Fractured Space is a sci-fi themed MOBA where players command massive spaceships in action-packed space battles. Players must work together with their team to capture and defend resource points and forward bases with the end goal of destroying the enemy's base.

Jump into the commander's seat of massive capital ships and wage epic space battles in Fractured Space, a sci-fi themed 3D MOBA. Choose from an ever-growing roster of uniquely-designed capital ships, each with their own strengths, weaknesses, abilities, roles, and play-styles. Work together with your team to capture and defend enemy forward bases, mining facilities, and ultimately destroy the opposing team's home base. Warp from one area of the map to another to engage enemies in stunning battles set in various locations in space, from frigid asteroid fields, to the orbiting moon debris of fiery planets. Acquire and collect a variety of ships and tweak their performance with the help of recruitable crew members to make your ship the baddest capital ship in the sector.

Full Review

Fractured Space Review

By, Marc Marasigan



Fractured Space is a 3D sci-fi themed MOBA set in the far reaches of space. Two opposing teams of five players battle it out in an objective-based map using a variety of massive capital ships with different strengths and weaknesses. The game features gorgeous graphics with stunning effects and well-detailed ships along with warp animations and explosions that are just pure eye candy. Fractured Space’s lacks background music, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, since it only enhances the feeling of being in the silent vacuum of space. Plus, the sound effects more than make up for this especially in the heat of battle with missiles, lasers, and all sorts of projectiles flying around.

Welcome, Commander

Players logging into the game for the first time are required to go through a tutorial match which walks them through the basics of movement, combat, capturing points, and the overall objective of the match, which is to destroy the enemy base. While a bit lengthy the tutorial is easy enough to complete and works well in getting players up to speed on the game basics. After completing the tutorial, players need to play through a solo match against AI as well as a cooperative match in order to earn enough experience points to play a 5v5 match with players.

Upon reaching Captain rank at level 3, players can then access the player vs player modes. Players initially only have access to casual matches and must reach higher levels to unlock ranked and competitive matches. The basic premise of the game is easy enough to pick up and the controls are very intuitive, think World of Warships in space. Although, like most MOBA’s, there are a few intricacies, know-hows, and strategies that can only be acquired with constant practice.

Lanes of Conquest

Conquest is Fractured Space’s main game mode and plays much like a cross between your favorite MOBA and World of Warships. For the most part, Conquest follows the same gameplay mechanics of traditional MOBA’s. Players join a match lobby, and are given time to choose a ship from the ones that they already own much like choosing a hero in League of Legends. New players initially start out with three basic ships, one for each role: attacker, defender, and support. Additional ships, each with unique abilities and subtle differences in play-styles, can be bought using credits earned from completing matches.

The match starts once all players have chosen their preferred ships or the timer runs down. Like typical MOBA’s, the game map is divided into three lanes, or sectors as they’re called in game: Alpha to the left, Beta to the right, and Gamma in the middle. Opposing teams start out at opposite ends of the map and must push their way up either the Alpha or Beta lane, capture the opposing team’s forward bases, and destroy their base to win the match.

Forward, To Victory!

Each of the lanes, with the exception of Gamma, contains two forward bases (one for each team) with three resource mines in between. Forward bases take the place of defensive towers found in traditional MOBA’s and must be captured to gain warp access to the enemy base. Resource mines, on the other hand, replace “creeps” and, once captured, provide teams with the necessary resources needed to upgrade their ships during the match. Both forward bases and resource mines can be re-captured by the enemy and must be constantly defended, especially the forward bases. The ability to capture and re-capture these critical points on the map is a breath of fresh air from the typical back and forth lane-play of traditional MOBA’s and makes matches feel a lot more dynamic.

Although, since players only need to battle for control of one or two forward bases, matches tend to be shorter than your average MOBA. Matches, on average, last around 15 minutes, and may be shorter for one-sided matches or longer for more or less equally-skilled teams. Also, the fact that only one forward base needs to be captured for a team to gain access to the enemy base doesn’t give the defending team much of a chance to make a comeback, especially when you’re on the losing side of a one-sided match.

The middle lane, or Gamma sector, functions differently than the left and right lanes. Instead of forward bases and resource mines, Gamma sector, houses a resource hub that only goes online at set intervals during the match. Capturing the hub when it goes online temporarily rewards the capturing team with significant attack and resource bonuses. These bonuses get progressively higher each time that Gamma comes online and can help turn the tide of battle especially later in the game.

Frontline

Aside from Conquest, players level 8 and above can join the more action-packed Frontline game mode. In Frontline, players are given random ships to use and face off against the opposing team in a single lane set in an asteroid field. Jump points are placed in strategic positions across the map which players can utilize to their advantage. Frontline offers a faster-paced matches and fiercer ship-to-ship combat and encourages players to play to their designated ship’s strengths. Matches are fairly balanced but there are instances where mismatches occur because of Frontline’s RNG nature.

Warp One, Engage!

Since battles are fought in space, ships have the ability to move in 3D. Players use the WASD keys to move horizontally and the Ctrl and Space keys to move vertically. Ships also have the ability to warp out from anywhere in the sector but can only warp to one of the indicated warp points in an adjacent sector. To get to Beta from Alpha, for example, players would have to first warp to Gamma, their home base, or the enemy’s home base (provided that they’ve captured one of the enemy’s forward bases). They then have to wait a few seconds for their warp drives to cooldown before they can warp to Beta. This prevents players coming from the other edge of the map from suddenly appearing out of nowhere and ganking enemies in the opposite lane. The ability to warp out from anywhere in the sector is also a good way to escape enemy ships bearing down on you. Keep in mind though that it takes a few seconds to warp and your ship takes significantly higher damage during this time.

Crews

Fractured Space lets players tweak their ships’ stats with the use of crews which function much like the Rune system in League of Legends. Players choose five crew members that can either complement their ship’s strengths or compensate for their weaknesses. The Overseer, for example, packs quite a punch but suffers from poor mobility. Players can choose to man their ship with crew members that boost their Overseer’s attack even more or with crew members that improve their mobility. Crew members can be changed at any time outside of a match. Players start out with a starter crew and can acquire more crew members by purchasing supply ships from the cash shop using either in-game currency, called Credits, or premium currency, called Platinum.

Cash Shop

Fractured Space’s in-game cash shop contains the usual assortment of cosmetic and convenience items you’d expect to find in a microtransaction-based free-to-play game. Players willing to shell out a couple of bucks can purchase cool-looking skins for their ships along with crew supply ships and a variety of boosters. These items give paying players an added edge over the free-playing community but only by a small margin and doesn’t break the game’s balance in any way.

Final Verdict – Good

Fractured Space has all the makings of a great game: stunning visuals, awesome sounds, intuitive controls, and fast, simple, yet fun gameplay. The game puts you in the captain’s seat of a massive capital ship with none of the complexity and micromanagement players have come to expect from space-based games like Homeworld, Dreadnought, and Star Trek Online. That being said, simplicity isn’t always a good thing when it comes to MOBA’s. Adding another set of forward bases to be captured should prevent mismatched teams from steamrolling their opponents and quickly ending the match. But overall, Fractured Space is a good choice for players looking for a break from their current gaming fixation but probably won’t be joining the ranks of eSports worthy MOBA’s any time soon.