integrates top down shooter gameplay with role-playing video game and real-time strategy elements within a futuristic space setting.

These can be fitted with a variety of weaponry such as lasers, cannons, torpedoes, guided missiles, mass bombs, fighter drones and mines whilst the ships themselves can be customised with different types of propulsion, reactors, shields, stealth technology and various utility boosters making them more effective in certain situations.

Humanity has expanded throughout the galaxy after the discovery of the miraculous Element 126, colloquially known as 'Rez', which enabled matter replication technology (including cloning), advanced artificial intelligence and faster than light travel in the form of the warp gate network.

With humanity living in the decaying remnants of its past glory the civilian populations of many sectors rose up against the UTA in the vicious 'Lockdown Wars' over control of space travel and the supply of Rez.

This brings them into conflict with the high ranking UTA commander Admiral Jamison who doggedly attempts to stop them reaching the heavily guarded Core Worlds.

To the horror of his crew, Captain Don Gibson immediately defects to the Dark Entity and the Clockwork is infected and transformed into a Zombie superweapon.

The Zombie infection quickly spreads throughout the entire galaxy, with the crew of the Clockwork becoming widely hated and cursed for bringing about the apparent end of humanity.

Seeking to save the galaxy, and to get revenge on Gibson, Elsa Young takes command of the Pirates and spends the next 2 years creating a new mothership - Clockwork 2.

With the help of Admiral Jamison and other allies, the Pirate fleet fights its way back through Zombie space to the realm of the Dark Entity and destroys it, Gibson and the original Clockwork.

The game was developed by Andrew Hume and Richard Clifford, who had previously shared an office for five years as technical designers at Radical Entertainment in British Columbia, Canada.

The top-down perspective space combat aspect was influenced by Star Control, the physics and emphasis on craft design from Mechwarrior was added to this to form the base of the game.

The role-playing game style skill tree of Diablo was combined with the tiered research system of X-com to produce the required effect.

The in-game universe was inspired by the exploration aspects of Freelancer and Homeworld, producing "a top down space action RPG"[5] similar to a simplified descendant of Escape Velocity.

The zombies' organic weapons proved difficult to define, ideas such as egg-laying and infestation from creatures entering the players' ships were considered.

The developers incorporated this, allowing zombie ships to effectively reproduce by infecting the players' craft similar to Homeworld: Cataclysm's antagonist.

In a preview by Jeff Mattas of Shacknews, he stated "I have no reservations recommending that anyone looking for a solid space-based shooter with retro flair, a ton of customization options, and a lot of replay value.

"[8] In another preview, by Quintin Smith of Rock, Paper, Shotgun, the author stated "While this is a good game and well worth your attention (and when it emerges from the beta, it might even be a great one), oh my Lord is it irritating.

"[9] Smith also stated "I think a lot of modern PC gamers would cheer at any dev trying to breathe life into the frozen body of the space shooter genre", but added "S.P.A.Z.

In regards to the update he added "We get quite a few new accessibility and convenience features, more missions, a specialist system, and more - along with some bug fixes, many addressing specific issues that I and many players had in the beta.

[10] GamePro's Tony Capri gave an overall rating of 7 of 10, stating "The combat is fun, the controls are solid, and there's ample content -- unfortunately, SPAZ is not actually as expansive as its premise suggests.