Captain Forever Review and Walkthrough.

Captain Forever is the first in a series of indie games by Farbs. The other games are Captain Successor and Captain Impostor. I will only be reviewing Forever.Captain Forever is a Flash game, so no download is necessary.

You can get it at www.captainforever.com for free. There is also an option to “become a supporter”, which allows you to sign in and play the other games in the series. This usually costs  20 US$, but now there’s a sale so it’s only 9US$!

Review

Captain Forever is a space game. Your ship is one of the survivors of a massive explosion in space, but because of this explosion your ship has lost all its armor. You are given only a weak blaster on your slow, small ship consisting of only a cockpit. With this blaster, you must go and attack the space pirates and the corrupt Peace Keepers around the area. After destroying another ship, you get the chance to take any armor or weapons that were attached to that ship. This is one of the reasons that I love this game so much. You can’t just go and blast away at enemies, because this will destroy their armor and weapons. So if you want to rebuild and become strong again, you must attack with strategy, shooting only at a small part of the ship to sacrifice only a small part of the loot to destroy the ship.

There are levels of difficulty in this game. The further you go from your spawn point, the harder the enemies get. They also have better guns and armor. The best strategy if you find yourself with a higher level enemy is to go to their back so their guns can’t shoot you or run away.

Since this game is primarily about building the most powerful ship, there are a few key rules you should never forget.

• Symmetric

Build your ship so it’s symmetric. Trust me on this, it helps a hell load. If it’s the tiniest bit unbalanced, you will turn and spin when you try to go straight. This may not seem important, but if you have to run away from high-level pirates you will thank me for simple controls.

• Use protection

When you first start, you have only a tiny ship with a weak blaster. Your cockpit with you inside is out in the open. This is the first thing you must fix! Build around you so you are safe. In the beginning, you need to leave the front open so that your cannon can fire. Later, though, if you’ve looted enough cannons and want more protection you can close off the front so you can’t be shot there.

• Turning sideways

You must be able to turn sideways easily. If you have a giant ship, remember that if you only have boosters in the back turning will be slower. This is why I recommend putting a booster or two on each side for really tight turns. Don’t forget the rule about symmetry, though!

• KAMIKAZE!!!

When you die, you create a giant explosion that wipes out anyone nearby. If you’re still a Newbie and have a small ship and encounter a Peace Keeper, you may at least be able to take them with you when you die.

 Here are the different levels and corresponding colors of them (Courtesy of Wikipedia because I’ve never got all the way to the end) 

Captain Forever is a great game. The horrible hatred of life when your massive red triple-spread blaster equipped ship blows up is proof of this. The game really sucks you in and never let’s go. If you keep strategy in your head and courage in your heart you’re bound to find a favorite in this indie. Remember the basic rules of success, and keep your finger on the fire button.

Walkthrough 

As you slowly open your eyes, you are startled to see a strange robot floating next to you. “You have been in the range of a sector wide explosion.” The robot says. Your ship fixes itself and the robot brings you some armor and a blaster. Even though you remember nothing, you know someone’s responsible… and you’re ready for retaliation!

• First: One step at a time. This game is about destroying enemies and taking their armor/weapons for yourself to make you stronger. You take items by left clicking and dragging with your mouse. Drag the girders (or armor) onto your ship. They’re the things that look like suitcases. Remember the rule of symmetry (read the review!) Then, after you’ve armored your ship, attach the cannon or blaster. You move with WASD or the arrow keys. Fire is the space bar. The controls are easy enough, and now… to war!

The enemies you face get harder the further you go from your spawn point. You can choose how to build your ship, bulky and strong but slow, or perhaps lightly armored but really fast. Either way, you’ll encounter enemies soon!

• GREEN: The first enemies are weak, simple ships: The command module in front with a blaster, and then perhaps some green armor in the back. These are a mere nuisance, and the easiest way to kill them is to shoot them in the side as there’s rarely armor there. Alternatively, you can just blast away at them because the scavenging on these tiny things is almost nothing.
• YELLOW: A level up from green. These are more heavily armored, and that’s about it. The best way to kill them is to focus on one spot and shoot at it to get to the command module. Ah yes, and stay behind them. They usually have only one or two cannons in the front.
• ORANGE: These are just a little harder than yellow. They’re usually pretty small still, and have at most about four cannons. Stick behind them, and focus on blasting through one spot to save things to scavenge.
• RED: Hard. Very hard. Super strong cannons, giant in size, scary! To face these, you must be heavily armored and have strong weaponry. The same tactic applies, stick to the back and focus on one spot. These may have cannons on the back, though, so be careful. You could also run away, but the reward is amazing. Weapons: great. Armor: Really good too! But is it worth it?
• PINK: Same as red. Usually appears in combos of red and pink. Lots of lasers.
• PURPLE: Run! Cannons cover the whole of these kinds of ships, and strong cannons they are. Reward for destruction is amazing as these have great armor, weapons, and boosters. Usually appears with blue. The cannons are strong enough to kill in one or two hits, and they take out red armor like wet cardboard. To fight these monsters, you must be very well prepared.
• BLUE: Usually appears with purple.

If you get any further than blue, to cyan, white, rainbow, etc. then rejoice and send me an email so I can congratulate you. You have become a fearsome warrior. I can’t help you any more, you’re better than me! Just keep in mind, Space! Space! Space!