BADA Space Station Review: An Arena of Brutes, AI, and Aliens Battle for Victory and Blood

My playthrough of this game might have disappointed my audience, my family, and myself, but the game definitely did not disappoint me.

BADA Space Station is full of action while you battle it out in a floating arena. Each Marketeer has a special ability that gives you an advantage in the arena. The four Marketeers currently in the game are all pretty cool. While I only got the chance to test out two of them I was impressed with the abilities and fun they offered. As you are fighting for your life in the arena you also get to hear the banter between two very funny commentators that are watching the game, and trust me, they’ll let you know how they really feel about your performance.

What is BADA Space Station?

The idea of the game is that you are playing an arena-style game fighting off waves of enemies in a space arena. Think roman gladiators, but in space with guns. The team of developers over at Terahard describes the game as:

BADA Space Station is a Third Person, 1-4 Player Action, Arena game. Become one of four extraordinary Marketeers, each with unique abilities, play styles, expansive skill trees, and tons of personalisation options. ALL Marketeers are capable of dishing out extreme havoc alone, but together they are truly a force to be reckoned with. Become the embodiment of pure chaos in over 10 unique Arenas, each more challenging than the last, and slaughter waves upon waves of enemies with amazing A.I.

terahard

There is a little part in here that makes the game stand apart from many others in its genre… personalization options. They aren’t kidding with this either. The game has lots of ways to add to the Marketeer you like so they fit the style you want to play. As you play the game you are able to unlock more and shop for customization abilities letting you go in different directions of fighting style.

The Office

The first order of business is the office area. Here you will choose a character to take into the arena. You have four options:

• The Brute: A once humble and primitve traitor, he found great power when a special meteorite exposed him to a radiation substance that turned him into a huge beast.
• The Puppeteer: Coming from the garbage astroid belt that is not too far away, this creature is a combination of many things. It has learned to adapt to the cruel void that is space.
• The Scavenger: A glorious and powerful race was devastated when the Testosterocalypse changed the solar system. Instead of power, these creatures were turned into ugly monsters that now have to scavenge the galaxy. But be warned, they can make anything a weapon.
• The Gynoid: Far from the rest of the galaxy hides the A.I. core of the cyborg. They are one of the only things that can survive in such a dangerous region. These A.I. know only one thing: destroy the galaxy

For each warrior, you can see stats like health, shield, overheating, melee, and more. These all affect how you want to play. Do you want to go more tank style and dominate with brute power or fly above the battlefield using guns? Depending on your personal style you can pick the right one for you.

Each character also has special abilities on top of these. For example, Scavenger has a Q that throws out a Magnetic Oversurge, pulling enemies in and then dealing insane damage to them. He also has a button that tosses out a turret which begins shooting nearby enemies. As you play these characters you will start to see more abilities being added that help benefit them. Some will be active abilities you must trigger, while others are passive.

Once you have established which of these fearsome warriors will go into battle with you, you can choose to visit the shop and purchase any additional resources you may need.

You will see a variety of perks here that can assist you in battle. Some perks assist the entire squad giving buffs to all members, others increase your personal shield and health, and some help with specific tasks like controlling overheating issues. This is where personal customization comes into play. If you want to make someone even more of a tank you have the option to just go crazy on the health.

I think the shop items are pretty cool. I was reading through them and it looks like there are great options for whoever you choose to play as. You can go in all different directions here to make it personal to you.

I do want to add one thing about customization. The first round I played I had no clue the shop existed, or that characters could be more complex. I just selected someone at random and jumped in and still had a great time. While many gamers enjoy detailed games I know that some people don’t want to mess with all that and just want to play the game. If you are someone who just wants to play, you can totally do that in this game. I still enjoyed it before I knew about any of these additional options, so don’t be turned away if this sounds too complicated.

The Arena

With your options locked in, you can now go ahead and get into battle, which is the main focus of the game. The enemies come in waves as you fight them off. At first, they come in as melee and you can get close and personal. Eventually, you will start seeing them flying and shooting from afar. These enemies will need to be taken out with a ranged weapon. They have red lasers that aim at you from the sky, which allows you to be aware that you need to be on the lookout for ranged attacks.

Once you’ve handled these threats, bigger things will start coming into the arena. Some things will sit farther back and drop huge blasts on the field, while others come in the form of boss-like characters that have a lot of health. You will get chased around by these bosses while more enemies are spawning. If you stand still for too long a horde will be on you before you know it and you will be mad dashing to safety.

The maps do have some interaction on them. There are places to teleport away to another zone, but be cautious, since the enemy can also use these teleporters. Explosive barrels line the walls and rooms of certain places that will blow up when shot. If you are able to get enough of a train going and run them by these barrels and shoot it from a distance you can wipe out a big group all at once. The arena I played had multiple levels you could climb to. When the ground got too crowded and I needed to fall back I could make my way up higher and get away for a second. I was impressed with the design of the arena.

I personally enjoyed the combat. While some things are still being worked out it felt smooth for the most part. Occasionally a mob would glitch out or not react correctly, but it was rare and also to be expected in a playtest. The overall concept is strong and something I could see sinking lots of time into; either solo or with a full squad of friends. Combat didn’t feel as repetitive as wave-based arenas sometimes get. It felt new with each new wave of bigger and stronger enemies, and always presented challenges. It was never at the point where I was sitting back relaxed because it was too easy.

Features

The team lists several highlighted features of the game that are to be expected at launch.

• 1-4 player online and local co-op
• 4 awesome characters
• 12 unique arenas
• Over 50 customizable skills
• More LOOT than you can count
• Tons of replayability

From what I’ve seen so far, I would say this is definitely accurate. Upon the full release, I would love to hop back in and check out all 12 arenas as well as the 50 customizable skills.

Final Thoughts

I enjoy arena-type games because of the versatility they offer for any kind of schedule. They can be a quick game of cutting down enemies while on a lunch break or you can spend hours playing all night with friends. The problem I often find is they become a repetitive grind after a while. I didn’t get that feeling with BADA, however. While I didn’t put tons of hours into it, each time I did play it felt like a new game. I respect the effort of the development team to make sure the experience had so many options to keep feeling fresh.

I thought the commentary while playing the game was genius. Playing too slow and trying to hide from enemies? The commentator is ordering a coffee and telling the people backstage how boring this is to watch. Playing a great game and hitting all the combos? They are hyping you up and joking with each other while keeping the mood light. It was honestly super fun just listening to those two go at it the entire game

I think the game has great potential and I would love to try it out with a full lobby of friends when it officially releases. I hope the team stays on track with the level of detail they have been giving and completes the project to its fullest potential. If you are looking to pick up a new game, keep an eye out for the release of BADA Space Station.

Check out the game on Steam or follow the developer’s website for more details