**********Give Away and Video Review*************
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZogN4qpqRY&feature=youtu.be
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Where do I even begin with Stadust Vanguards? The cool music and sounds? The fast paced gameplay? The well balanced and awesome multiplayer? To put it quite simply, Stardust Vanguards is amazing. Very seldom does a game come around that immediately grabs you in and feel this awesome.

I'll go ahead and start with the sounds of the game which are a nice mix of original sci-fi sounds and a very well orchestrated mix old school bit music. While slicing and gunning your way through other players and AI combatants you'll hear lightsabre like hums, a mass of blips as you rain down attacks with your blaster. When events or cool combos are unleashed an announcer ques in with exciting energy, and overall the sound FX are engaging enough to let you know they're there, without being distracting or annoying. The music as well has this cool classic arcade feel that sounds familiar yet unique. It sounds like a mixture of various soundtracks from Gundam mixed with tones akin to Streetfighter, Dragonball Z, and Ape Escape.

Like the sound, the graphics and presentation do a great job as well. The game is presented in 16-bit graphics and they sure pack a lot of animation and detail to make it look fluid and nice. If you like old school graphics then you won't have any complaints here. Even with each player unleashing their fleets and duking it out on screen the frame rate remains steady. Each pilot is color coded, and their caricatures and features have a good level of difference in menus and in game head shots. The models themselves appear to be the same other than the color differences which is probably for the best to avoid advantages in size and features. A cool animation that occurs when fighting is the clash system. Whenever two players swing swords at one another they will clash with a large blip bursting from the point of action. When an enemy is destroyed they explode in a large blast leaving a plume of smoke in their wake. It really makes the fights look impressive and gives a good sense of power. Overall the graphics do the job very well and it doesn't feel like upping to 3D models would enhance the game in any way.

Moving onto gameplay, which is not only the most important factor for any game, but also the best part about this game. To describe this game in one word, "Fun". This game is pure, unrelenting fun. Myself and other members of the team were all amazed with just how great and intuitive it actually felt through it's different stages and modes. With friends is definitely how this game should be played. You'll banter and cheer eachother as the b attle rages on, and in our experience even if we lost, it was gripping to watch the remainder of each battle. The controls are great with or without a controller and come fairly naturally with very little practice. You'll quickly rise and fall from the lead position and have a blast doing so. In one very redeeming moment I personally was on the losing end of life count and behind on wins but even then I was able to fight back and claim the match. The game feels intense and fast paced while still allowing you to focus. When someone unleashes a storm of missiles, you can slash a few back with your sword before making an attempt to escape. Colliding swords while boosting into each other results in a massive knock back forcing both people into opposite directions. You can try to swing your sword like a madman and get lucky, but if you watch your opponents moves and look to parry and follow up, you're almost assured the kill. While the battle rages on, pirates will constantly invade the battleground and force players to make the decision to keep fighting one another or to team up against the pirates instead. If you live long enough you can call in your own support fleet that acts much like the pirates. This makes for some very interesting actions and can lead to aggressive sneak attacks and betrayal. After unlocking custom mode though you can choose to turn the pirates off along with many other different settings. Ultimately you can make the game play like you want it to.

Don't mistake this praise of multiplayer for a bad single player experience. In single player you have the same speed and action but against waves of pirate ships. There are three different difficulties as well as a endurance mode that goes until you die whilst ramping up the difficulty each wave. The single player is very fun much like the multipayer and has a rewarding sense of accomplishment as you push on. It never seemed like the game was overly difficult or broken; if I died, it was my mistake, and my obstacle to overcome. The more you play, the better you get, and really shows that a level of skill is hardened s you go along.

In conclusion, I couldn't be more impressed. If I had any complaints, it's the lack of a "replay" button after each battle, and no online gameplay. But with the easy and brief menu, and fantastic local play this is easily overlooked. The game exceeds on every level and really pushes the scale in it's entertainment value. Every element of this game just radiates the amount of care put into crafting such a gem. And when I heard that the dev team consisted of only a two man group from the steam greenlight program, I was absolutely shocked. Stardust Vanguards is one of the best games I have ever played and it is with that, I'm giving it an A+. With fantastic gameplay, awesome music, cool graphics, and an unrelenting amount of fun, Stardust Vanguards is a game that every gamer should pick up and enjoy with friends. In fact we loved it so much that we are giving away a copy to one of our subscribers. To enter for your chance to win, subscribe to our channel and let us know in the comments what you think looks the most exciting about this game. For more reviews and game related content, check us out on UberCrit.com or here on youtube. I'm Conner Amaya, and thanks for watching. Here's a closer look at more gameplay of Stardust Vanguards.