Subdivision Infinity DX Review
To infinity and beyond!
We’re in something of a golden resurgence of the space combat genre, but they can sometimes blur together. The latest, Subdivision Infinity DX, takes its inspiration from not just classics of the space combat genre like FreeSpace, but really old school shmups and arcade games as well. It skirts the line between casual shooter and deeper space sim. The result is a fun and sometimes intense shooter with a surprising diversity of things to do.
Taking the role of a jaded merc, you find yourself trapped in a deep conspiracy after taking on what should have been a simple recon job. Subdivision’s plot is largely tongue-in-cheek, if not quite satire. The main character and his robot pal chat between missions and occasionally you trade witty barbs with opponents, but the focus of the game is definitely not on story.
The action is spread across five different star systems, each with around five main story missions and a couple of optional mining missions to earn more loot. The last mission in each system is a boss battle, but missions cover a range of tasks, from simple ‘shoot all the bad guys’ to recon and data gathering. Subdivision doesn’t really stray far from the genre standards, but the fast-paced action and tight controls make it feel just right.
The whole game is played from a third-person behind the ship perspective, presumably to enunciate its arcade roots. There’s no option for an in-the-cockpit first-person view, which is a little annoying. Another problem is despite there literally being waypoints in the missions, failure means having to start the entire level over again no matter how far into it you were.
Through it all, you’ll be blowing up drones, pirates, battleships, dreadnought capital ships, mines, gun emplacements, and other menaces of space life. Subdivision Infinity understands the true joy of space is shooting at stuff and uses a leveling up system to unlock new weaponry in the arms store. Of course, you’ll also need the cash to buy those weapons, so loot gathering is an important (and constant) side mission.
Enemies leave behind valuables, including pieces of ship blueprints and evolving cubes that let you upgrade your current ship. Mining asteroids grants even more resources, which can be used to upgrade each weapon and item for your ship. None of the resource management elements are particularly complex or even time-consuming. Mining levels are actually a fun mix of destroying asteroids and guarding against enemies.
Subdivision Infinity looks excellent. Although it’s not as jaw-droppingly stunning as something like Elite Dangerous, each new location provides plenty of visual spectacle. There’s a particular joy in flying over gorgeous planets, zipping around space stations and mining platforms, or even through massive space bodies. The techno-driven music is, for the most part, well suited to the action, providing a suitably high BPM to go with the space carnage.
Whether you’re playing on the PC or Xbox One X in 4K or taking the game on the go with the Switch, Subdivision manages to look and play great on all fronts. It feels just as playable on the Switch as the PC and proves the system is turning out to be a great platform for space combat.
Subdivision Infinity DX is single-player only and the levels are mostly bite-sized chunks that can be completed in about 15 minutes or less. So, it’s not likely to be a lasting or epic experience like an open universe starship game might be. Sometimes, you just want to go out into the stars and shoot stuff, though, and Subdivision is an excellent game for doing exactly that.
[Reviewed on PC and Switch]