First Impressions - S.D.G.T. (XBLIG)

As most of you already know I have had the Xbox 360 indie game "S.D.G.T." listed on my future reviews section for quite some time now. At one point I did take it down though, because I thought the developer had abandoned it. As it turns out the the peer review process took longer than expected for this game, and was released later on due to the process. After I finally got my hands on a review copy of the game I found that there were still some glitches going on within the game's menu systems, and that they were sort of game breaking in nature. I told the developer about this situation, and he has in turn told me that he will be issuing a patch. Upon hearing his response I have decided to hold off on the official review, and just tell you guys what I think about it so far. I'll also talk a little bit about what the game is, and what it offers. I call it my "First Impressions", if you will.

S.D.G.T. is more, or less an RTS shmup. I know that probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but it will once you read what I have to say. Like any RTS (Real Time Strategy) game, SDGT is filled with monetary/resource management as well as weapon upgrades, and objective management. At the heart of the game you'll find that you are controlling a large ship of sorts that has slots for upgradable weapons. These turrets, or weapons can be bought with the payout from resources you gather for assigned contracts. In essence you are shooting space rocks, and enemy spaceships in order to fund weapon upgrades for further contract ventures later on. Initially you do start with two turrets though, so you at least have something to start with.

When I first started playing SDGT I was honestly overwhelmed by all the menu options that were made available. You had menus for contracts, weapons, ship stats, and other things that I cannot remember at this moment. As a reviewer I was thinking I'm definitely going to have to make a outline for this review. There's just simply too much to recall. With that being said though once you actually start playing the game things do begin to make sense, and are fairly easy to do. A lot of your concerns will be on how to manage your ship, and your weapons as poor management will result in an untimely "Game Over".

When it comes to the graphic presentation I think K2 Games did a decent job. The outer space backgrounds definitely stand out as next-gen material. The main ship itself is a little 2D in my opinion, but it works well for the purpose it was created. The various space rocks, and flying spaceships that you have to fend off, and destroy feature a 3D sort of appearance with special effects added to their destruction sequences. The alien ships for example will turn as the fly towards, and away from your ship changing the view of the spacecraft as it does so. Also when something explodes it will do so with a mini cinematic blast. The music on the other hand is quite impressive for an indie title. It has the sci-fi sound about it, and also features thematic tunes from time to time. Overall I think this game has potential. If you are looking for a cheap, and new style shoot'em up then this might be something worthwhile for you to look into getting. Keep in mind though that the game is going to get a patch, and isn't quite perfected just yet. Any menu glitches that you will likely encounter should be fixed when the developer issues the patch. I will leave it at that for now. You can expect a proper review of S.D.G.T. when the game is patched.