Manticore: Galaxy on Fire

 Switch
User Score
6.5

Mixed or average reviews- based on 21 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 21
  3. Negative: 7 out of 21

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  1. CraigEchols
    Oct 23, 2022
    7
    Let me start by saying, you shouldn't judge this game as a "typical game." This is what some would call a "filler game" or "loading game." It's a game you buy when you are trying to kill some time or are waiting for your bigger game to finish downloading.

    In that regard, I have more good to say about this game than bad. For starters, the graphics are actually very good. They were so    Let me start by saying, you shouldn't judge this game as a "typical game." This is what some would call a "filler game" or "loading game." It's a game you buy when you are trying to kill some time or are waiting for your bigger game to finish downloading.

    In that regard, I have more good to say about this game than bad.

    For starters, the graphics are actually very good. They were so good that I thought this game used the Unreal Engine, but I was wrong. And it runs very smoothly. With all the activity going on, I never experienced any slowdowns with the game in either docked or handheld mode. Kudos to the developers for putting a lot of attention into the details of the game. The ships look good, the astroids look good, the debris in space looks good. Aesthetically, the game passes the test.

    The combat isn't bad. There is very little depth to it, however. It pretty much is the simplest form of a dog fighting game you can find. The developers did good to add in a "break" control as I think that is a missing feature from many dog fighting games. The barrel rolls harken back to another dog fighting game of memory. The battles are pretty one note thought. Find big bad guy, defeat big bad guy, onto next mission.

    The characters have personality and are voiced, so that makes things fun....at least during the story. In battle, your partners are useless. Not almost. They are useless. I can't recall one AI partner defeating one enemy. It would at least be OK if they talked during battle or made comments here or there, but they only talk when the mission starts, the big baddy appears, and when you defeat them.
    The worst part about this game is the hunting for resources parts. To sum it up, when said mission is done, you fly around an empty space and search for a specific number of intel or ship parts. This is annoying for two reasons: 1) It slows down the game totally and takes away any momentum of the flow of the game from the space battles. Not to mention, the droid, which is supposed to help you, is more infuriating than helping because it lights up when you are a country mile away from any resource so you could be far away from the resource and it still lights up, and 2) I feel like this part was "time off work" day because couldn't they have just replaced the resource searching with side missions that were more fruitful to the style of the game? How about a side mission where you have to compete against your fellow pilots? How about a race? How about where you can protect a fellow carrier ship? How about where you help other pilots in another part of the of the squad? And this is just off the top of my head.

    I'm giving this game a 7 because of the value (if you are going to buy it, buy it on sale). And with few dog fighting games out there (especially futuristic ones), this game isn't bad. It's just not special. But there are many worse games you could get for the price and if you go in with low expectations, you can have some fun with this game.    … Expand
  2. paullylama
    Apr 25, 2018
    9
    Must have for the Switch. I am really happy having a space-shooter with a half-decent story and voice acting. The graphics are nice, the controls are pretty easy to use, and the weapons feel satisfying firing and upgrading is fun. A little nice immersive escape into space. +
  3. Cybersaber
    Apr 23, 2018
    8
    A great budget sci-fi Action game.
    You can't say anything about the game without talking about how good it looks. If your searching an asteroid field for collectibles or chasing pirates through a maze of cargo containers, the game looks great. It has an appropriated Sci-Fi soundtrack that matches well. (Just think of the X series) The voice acting is great and the game is self-aware    A great budget sci-fi Action game.
    You can't say anything about the game without talking about how good it looks. If your searching an asteroid field for collectibles or chasing pirates through a maze of cargo containers, the game looks great. It has an appropriated Sci-Fi soundtrack that matches well. (Just think of the X series) The voice acting is great and the game is self-aware enough to poke fun at it's own silent protagonists. The highlight of the Voice acting is your overly chatty and somewhat crazy AI that quite funny most of the time.
    The missions are what you would expect, protect this giant ship, blow up these little ones, scan these things. The environments they take place in are great have lots of things to crash in to.

    The two biggest problems with the game are the simplified flight controls and the useless wingman.
    The controls don't allow you to roll your ship when you want to. Just a Starfox style barrel roll.
    And your two squad mates do nothing but take up screen space. They don't even talk to you during a mission.

    If you are up for a simple, fun romp through space you can't go wrong at this price.    … Expand
  4. TheProGamer-
    Apr 21, 2018
    7
    The game actually turned out really well on the Switch. The game is a port from a mobile game and one of the better ports I've seen moving from Mobile to Console. It has the ability to kill time in portable mode on the Switch but it isn't something I would sit down at home and play, especially when you can complete it in a few hours.
  5. Soulreaper55123
    Apr 23, 2018
    9
    The game is everything I expected it to be coming from the beloved Galaxy on Fire series, the only thing that I would have liked to see is an implementation of tilt controls or at least rebindable buttons to switch the left and right joystick configurations, other than that, well done Koch Media it was worth the wait!
  6. SamKecal
    Aug 20, 2018
    3
    This game (on Switch) was big disappointment for me. Mission are repetative without any invention, but that would be still good if you take nice graphic and price in consideration, unfortunatelly authors tried to replace fun with meaningless amount of enemies followed by very boring explore of restricted areas. When i realize, that ordinary bandit has literally hundred times more shipsThis game (on Switch) was big disappointment for me. Mission are repetative without any invention, but that would be still good if you take nice graphic and price in consideration, unfortunatelly authors tried to replace fun with meaningless amount of enemies followed by very boring explore of restricted areas. When i realize, that ordinary bandit has literally hundred times more ships available than military, spawning without any concept just to made fight annoying, all fun was gone.… Expand
  7. BearDollars
    Nov 3, 2018
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I couldn't make it very far in this game. The story is fluff. The game world is drab. The action is fine but extremely short-lived as compared to the painful grind of the exploration missions. This game is mostly flying around broken-up spaceships for 20 minutes trying to find parts or materials just so you can continue to upgrade your ship for the next 2-3 minute dog fight.… Expand
  8. Mizuiro
    Jul 25, 2020
    1
    The previous games were great.. open world , trade, freedom and no **** grinding for getting new spaceships. This is linear game and so boring.
  9. Polarisao
    Nov 2, 2019
    3
    I played galaxy on fire 1&2 on ios/android so loved the franchise. Hearing it was coming on switch excited me so. knowing they changed developers made me weary but the reviews online said its still enjoyable.... Such youtubers won't be trusted again. This game is boring, not the same fun, shooting game with side jobs and rogue elements. It's just such a downgrade. It didn't have to be theI played galaxy on fire 1&2 on ios/android so loved the franchise. Hearing it was coming on switch excited me so. knowing they changed developers made me weary but the reviews online said its still enjoyable.... Such youtubers won't be trusted again. This game is boring, not the same fun, shooting game with side jobs and rogue elements. It's just such a downgrade. It didn't have to be the same game as the phone game but it doesn't add anything unique, challenging or fun. Nothing kept me engaged you are just shooting lasers...... even upgrading your equipment is lazy. Such a lazy disappointing game. I'm glad I got it on sale just a waste of monies.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

29
#29 Most Shared Switch Game of 2018

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
69

Mixed or average reviews - based on 20 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 20
  3. Negative: 3 out of 20
  1. Eurogamer Italy
    May 8, 2018
    70
    With an immediate control system and a gameplay easy to master, Manticore – Galaxy On fire will satisfy and entertain fans of the genre looking for a shooter that's not too challenging.
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  2. Nintenderos
    May 8, 2018
    65
    Manticore: Galaxy on Fire is a space action game where we have to accomplish assignments in a mercenary corps, leaving the story in the background. Its direct action, a decent gameplay and good visual fluidity are the only things that can be highlighted in a title that ends up becoming repetitive and cold in most of its aspects.
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  3. CGMagazine
    May 6, 2018
    45
    If you were hoping for the new Star Fox or Eve Valkyrie, this isn't it. Instead, its the only game I've ever played that managed to make shooting lasers in space boring.
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