![]() ![]() You tow the container behind your ship and that makes the ship sluggish and so on. So if the combat is fun and the game is fun, where's the catch, well I found that I didn't like the cargo system at all. Combat is also fun and that is what matters the most in a game like this, the rewards for nixing pirates are a boost to your rep (the game tracks how you react to others in the universe) and a supply of credits. Space combat plays an integral part in the game and it's fairly fast, furious and can be particularly deadly, you might need to restart several times before you get the hang of using the Darkstar One to battle multiple opponents. Following the story is just as fun but you really need to explore the systems and clusters to get the artefacts that are hidden all over the place. That's the core gameplay mechanic of Darkstar One in a nutshell, it's something that has been done before but it's done fairly well here and it's a lot of fun. You can also do escort missions and side-missions for the cluster that you're in, some of the side missions are ways to gain access to keys (you need these to jump through hyperspace to other clusters and places) that lead to hidden systems, usually infested with pirates and scum that must be wiped out, the reward is often an artefact (we shall talk about those in a short while). ![]() I high-tailed it out of there and it was well worth the rewards. One of them caught my ship taking photographs of the last object, this turned out to be a highly classified military base and the patrol wasn't happy. There is a wealth of missions on offer, these range from shooting up pirates to taking photographs of various space based objects, some of these will have a sting in the tail so get ready for some action. You can trade cargo if you like thanks to the game's trading component which is set up very much like Elite was, complete with the various denominations of government such as Anarchy and so forth. Without going into a long winded diatribe about the game's space flight simulation, it's very simple to fly and harkens back to the days of the early space games, you won't find a Newtonian Physics flight model or complex controls, everything is easy to understand and flying the Darkstar One is a breeze. There are several tutorial missions to get you started, both in terms of navigation and also in terms of hard monetary income, you won't get by here without cash and you're going to need lots of it to make sure the Darkstar One stays one step ahead of the competition (be they pirates or other) and always has the best weapons and equipment. Using mouse, keyboard or joystick you can navigate the Darkstar One around the various colourful star systems (clusters) and either follow the story, with the help of a comprehensive map and in-game log system, or go your own way and do your own thing until you're fed up of exploration. It is a space game that's obviously inspired by those games that have come before it and the grandfather of all space games: Elite and it adds a few little twists to make it a refreshing change from just another space shooter. Right from the start this isn't a deep tactical game nor is it the next big thing compared to the other, comparing Darkstar One to any game that's come before it is like comparing apples to oranges and tanks to bananas. The Darkstar One is integral to the plot and I won't say anymore about the actual story to the game, but it is certainly full of a few twists and a good old evil alien badguy race. This ship is definitely not the run of the mill junk freighter that most space games will have you start from scratch in. You are a young pilot, Kayron Jarvis and your father left you a rather unique vessel, the Darkstar One. I am certainly not going to deduct any kind of points for it, because out there someone will find the story compelling and as long as the game and story mesh well together then that's all that matters. The industry has been a bit devoid recently of space simulations and space games in general, now there are a flood of them heading our way over the next few months on a variety of platforms, the game that got my attention because I have a fondness for any kind of space sim good or bad, is CDV's Darkstar One.Īscaron entertainment, the talented developers that brought us Sacred and Sacred Underworld have taken a leap into outer space with a slightly different take on the space sim genre.Ĭlaudia Kern (German science fiction author) has created a decent story, it could be considered a bit clichéd in places but that happens to everyone.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |