Space Debris

Space Pirates and Zombies is an unambiguous attempt to rekindle the system-hopping, Newtonian-physics, do-missions-to-earn-cash-to-upgrade-ships charm of older games like Escape Velocity. More so than modern reinterpretations like Rebel Galaxy, this is essentially the same game, hewing even closer to decades-old interfaces and mechanics than 3030 Deathwar Redux did.

... but unfortunately, combat - which Space Pirates embraces as its central form of gameplay - is painfully un-fun. The controls are just as clunky as this game's now-archaic ancestors: selecting enemy targets is awkward, and aiming line-of-sight weapons at them is an annoying pain. That aiming frustration is amplified by the fact that enemy AI loves to run away, often leading to tedious cat-and-mouse chases.

Steam reviews make frequent mention of the fact that grinding through combat missions (including randomly-generated ones) makes up a majority of the game's running length.

It's a shame, because I like a lot of what Space Pirates has assembled around its combat, especially the early introduction of fleet management -- I love the idea of upgrading not only my own ship, but an entourage of ships with which to storm into a system and wreck up the place. If only that "wrecking up" was any fun to do.

Progress: Finished the tutorial missions.