Space Elite Force II

Space Elite Force II
N/A
Metacritic
89
Steam
60
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$4.99
Release date
3 February 2020
Developers
Publishers
Steam reviews score
Total
89 (84 votes)

Space Elite Force II is a frenetic space-shooter with weapon customization and insane bosses battles. Embark in your ship and fight for the survival of the human race!

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Space Elite Force II system requirements

Minimum:

  • OS: Windows 7/8/10
  • Processor: DualCore 2.0 Ghz+
  • Memory: 4 GB RAM
  • DirectX: Version 10
  • Storage: 500 MB available space
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𓂀 𓅂 Zac Starfire 𓅂𓂀
𓂀 𓅂 Zac Starfire 𓅂𓂀

It's okay, but I prefer original 80s/90s retro games which has better gxs than this modern game.

No mouse support which is very annoying. Also installing upgrade isn't very intuitive - I've got upgrades, but for some reason I cannot install them.

breakthrough
breakthrough

Playing the first game made me think the dev was just inexperienced. This sequel makes me wonder if its a cynical almost-scam. The game runs without glitches and you can't claim that there are not 4 upgrade branches, but it seems almost intentional that only 1 branch is even remotely viable. Add in the obvious laziness that you can't choose to use a keyboard if a controller is plugged in or even turn off the vibration, and it seems like he was phoning it in.

The gameplay is OK. But you can do way better than just OK even in free games. Don't buy the pixelated shmup bundle, Stellar Interface is the only worthy one.

Bapabooiee
Bapabooiee

I'm really lukewarm about this game, and its prequel, Space Elite Force 1.

I thought the first game was solid for 1 or 2 playthroughs, but was fundamentally a bit uninspired and lacked replay value. This sequel takes the slightly bland feeling up a couple notches, and noticeably has more moments of very little happening, and uncreative and borderline recycling of boss firing patterns where you barely have to tilt your joystick while waiting to whittle down a giant health bar. The upgrade tree, like in the first game, also still has a bunch of paths that are pretty much useless too, so any individual run leaves you with few interesting choices to make.

This game is by no means a lazy cash grab, at all, but it really just feels lacking. I had to quit playing after I became apathetic, and died due to just playing sloppily, and now I have no desire to ever launch it again.

Randy1971
Randy1971

This is sooo much better than Space Elite Force 1 .. Major improvements made. Cleaner, clearer. Fairer. Great action. Great Graphics. Just Skip Part 1 and buy this one .. Man this is a great game!!

demuN
demuN

Awesome game, better then the first one, i will wait for the III

Lugubrious
Lugubrious

Play Steredenn instead, this is a bad boring clone of it.

Saphéry
Saphéry

The waves of enemies are well balanced and the difference between weapons is subtle.
Enough level to don't finish it too quickly. Good fun for a value game. I love it!

nyoom
nyoom

It's just...there are no words to describe the improvement since the first Space Elite Force.

(PS: It's EVEN MORE fun if you have a Steam Controller!)

Samvega
Samvega

Fun space shoots bang bang. Not too hard on normal mode but it certainly throws some things at you that you have to play around carefully. It's fun to upgrade and make more bang bang in space.

Ickie•°(>N<)
Ickie•°(>N<)

"This game is the price of a Fancy Cup Of Coffee!"
..Mega improvement over the First Space Elite!,these Games are again so cheap,they are practically free.They need your support by purchasing it,and that will lead to an even better Space Elite 3 :P Happy days!
A Jets & Guns wannabee it is but thats not a bad thing now is it! :)

Offlein
Offlein

This is so much better than Space Elite Force I

JFF44
JFF44

It's Fun, and It's cheap especially at a 70% discount price, I almost felt bad for grabbing cheap games from Indie Devs, but feel like I am an A-ss for not supporting them instead

It's and upgrade from the previous game too, if you love the first one, you will like this one too

Not sure is that a bug or it is supposed to be, so say if you die in the middle of the mission and you are Revived, most of the times I get "Teleported" to the Boss fight immediately

Lusoking
Lusoking

Que grande moca!!!
Já não me divertia tanto ha muito tempo!
GREAT GAME, so much fun!!

skookiesprite
skookiesprite

This is a super fun, really short, sidescrolling space shooter. I think I beat it in about 3 hours (I screwed up and deleted my original save file halfway through), which isn't really enough space to develop true, agonizingly punishing bullet-hell enemies and patterns, but for $5, I had a great time. Hopefully the next one will be much longer - I'll be looking forward to it.

kerrakresta
kerrakresta

Shocked to see only positive reviews for this game.As I said in my SEF1 review, I'm easy to please when it comes to retro pixel games, but this sequel is no better than the first game.
Still boring, repetitive, too easy and nothing new, in fact it feels like a slight rehash of the first game with a barely anything new to get excited about.
The arcade mode can be fun if you want to compete for the high score but that's about it.
You are better off playing Super Hydorah on STEAM or Gradius on the NES.

Mr. Juvel Nebunu'
Mr. Juvel Nebunu'

A nice arcade game , great ost , reminds me of the games from '90-'00 . The levels are well designed and the backgrounds are gorgeous . Recomended . 10/10 .

Barefoot2000
Barefoot2000

great game. but not quite a Super Hydorah by a long shot. we need more side scrolling space shmups!

swordbladez
swordbladez

I played the first one and had a lot of fun. This took everything I loved about the first (the power up system, full controller support, and fast paced shooter action) and just amped it and made it even smoother. The levels are less repetitive and the enemy patterns smarter. The garage system comes up after death rather than only after level complete so you can get through levels usually right away. The whole experience is just more fun and is a great addition to any game library! :3

erilun06
erilun06

its just a really good game
can recomend to anyone

retro feel 10/10

Apc7th
Apc7th

Fun game, Ill welcome a part 3

Arcade Buster
Arcade Buster

Controller recognition in this game absolutely fails. The first time I ran the game, I was playing on my X-input arcade stick, but the game wouldn't let me select any upgrades between levels. I then rebooted the game and played with my 360 controller, but when I got past menu navigation and got into the first stage, the controller stopped working--had to use the keyboard instead. The game is literally unplayable at this point.

Besides the controller problem, the game seems very similar to the first one--perhaps, a little too similar. If you want more of the first game, then give it a shot; if you dislike the first game, then forget about it.

protometanecro
protometanecro

Awesome challenge and fun upgrades. Music is great, mechanics are standard. Progression is a blast! Packs a few nice surprises.

Doc Angelo
Doc Angelo

Eh... this one is really on the border between recommendation and not recommending it. It's an okay enough game at that price. However, it is a blatant copy of Steredenn, the enemies and boss ships are almost verbatim copied, alot of the game mechanics are copied, and in those cases where it is not a copy, it doesn't really work out all too well. Also, it is just an updated version of the first game, not really a second game. And for that, it seems not really finished or polished. On top a few bugs.

Meh. But kinda okay for the price.

limelight1210
limelight1210

Had a lot of fun with this one...it's familiar territory once again but that's a good thing.

Graphics are nicely done, a cool rock/electronic soundtrack, lots of good upgrades and achievements, leaderboards for all modes, co-op, extra modes like boss rush and arcade kept me coming back for more. I liked the smaller enclosed levels too (SO glad you don't take damage if you hit a wall here too).

There's a few things I'd like to see in future games in the series...more upgrades, larger/longer campaign, more fun achievements, levels where the whole thing is a boss, (like level 3 from R-type), trading cards, more varied bosses, this game has some enclosed levels which were fun and I'd like to see more of those too.

This series is severely underrated...if you like shmups and progression, buy this game...it's a lot of fun!

stubar
stubar

I had to refund the game as I couldn't play it with my XBOX360 controller. I could navigate the menus but as soon as the game started nothing worked.

Hollow Wizard
Hollow Wizard

Quite a nice game. 100% worth it

Purified_Evil
Purified_Evil

better than the first.

Love the world rankings

weapon selection needs work I think.

Sleek Weezles
Sleek Weezles

Great little 2D side scroller shmup. Art and music match the old school aesthetic. Works great with an Xbox One Controller...I'm a big fan.

Dinkleberg
Dinkleberg

Pair this game up with an arcade stick, even a cheap one, and you got yourself a good time. I've been waiting for a solid arcade style shooter and this is it. very easy to pick up, get started and with the game modes it has, there's no reason to have to play the campaign. Highly recommend it if this is the type of retro game youve been thinking about trying.

Hate Incarnate
Hate Incarnate

i liked this game. it is similar to the first one with some extra's. it was fun to play, and decently priced. a nice little shmup to pass the time.

Sgt.H
Sgt.H

Solid, clean, and with an incredible variety of enemy shooting patterns. This is a good game, crafter with love and care, well balanced and very pleasant to play. I can't understand why games like this one don't have 5 times the number of the steam reviews they have. Well done devs, big big thumb up! With this one it's 3 out of 3 good games I try from of the Shooting Ships bundle, i am impressed.

AvengerActual
AvengerActual

Thought it was great, options were refreshing, and tho its a little short I thought, its great.

Graidius III got me hooked on these games, and this one has variety, challenge, and more,

kreezxil
kreezxil

guaranteed to turn your knuckles white and cause you to lose all feeling in your hands. very well put together game. very rewarding. very addicting!

Super17
Super17

Extremely Fun! Would def recommend to friends and anyone who enjoys a simple shmup thats easy to get into.

Verga.Tron
Verga.Tron

Its a nice shooter game. I played part 1 and this one is an improved version. If you want some nice, good old fun, give it a chance.

Cock Goblin
Cock Goblin

I bought this game based on the positive reviews, but now I feel like they weren't being honest about this game. Just look at the playtime of the top reviews, all under 4 hours, most of them at under 2 hours.

The game is short and has very little replayability. I finished the campaign in under 2 hours with multiple deaths, so it is even shorter than 2 hours if you are good at dodging bullets. The endless mode is just the campaign but you only get to upgrade your ship once at the start. The boss rush mode is as expected (just bosses).

This game has some really nice art and music. The UI is well done too (easy to read when the screen is full of bullets/sfx). The enemies are interesting, as well as their attacks/patterns. The bosses have some cool patterns too. As a top-down shooter, it works and is enjoyable.

BUT the game has some big issues:

1. As far as I can tell, you can't rebind any key (keyboard or controller). The keyboard has 2 ways to play (either wasd or arrow keys for movement, with the other hand controlling the fire/specials/whatever). I played with wasd and while the controls were fine, they weren't ideal. There is a button for fine tuning your movement for tight dodges, but it is bound to left shift (not even right shift) and has to be held down to use - so I never used it because it was so clunky do to so.

2. The upgrades are extremely limiting and the game feels like it was designed with the max upgrade of each item in mind (ie. everything feels underpowered until you max upgrade it). This becomes a bigger issue in the late campaign as the first tier abilities have a lot of trouble killing anything.

3. Only 1 ship to play. Another issue with replayability.

4. There are only 3 special weapons and only one is useful. One gives you a big purple laser beam (you can see it on the animation on the store page) that lasts a short amount of time but does good damage. One gives you a large bomb that clears the screen of bullets and kills things. And one that gives you a shield that protects you from all damage, allows you to ram into bullets/ships to damage/destroy them and lasts longer than the other two abilities. I'll leave you to figure out which one is most useful. But for real - only 3 abilities to choose from?

5. There are some unique/fun pick-ups that drop from a specific enemy, but they don't last long enough or are too situational (thanks to them having a timer and not staying on the screen until you need them). For example, you can drop a healing item, but if you are at full health (because you are good at dodging bullets), then it is useless and you can't save it until later when you take damage as it will 'scroll' off the side of the screen. Or a bonus that doubles the currency you pick-up, which has a very short timer (about 1.5 waves when upgraded) - it is super situational since you cannot control when you use/active it, and it is only useful when there is a ton of currency on the screen. These two pick-ups could easily be changed, for example, the health could give you overhealing, and the currency bonus could apply to x amount of currency picked up (ie. double received for first 20 currency picked up).

6. Homing [weapons] AI is stupid. There are certain enemies in the game that the dev never intended for you to kill ("obstacles"), but the homing weapons will still target them, even if killable targets are on the screen.

7. Achievements are laughable. You get an achievement for unlocking each upgrade in the game. For each boss killed. For each pickup dropped by enemies. If a game cannot create meaningful achievements - then does that mean the game lacks anything worth achieving? IMO, this game should have ~30 achievements tops (kill each boss; kill each boss on elite difficulty, reach x/y/z waves in endless, complete boss rush, maybe a few 'challenging' ones like complete the campaign without dying or complete a boss without taking damage).

If the Devs read this and you decide to update this game (versus just working on the next one), here is a list of things for me to change this review to recommended: bindable keys; more replayability (ie. different ship types; ways to customize the campaign or endless mode); more weapon types or variety; more ways to upgrade a weapon (ie. side grades) or your ship (ie. movement speed); more special items; fix homing ai; longer lasting pick-up items.

eitan270374
eitan270374

I love shoot them up games like that. It was very challenging on elite and very much fun

keal
keal

Hard shooter, but FUN! This game brings a lot of innovative elements to the shooter arena. A must have for pew pew shooty fans!

Night
Night

The sequel to Space Elite Force, a retro shoot 'em up. If you enjoyed the original, this is more of the same. It was worth picking up on sale for $1.24.