and though you may not come away from it with any great feeling of accomplishment or victory, the game is fairly enjoyable. Sometimes that's what it's all about.