Galaxy on Fire 3: Manticore gamescom Preview

Micheal Krach, Head of Deep Silver FishLabs, says that the company is all about bringing the best graphical experience available to the mobile platform. It’s why the company is showing me Galaxy on Fire 3 – Manticore blown up onto a wide-screen television – to show that a game made for mobile can still look great on a high-definition screen.

Fishlabs aren’t wrong, either. Its space-based action game, which sees the player take control of a mercenary in the middle of a galactic conflict, does indeed look good on the big screen and positively fantastic when ported to a mobile’s smaller dimensions. Your spacecraft, controlled by the haptic touch of your thumbs, can wheel around gigantic stations and battleships, boosting, turning and banking at will. At your side are two wingmen who will protect you and take on enemy ships as your foes try to engage you.

A social element comes into play with these wingmen – they’re plucked from among the ranks of other Galaxy on Fire players, so it’s totally possible to have your buddy’s ship and pilot at your side, even if they’re not playing the game. Each wingman also comes with their own weapons, buffs and debuffs too, meaning they’ll boost you during tough battles and do their best to cripple boss’ ships.

Boss battles can be made easier by the gathering of intelligence from informant enemy craft. Once you’ve blown them out of the sky you’ll glean a snippet of information about the eventual boss you’ll face – whether they have particularly tough shields but weak armour or what kinds of weapons will work best against them. Combat itself is fairly simple for newer players as there is an auto-aim and auto-fire option - simply align your ship within a target reticule and blast foes to pieces. These can be turned off for more challenging gameplay, however.

The studio has recorded more than 20,000 lines of dialogue and audio for the game, and FishLabs is keen to stress that Galaxy on Fire isn’t some cash cow that players will have to fork out cash for to win. It wants players to complete the story they’ve crafted for them. The game is completed by a suitably stirring sci-fi soundtrack, as well as your usual affair of zips, zaps and fizzing laser effects.

In-app purchasing will allow FishLabs to expand quickly if needed, too, and there is a lot planned in the future after the game’s release (scheduled to be around the end of August 2016). From small content additions like ships and weapons to larger and more complex game modes or core functions, FishLabs are hoping to keep the Galaxy on Fire story going for a long time yet.