I’m still on my long and arduous journey looking for a worthy successor to the 2001 masterpiece that was Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader. In this day and age, we can’t expect AAA publishers to come up with a big-budgeted version of something as niche as a space combat game, so we gotta stick with indies and AAs to get what others are too financially afraid to tackle. Deep Silver tried last year with Manticore: Galaxy on Fire, a former mobile title ported to the Switch. It’s now time for Blowfish Studios to attempt to take the crown with Subdivision Infinity DX, which is, well, another former mobile title ported to the Switch.

It’s hard to talk about Subdivision Infinity DX without constantly reminding myself about Manticore, even though each game stands out in different ways. Subdivision clearly looks better, boasting a very high framerate and some nice motion blur effects even when playing on portable mode. The ship designs and overall environments are also top-notch, even though we’re talking about a game originally meant to run on a smartphone. It looks decent enough, but it’s not jaw-dropping in any shape or form.

The overall gameplay takes a lot of inspirations from Rogue Squadron, but the missions are much shorter, and feature a leveling-up and equipment system that turn the game into a grindfest after a while. You’ll need to replay missions a few times in order to get enough cash to buy better weaponry and ships, as the difficult curve gets steep pretty quickly. That’s probably a relic from its mobile origins, but instead of paying to get better equipment, you’ll just need to grind. I’ll take that as a positive, though.

The controls are also a bit weird, as you can strafe, for some weird reason. Unlike other simpler space combat titles, you need to constantly press the ZL button to accelerate. There is also a reverse function, as if you were driving a car instead of piloting a ship in outer space. The controls are bizarre, but you can definitely get used to them after a while.

So far, everything in the game has been either good or just “fine”, but if there’s one aspect in which Subdivision Infinity DX fails miserably, that is its sound department. There is no voice acting. There are basically no sound effects besides a few explosion noises every now and then. Your ship is as silent as it can be, but I doubt this was an intentional nod to the fact that there shouldn’t be any sound within the vacuum of space. Finally, the soundtrack is just plain bad. Comprised of a handful of upbeat electronic tunes, it just doesn’t fit with the whole “epic space combat” vibe the game is trying to provide. I just ended up playing the game on mute while listening to a John Williams playlist on my computer.

Subdivision Infinity DX has its moments. It looks fine and it runs pretty well, especially on handheld mode, but there’s just not a lot in it to captivate you for long periods at a time. Owing to its mobile origins, it’s a game best enjoyed in very short bursts, playing a couple of missions at a time, or just until you die due to the steep grinding curve. Which is usually after a couple of missions anyway…

 

Graphics: 7.5 Really impressive visuals for a former mobile game, as are the framerate and cool motion blur effects. Although it still looks less realistic than Rogue Squadron II, a game from 2001.	Gameplay: 6.0 Even though the controls are very responsive, the button layout is just too weird and unintuitive. You can get used to them after a while, however.
Sound: 3.5 The upbeat electronic soundtrack just doesn’t fit very well with the epic space battles happening onscreen. The game is also pretty much devoid of actual sound effects.	Fun Factor: 7.0 It’s a nice game to play in short bursts, as its missions are brief and somewhat replayable. You’ll constantly replay them due to the game’s grindy nature, a relic of its mobile origins.
Final Verdict: 6.5

Subdivision Infinity DX is available now on PS4, Xbox One, PC and Switch.

Reviewed on Switch.

A copy of Subdivision Infinity DX was provided by the publisher.