A little under two months ago Galaxy on Fire 3 - Manticore showed up on the Play Store for pre-registration. There was no release date announced, but it was obvious the game was coming soon. Well, today is the day. Galaxy on Fire 3 - Manticore is finally available for download. So strap in and get ready to fulfill the role of a bounty hunter searching for fame and fortune.
After six months of availability on iOS, Android has finally received Galaxy on Fire 3 - Manticore. It would appear that Deep Silver FISHLABS was working closely with Google in order to bring the game to Android in time for Google I/O 2017. The developers have reported that Galaxy on Fire 3 – Manticore is taking advantage of the Vulkan graphics standard as well as the tools of Google’s development platform Firebase.
If you are unfamiliar with the Galaxy on Fire series, it is a narrative-driven space action shooter. You will have the ability to pilot various ships and customize their loadouts. Your main goal will be to fight through plenty of intergalactic gangs. The more you defeat, the higher on the totem pole you become.
The gameplay has you using touch controls to pilot your ship. The left side of the screen has a floating analog stick that controls your direction. The right side of the screen has the throttle, which controls your speed. As far as shooting is concerned, this will be controlled by the A.I. by default as it will automatically shoot as long as your cursor remains close to your target. This can be changed in the settings if you would like more manual control over your shooting.
When it comes to the story, you are a new space pirate who is searching for their place in the galaxy. You can expect full voice acting throughout the entire thing, which I found pretty immersive. There are a few lines delivered in a questionable fashion, but in the grand scheme, it wasn't that bad.
Something to keep in mind is that Galaxy on Fire 3 - Manticore is a free-to-play release. This means that you can expect advertisements in the release as well as in-app purchases that range as high as $99.99 per item. These IAPs are used to buy two separate types of currencies. In my eyes, this is not a good sign as you will usually find a paywall in titles that use multiple currencies in this manner.
So what can I say? Galaxy on Fire 3 - Manticore is a beautiful game that will stretch your hardware to the max. There is no arguing that. It is just a shame to see the series take a turn towards high priced IAPs and endless grinding. There is so much more that Galaxy on Fire could do, but I suppose that does not pay the bills.