Habitat Preview
Coming from TerraTech to another modular game - but in space - I had mixed expectations. Habitat isn’t Lego-in-space as I was hoping - but different doesn’t mean bad. It’s a curious game in this Early Access build, but the core of it is intact and more challenging, but also more fun.
You’re given a space shuttle and told to construct a place for the entire human race to live, due to the fact there are nanobots currently taking over the planet. How do you build a habitat though - mine asteroids? Research and build using an energy replicator like in Star Trek? Nope - you have to use the junk currently orbiting Earth and attach it to your shuttle.
The junk is varied and pretty much all useful; there are shipping containers, cruise ships, food trucks, lasers, rocket launchers and much more. And of course, boosters of varying sizes. Oh, did you expect literal junk? You must make your little space engineers fly over and drag these odds and sods to your habitat as it grows, and weld them in place - each bit only having set parts that can be welded to. Each part will slowly build your overall Omni, Electricity and Fuel, varying amounts of which are required to power everything. Quite how these cyborg Statue of Liberty heads, flame-throwing t-rex and interstellar marine ships got into orbit we may never know - nor do we need to.
The reason you will need weaponry is to fight the clouds of nanobots who come after you, firing… things… at you. This is where things can get dicey - if you haven’t positioned a laser or cyborg Statue of Liberty head in the right place, you will need to turn your habitat - which gets slower the larger you make it. You can delay the attack if you’re smart, however.
While one was coming for me, I sent one of the replaceable space engineers off with a second habitat - made by splitting off at least one living space attached to one other thing, this one had a thruster attached. As it was a turnable thruster, I could aim it perfectly and - like a member of the X-Men - he careened right for the nanobots. They collided and bounced off of each other - the habitat spiralling off to the left and the nanobots flying backwards. So I steadied the damaged habitat - being repaired all the while by my X-Man - and sent it again. Upon collision this time the bus was destroyed, but my man was safe - so I sent him back to the main habitat while I resumed turning it, now safe in the knowledge I had an extra five minutes to turn. This proved invaluable as I managed to get into position just in time to turn my laser on and blast the nanobots.
The weapons all have a limited area of effect, even the tanks. The missiles or explosives detonate after a certain distance and the lasers or flames only reach so far. It leads to a need for tactical thinking, or luck if you manage to turn just a little bit and fire a missile, destroying a cloud long before it gets near you. There are space stations in orbit, but they are harmless unless you attack them first. So you can get your weapons into place before you approach - or even while you approach.
Each piece is detailed well; the wrecked aircraft fuselage is burnt, you can see wires out of the t-rex heads and the burger joints look straight from restaurant games. The Earth spins in the background, with each continent present and detailed - unless you get too close with the zoom. However everything you need is in orbit, so you will never need to approach the planet. And by orbit, I mean orbit - the entire planet is surrounded by the things you will need to use, not just a single section of orbit. You should also avoid getting too close to Earth otherwise you will explode...
The music is limited, but suits the mood of the game, and the chatter of your engineers lets you know when things are being repaired, they are moving into position or when something has damaged your habitat. When it gets larger, it can be difficult to see which part has hit junk, especially when you assign keys to thrusters or weapons.
When Habitat gets updated more, it will be well worth the asking price. There is no save facility yet, but Steam allows screenshots with F12 so you can show people your creations without saving. An end objective or set missions will improve it past a fun sandbox game.
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