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0 Have you ever wanted to be a part of an alliance? Now is your chance to partner up with your feathered friends, take to the skies and end the reign of the evil boss Meowza in Steambirds Alliance. The title is brought to you by co-developer of Realm Of The Mad God, Spry fox, and is available for free on the Steam Store. So what are you waiting for? Set the game to download and continue reading!
Gameplay
Steambirds Alliance is a top-down MMO where you control your chosen aircraft to defeat the enemy armies. The aim of the game is to complete all the missions set (at the local pub in the game). By completing the missions you earn XP and level the aircraft you are using up. Along the way you collect power-ups, upgrades, and matter that you can recycle, all this helps upgrade within the game.
There are 14 unique crafts within the game each one has a different look and skillset, you will soon find which one you prefer. Alongside each craft, there is also a skill tree whereby you power up your craft. There are also hundreds of different enemies to fight from minion aircraft to cruel cat boss spaceships.
Now the fun part of the game (the story), you play as a part of the alliance. The alliance is made up of a group of feathered friends and you are under attack from the evil cat warlord Meowza and his armies. With each mission you accept you attack different units within Meowza’s army, some small and some ridiculous. Throughout the completion of the missions, you meet varied characters within the game some of them are very amusing. All of this makes the gameplay really fun and a joy to play (even for cat lovers).
Graphics
Steambirds Alliance is only available PC/MAC, I reviewed the PC version. As the recommended specifications are quite low, the game runs like a dream. The gameplay is extremely clean and despite the screen getting quite busy with all of the minions of Meowza it is incredibly smooth.
Whilst we are talking about graphics I must comment on the artwork used. Steambirds Alliance graphics scream Indie developers. However, the colour palettes used for the environments, enemies and special effects really compliment the gameplay.
Audio
The backing track to the game is looped, meaning you get the same track over and over again. I must add that it is seamless so you don’t notice it and let’s be honest with games like this the backing track is not what you take the most notice of. As its a top-down shooter you tend to focus more on the special effects, I am talking about explosions and the sound effects of the different types of weapons.
I feel there is a fine line between too much noise with games like Steambirds Alliance and too little. Personally I think this game is well balanced, not too much background noise so you cant focus on what is happening. But, at the same time, it’s not over the top with special effects which makes grinding levels on this game easier.
Longevity
In terms of longevity, this game has hours and hours of gameplay. There are a lot of missions to work your way through, but at the same time, there is just free play where you can spend hours scavenging. It also takes time upgrading your way through all of the aircraft’s available in the hanger, as with each aircraft there is also a skill matrix.
I think Steambirds Alliance is also one of the games you would pick up randomly and have a multiplayer with friends, the game dynamics are extremely easy to get used to.
Conclusion
I sometimes find when reviewing free games you have to cut them a little slack, after all, they aren’t charging you for the base game. However, I only found out this game was free when looking it up on Steam before finishing this review. I personally would pay money for this game, it has hours and hours of gameplay. Not only does it have these hours but they are extremely enjoyable. I have always loved the traditional side-scrolling flying games, I think the first one I purchased was Life Force for the NES. Games like Steambirds Alliance are a nice modern homage to the games we used to play.
Steambirds Alliance is a fairly simplistic game. However, due to the amount of content available it definitely left me wanting to explore more. I would definitely love to revisit this game with friends and play some multiplayer co-op, although the game is great to pick up solo I imagine it’s even better with friends.
I award Steambirds Alliance a Thumb Culture Silver Award!
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
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