Blast away waves of deadly aliens in Space Pioneer for Android

space-pioneer-game-of-the-week-hero.jpg?

My first experience playing Space Pioneer must have been a couple of years ago now, when the game was still in early access. I had lots of fun playing what was a very polished top-down shooter with RPG elements, hopping from planet to planet recovering artifacts, defending probes, and repairing crashed spaceships all while blasting away hordes of angry aliens.

Having revisited the game this week, I was pleased to see that it has continued to develop well beyond the single-player campaign. It now includes co-op and PvP modes that offer more diverse ways to play.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1iox4I6T7s?modestbranding=0&html5=1&rel=0&autoplay=0&wmode=opaque&loop=0&controls=1&autohide=0&showinfo=0&theme=dark&color=red&enablejsapi=1]

Space Pioneer does a good job remixing the limited elements in unique ways, although it inevitably starts to feel repetitive by nature. There are five different planet types that you visit, and each has its own alien species. Each planet offers a rotating set of mission objectives along with secondary objectives for you to discover. Fortunately, if the solo missions start to feel like a drag, you can mix things up with PvP multiplayer.

The controls are straightforward. Your character will automatically aim at the nearest enemy and you have three slots to assist you in your travels. You can choose from deployable turrets, grenades, health packs and more, with each requiring a cool-down period that adds an extra wrinkle of tactical strategy. Everything is upgradable using the coins and cards that you collect as rewards for completing missions. There’s also a slew of weapons to unlock and upgrade along with three different player classes to unlock.

The solo mode offers 12 chapters, with each chapter offering up to eight planets to explore and at least one mini boss fight against a super-sized alien. It all leads up to the final battle against the biggest and baddest boss in the galaxy, Xeldar. Defeat Xeldar and you unlock endless mode where you can continue to explore new planets and collect rewards.

Speaking of rewards, this free-to-play game is chocked full of in-app purchases and options to watch ads to double your rewards. The game is pretty generous with coins and gems so you certainly don’t have to spend money to enjoy it. However, any in-app purchase removes all ads so that might be a trade-off you’re willing to make. Considering that Space Pioneer is also available on the Nintendo Switch for around $10, you would absolutely be justified in throwing the developers a couple of bucks to help upgrade your weapons or armor faster.

Game of the week

Space Pioneer

space-pioneer-google-play-icon-press.jpg

Free w/IAPs at Google Play Store

Space Pioneer is a bright and colorful action RPG that delivers a lengthy solo mode along with multiplayer co-op and PvP modes. It’s a big galaxy to explore, so go blast some alien butt!

See previous Android Games of the Week

Looking for more great games to play? Be sure to check out our roundup of the best Android games

Related posts

Latest posts

Your Netgear router might be an open door for hackers

Netgear has addressed two critical security flaws affecting multiple products.

Turns out, it’s not that hard to do what OpenAI does for less

While Hugging Face cloned OpenAI's Deep Research in 24 hours, a multi-institutional team of researchers built an o1 competitor for just $50.

Why AppleCare+ is essential for your iPhone, even as a subscription

Have you ever broken your ? Over the past decade of being an iPhone user, I’ve broken two screens and had one iPhone stolen while abroad. Thankfully, one service came to the rescue in all of those cases: . The latest reporting from Mark Gurman at Bloomberg suggests that Apple is about to move from […]

How I fell in love with the massive Galaxy Watch Ultra

I put the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra on when I started using the Galaxy S25 Ultra, but little did I know the way I felt about it would dramatically change.

The Vivo X200 Ultra could launch with a much more powerful camera sensor

The Vivo X200 Ultra ups its camera game compared to others in the lineup, but we aren't sure if it will come to the United States or not.

Want a tablet for under $100? Check out this Lenovo deal

Need a solid tablet on the cheap? Right now, the Lenovo Tab M9 is part of a manufacturer doorbuster sale, where you’ll be able to buy it for just $94!

New MediaTek Chromebook benchmark surfaces with impressive speed

The MediaTek MT8196 chip has surfaced on the Geekbench benchmark, suggesting it could be one of the most powerful Chromebook processors of the year.

Chrome incognito just got even more private with this change

In an attempt to give user more privacy when using the browser, Google changes how the copy and paste system works on the browser.

Apple expected to unveil iPhone SE 4 ‘in the coming days’

Apple will unveil the latest version of its budget SE phone next week, a new report claims.

The stylish Fitbit Versa 4 scores a 25% discount, just in time for Valentine’s Day

Order the Fitbit Versa 4 from Best Buy or Amazon and you'll get a 25% discount alongside a six-month subscription