Spark Riders 3000 is a spacefaring tower defense game from Arkada Studio. It features both single player and co-op gameplay, a variety of characters and items to discover, and an essential companion app.
In Spark Riders 3000, unique heroes take missions aboard a spaceship. You’ll need to fend off attacking aliens and survive perilous environments in space. Third parties and other surprises may intervene in each mission, as you repair rooms, build up equipment, and destroy aliens.
Arkada Studio is a smaller team of creatives based in France, which previously worked on dungeon crawler Erune. For a quick overview of Spark Riders 3000, here’s a trailer for the original Kickstarter (which I backed):
To begin with some positives, Spark Riders 3000 has an outstanding art design that makes a big first impression. It has undeniable table presence, with charming and vibrant colors that really pop.
Its classic, retro scheme feels akin to jumping into an old school arcade cabinet, in all the best ways. The characters are well-defined, and the ship itself feels like its own character.
Those who invested in the miniatures during the Kickstarter were also well-rewarded, since the figures are detailed and lively.
The gameplay is streamlined into a very simple ebb and flow. This emphasizes the changing elements of your environment more so than the rules.
It feels like the dice mechanics were supposed to keep gameplay swift. However, despite some opportunities to mitigate luck, the game doesn’t encourage quite as much strategy as it probably hoped to.
Dice and arbitrary app obstacles make Spark Riders very luck-driven. And ship management boils down to clear and obligatory player decisions for each role.
Then again, the game intentionally skews younger, so that may be better for families. I personally feel that other lightweight games like Marvel United still mustered more balanced strategy. And Spark Riders doesn’t scale well for fewer players.
Spark Riders does have a winning, unabashed sense of humor, with a wholesome playfulness. The greatest thrill in this game is probably finding new items, which are very creative, thematic, and fun to use.
Still, some of the comedic dialogue and characters in the companion app can feel a bit more cringey than campy.
The companion app will likely be the most divisive aspect among players, though tech seems to be an Arkada specialty. The app recreates classic hails, and interactions with the ship’s AI—with voice acting to boot.
Aside from some goofy fun and style, the app doesn’t add much to the game. The gameplay doesn’t require any real bookkeeping besides progress. There are many tabletop alternatives for spawning, the AI’s behavior, and similar features.
The video interludes slow things down and can grow tedious if the humor doesn’t land for you. They might also be too distracting for anyone hoping the app played a smaller role.
And despite some improvements since its earliest days, the app is still subject to technical hiccups.
Final Thoughts
Spark Riders 3000 is a charming, interactive, and lightweight game that will appeal to younger players. But it relies on a shaky app, luck, and style. Its strengths are also its flaws, and hobby gamers may struggle to connect. While it wasn’t fully for me, it accomplished enough of what it aimed for, and I was delighted to support this team.
Score: 7.0
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