Despite the generic action movie title, Dangerous is anything but. Part space-combat simulator, part RPG, Dangerous does its best to create a large scale, complex, and enjoyable experience. It is a challenging, ambitious, and a fairly enjoyable game; despite the plethora of issues that detract from the experience.

At its core, Dangerous provides a space simulation of enormous scale, depth and strategy. Choosing your wing mates, ships, weapons, upgrades and quests means there is a lot of control given to the player. If you are an E.V.E. Online player, you’ll see the similarities immediately. However, unlike E.V.E. Online, Dangerous is single-player only but fortunately doesn’t cost roughly $15 a month. In fact, Dangerous will run you a one time purchase of $15. Not bad.

Unfortunately, the age old saying still reigns true, “you get what you pay for”. That isn’t to say Dangerous is terrible, but that it pales in comparison to the sheer quality and polish of E.V.E. Online. That should come as no surprise as Dangerous was made primarily for iDevices by Binary Helix, a two-person independent studio.

The story is fairly interesting, as long as you aren’t expecting Mass Effect style development. It starts off with cheesy dialogue and a somewhat typical amnesia-based storyline. You play the role of ‘Dangerous’, a man who was stripped of his name and imprisoned in a cryogenic sleep for 100 years for allegedly murdering over a million people. When he awakes, he has no memory of the past and without much reasoning, must follow the woman that awoke him to inexplicably save the galaxy. While the dialogue doesn’t get any less cheesy, the writing does.

What does set the game apart from similar games is the method of storytelling. More specifically, the choices that you, the player, make that shape the outcome. Be the heroic savior or great destroyer of the galaxy – the choice is yours. There is also a fairly mediocre romance subplot that feels added on just for the sake of it. While it is clearly the same system used in Mass Effect, it is still a welcome addition to a genre that has a hard time making a personal connection to the player.

While most of the gameplay mechanics work well, they are surrounded by a cumbersome interface and a multitude of graphical bugs and oversights.  In an attempt to make the game mouse controlled (and presumably touch controlled for iOS), the game features a plethora of on screen icons for control. Add in the informative text and icons and Dangerous features one of the most cluttered interfaces I have ever stumbled upon. I’ve heard it is an even more frustrating issue when your controls are based on touch screen. I have been told there was a patch simplifying the interface for the iOS version, I just hope they follow through and fix the PC one as well.

Controls are another issue plaguing the game. While I understand that Dangerous is a complex game, that can’t be used as an excuse to prevent simplifying the controls. For instance, why couldn’t the mouse wheel be used to control thrust options? There are just too many keys to remember. A problem compounded by the fact that the key configuration, outside of the movement keys, isn’t an option.

Considering the controls are a messy affair, a well crafted tutorial is crucial. Instead, the tutorial covered the absolute basics of flight and combat without really giving you details necessary for survival. The tutorial doesn’t even bother with explaining space station mechanics. Many, including myself, will undoubtedly die a few times early on before learning something we should have known from the beginning.

Finally, the visuals are yet another unappealing aspect to toss into the mix. If not for the fairly decent lighting effects, it would be an aesthetic pain to play. I understand that independent developers can’t hope to compete graphically with the juggernauts and that gameplay trumps graphics, but Dangerous pushes the limits of what one can ignore. Visual bugs like flying right through space stations and enemy ships hamper the experience. Heck, every time you dock into a station you are forced to fly right through its antennae and upper wall. Could they not have left a bay opening, even fill it with black, just to create an illusion of accuracy? One look at the “map” (their word, not mine) and any semblance of polish or simplicity should be erased.

There were just too many of these technical bugs all throughout the game. Open a menu in the station and launch, don’t expect the menu to disappear. Dock into a station during a conversation, enjoy having two conversations appear over one another. Unless I missed something, you can’t even exit the game unless you are inside of a station. It’s an oversight that you wouldn’t expect to see nowadays.

I understand that Dangerous is focusing on the “hardcore” gamers, but the absolute lack of polish, unappealing visuals, troublesome controls, clunky interface, and unhelpful tutorial are creating a game that only the most diehard of space flight fans will truly enjoy. There will be those players that can overlook the sheer amount of problems plaguing the game, and those who do might even love the solid gameplay mechanics and enjoyable story components at its core. After all, there is no denying that the developers love the genre, as they meticulously detailed every part of the gameplay. Unfortunately, it is difficult to recommend to the average player in its current state.

You can find out more information about Dangerous at its official website and you can also purchase the game on the App Store.