Morningstar: Descent to Deadrock

 PC
Metascore
62

Mixed or average reviews - based on 9 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 9
  3. Negative: 1 out of 9
  1. Riot Pixels
    Apr 19, 2015
    38
    Morningstar reminded me of the movie Red Planet starring Val Kilmer: a promising beginning, a speck an intrigue in the middle and a devastating disappointment in the end.

User Reviews

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User Score
5.9

Mixed or average reviews- based on 19 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 19
  3. Negative: 5 out of 19
  1. VeIdrin
    Jun 13, 2018
    3
    Absurde and without inspiration.

    The two main characters were sympathetic, the chemistry was right between them (at the beginning), but as    Absurde and without inspiration.

    The two main characters were sympathetic, the chemistry was right between them (at the beginning), but as the story progressed the more it reversed. The buddy factor was overdone too often and went tedious at some point. Another Son of a *cupcake*, another played off captain card from the captain or improper salutation on him. It gets annoying after some time. Towards the end, when they both totally burst open the limits of teasing each other, I were seriously worried that the two would start hyperventilating and busting a nut, along that cheesy rock music.

    In the beginning, the puzzles and their solutions were still rather macgyver-like and kinda inventive, but in the second half, and especially in the last third of the game, the puzzle design became increasingly absurde, like a best of all MacGyver clichés , which even MacGyver would call far-fetched!.

    I mean, you shoot down the alien drone with one shot, and of course the drone's shell opens and a circuit board fell out remaining undamaged. Naturally, you combine this board with two cables that you just ripped out of an extraterrestrial door, clap it in the electronic box next to a ventilation system (the box, of course, just opened with a screwdriver) and voila you have an interface with LED indicator in which you just type in "shutdown" (in alien language of course) and the fan stops spinning.

    After that, you will, of course, find yourself in an alien repair workshop for out-of-order drones.
    Naturaly, you take the servo board, which you have retrieved from the weapon of a deceased crew member of the other spacecraft, and combine it with two of the log chips (or memory module). The servo module is finished. Just smash it in the drone somewhere. The home-made scanner right along with it. But wait there is something missing, isn't it?. It is not that easy to fix an extraterrestrial drone you must know. The game does not want to make the players look like fools. Of course, you need a power cell, first!
    So you look behind one of the drones. Oh look! There is an opening in the wall. You go through, you see apparature that does something nobody cares, click on it and there you go. Now you have an energy cell. Exactly the right one, naturally. You just smash it in, jump into the now activated Drone and your Magic Navigation Carpet will fly you to your desired destination, back to your crashed ship.

    Of course, you could also spend hours in the extraterrestrial building complex and push some buttons and consoles that kindly were unlocked and also otherwise there were no security precautions.
    Also very nice of the aliens, that they waited to seriously go for you fist, when you sit back in your ship, repaired the ship-engine and so on. and just have the EMP grenade ready to destroy them.

    The first third of the game made a different impression to me, but, at least, when the distress beacon is picked up, puzzles and story going down the drain. It's just uncreative, far too comfortable puzzle design and a completely uninspired story.    … Full Review »
  2. fartheststar
    Sep 2, 2015
    6
    Nice atmosphere, setting, exploration, sound effects. Good narration, albeit maybe a little blase given the dire circumstances - but stillNice atmosphere, setting, exploration, sound effects. Good narration, albeit maybe a little blase given the dire circumstances - but still pretty good for a point and click adventure. The help system is good w/ suggestions from the captain over the radio headset. The puzzles were good without being too hard, although toward the end I did have to consult a walkthrough. Still, pretty fun game despite the confusion.

    The story flies off the rails towards the end as it creates a couple big questions and then leaves them hanging and I lower score from a 7 to a 6 for this and stretching credibility. The motion action at the start and end of the game are excellent and have weight - good for setting the mood initially, and concluding the game with a bang.

    A good, better than average imho, point and click game; just wished story was tighter at the end. And yes, it was fun.    … Full Review »
  3. MatthiasKookah
    Feb 18, 2015
    9
    Remember the good old days somewhere in the beginning of the Nineties? We didn't have gazillions of polygons and shaders, those listtle DOSRemember the good old days somewhere in the beginning of the Nineties? We didn't have gazillions of polygons and shaders, those listtle DOS games have had to make it by providing a good overall atmosphere, and a nice story. The heaven for adventure games. (Fast forwarding) Remember the unexpected rebirth of the genre in browser based Flash games? Especially the "locked room" types where you were alone in a creepy place and had to find clues and tools to escape?

    Okay. Mix these two together and you have Morningstar. This is not a game in shiny armor (so it doesn't have much movemment and action during the game), but it sure has a feeling that will pull you back until you have finished with the whole quest. The main story is a bit of a cliche - stranded in an alien planet, okay. But in the other hand the atmosphere is really cool, the graphics are nice and the ingame ambient soundscapes are giving you the chills. You find items, combine them and use them in the right places, solve puzzles (not too easy and not extremely hard either) to advance.

    Let's see the highs and lows:

    + Great overall atmosphere
    + Nice bunch of tasks and puzzles
    + Excellent intro and outro movies with a superb orchestral soundtrack
    + Chilling ingame ambient music

    - Voice acting is flat sometimes
    - Overall game is too short (even without the clues you can make it in maximum 2-3 hours)

    My rating is 90%. I wanted to give less at first, because it's a nostalgia game with many static screens and a bit too short. But playing it through I have found that it has a great atmosphere that overwrites all my scepticism. And looking at the credits you will find that it is made by a very small group of people (1 writer, 1 general artist-programmer, 1 music artist and 2 voice actors), so I guess it's more than superb work from a really small group of adventure fanatics. Recommended game!    … Full Review »
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