14 DAY TRIAL // 
I should have dropped more efficiency upgrades into the ammo dispenser. Both other members of my crew have picked up projectiles and I am left waiting, inefficiently, while the automated production unit is putting another together. At least both my crewmates are firing on the enemy vessel.
I finally pick it up, walk to the right side gun, load it and start the targeting process. I want to disable enemy weapons and then target any aliens who try to repair them. After all, the hull of my ship is the most important asset we have and as long as no one is shooting at it we have a chance to survive and get to another sector.
This alien ship has a bomb teleporting device but my teammates can quickly deal with these before they explode. I continue to load and fire, switching jobs only to patch up an exterior ship wall. After all, it’s very important to keep all the oxygen inside the ship so we have something to breathe while we shoot at aliens. I just hope that once I win this battle I get to a sector that offers me a new type of weapon or an extra crew member to recruit.
This Means Warp is developed by Outlier, with publishing from Jagex Ltd. I played on the PC using Steam and the game is also offered on the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X and S. This is a science-fiction survival game that’s designed to be played cooperatively.
The narrative setup is slight. A planet gets blown up by aliens and survivors are now living on their ships, searching for those who perpetrated the genocide. Players have to move through sectors and find and defeat enemy bosses, before getting to the mothership to complete their revenge.
Most of the game’s writing is entirely functional. There are moments when decisions pop up and some attempts at humor. But the game is not about exploring the dark feelings of survivors traumatized by the destruction of their world. It’s about cursing Bob when he once again stands in your way when he should be working to repair the ship.
This Means Warp is all about efficiently operating an absurdly complicated spaceship. This is a fictional universe where a machine can create ammunition out of thin air but it’s impossible to create a system that delivers it directly to the weapon that can fire it. A character needs to physically move between the two to carry it, before powering up the weapon to actually shoot.
Every battle encounter sees the player’s spaceship and an enemy one standing nose to nose, with no maneuvering. The idea is to destroy the opponents before they deal too much damage. Target weapons first to disable them, try to then take out crew, make sure to repair your own damaged equipment, and ensure that cracks in the hull do not become permanent. During the longer engagements, emergencies ramp up fast and the level of chaos grows, leading to a nice feeling of achievement when a battle is finally won.
As the game progresses, the complexity level increases. Shields make an appearance and you might be lucky to get a repair bot to keep the ship in good shape. When playing solo, there are opportunities to recruit extra computer-controlled crew members and gamers can assign specific tasks to each. There are also space markets to visit and equipment to scavenge.
When bosses show up, the going gets tough. Their weapons are very capable and they have a load of hull points to chew through. It’s important to minimize damage taken before the ship gets to these challenging opponents. When an enemy has more weapon systems than a player’s own ship, this is hard to do and the procedurally generated nature of the galaxy sometimes delivers a big difficulty spike at the worst moment.
When a run ends, players will get a rundown of their performance and can unlock new equipment to boost their next performance. It’s a good structure for such a combat-focused experience but it can feel a little grindy.
This Means Warp is designed to be played with other players cooperatively. This can happen both locally and online, with the option to have private sessions or open ones. Computer-controlled crew can never perform as well as a group of friends that communicates and coordinates to win battles efficiently.
I like the chaotic nature of the combat encounters. The game’s systems are easy to understand but I had to fail quite a bit before I developed a tactical approach that worked most of the time. But the title’s universe isn’t interesting enough to create any feeling of immersion and the bad crew A.I. makes it hard to enjoy the experience solo.
This Means Warp uses its cartoon-like look well. Characters are cute, even if it’s often hard to see exactly how they are interacting with the ship. Equipment is chunky, designed to look both retro and science fiction inspired. It’s always easy to spot crisis points on the ship, which is important given how quickly hull integrity can go down.
The sound design is a little less successful. There’s no impact to combat sounds and the ship seems more like a toy than a mighty vessel. The soundtrack is decent, infused with sci-fi themes, but it needs more variety to keep gamers from replacing it with SF podcasts.
The Good
- Mix of chaos and competence
- Designed for coop action
- Comedy moments
The Bad
- Limited story
- Computer crew performance
- Forgettable soundtrack
Conclusion
The title’s biggest issue is how repetitive the gameplay loop is. This is mitigated when more than one player is involved. But a solo game with computer companions will be frustrating. Get This Means Warp if you have a group of friends who like science fiction and ship-to-ship combat and are ready to get together for some controlled chaos and some laughs.
A review key was provided by the publisher
