Space Legend: Battle for Eternity review

Developer: Novarama Technology, S.L.

Price: Free
Version: 1.0.3
App Reviewed on: iPad Air 2

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Overall Rating:

Sometimes, you just want a mobile game that is light enough for you to play while you're doing something else. I'm not sure Space Legend: Battle for Eternity had that specifically in mind when it was designed, but it is a game that fills that space quite nicely. With a pretty fair free-to-play model, charming ship designs, and some interesting concepts, Space Legend is a great thing to open up and play while watching tv or waiting for the bus.

A legend is born

In a nutshell, Space Legend, is kind of a tapper in the vein of Clash of Clans, but involves you building fleets of ships rather than a town. You'll start humbly with a lowly transport ship, but you'll quickly earn currency from transporting people to earn more and more ships.

From there, you can start upgrading your ships, trading out for new ones, or even buying the ability to have another fleet. Managing all of this is a little wonky because Space Legend's menu system takes some getting used to, though it ends up feeling natural after just a short time with the game.

How to be legendary

There is no expressed goal in Space Legend, and that's kind of the beauty of the game. You can explore the galaxy, ship cargo, transport people, or even be a space pirate. Each of these things yield their own rewards, though you likely won't specialize in any of these things. Space Legend offers incentives for players to do a little bit of everything through its mission system, which can reward you with bonus currency.

Most of the action in Space Legend boils down to sending your ships between planets and star systems and waiting for them to get there via timers, but this mostly feels fine because travel times are never particularly outrageous and there's just enough character to each star system to make exploring and bouncing between them feel meaningful.

Battle forever

Another interesting thing about the timers in Space Legend is they don't prevent you from continuing to use your ships while they are going. In fact, during transit is when the game's online component kicks in. Any player fleet in transit in Space Legend can be attacked at any time by any other fleet.

Combat in Space Legend is a pretty simple affair, with players choosing which ships from their fleet should enter the fray and giving some commands via a card system. Victory in combat will grant you currency based on the value of your targets, and losses only result in having to make repairs at the next space port you land at. While I'm generally not a fan of games that let other players attack you while you aren't playing the game, Space Legend's system avoids being annoying because its not overly punitive to anyone that loses a lot and it lets players that are diligent about landing their ships stay relatively safe.

The bottom line

Space Legend isn't the deepest game out there, but it offers plenty to do without a whole lot of restrictions. As a result, it makes ruling the galaxy feel like a relaxing and fun pursuit.