http://www.gamespot.com/pc/adventure/da ... index.html
3 new game play movies, 16 new screens.
The screens look good but the game play movies are not so good. For a start your gun seems to be a pea shooter, they should have a souped up ship for the game play movie. Second, as in X3 you have contact in combat with the ememy as you hit them but in these movies you seem to get too many comments which would end up getting on your pecks after a while.
Euro Gamer DarkStar review Negative to X Universe
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muppetts
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Euro Gamer DarkStar review Negative to X Universe
Last edited by muppetts on Fri, 28. Jul 06, 09:03, edited 2 times in total.
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DarkStar One Hands-On - Space Combat and Adventure Fly Again on the PC
DarkStar One is a space combat and adventure game that's inspired by classics such as Wing Commander: Privateer--not that there's anything wrong with that.
By Jason Ocampo, GameSpot
Posted Jun 26, 2006 5:44 pm PT
Gameplay Footage Prepare to dogfight in outer space in DarkStar One.
Watch | Download
DarkStar One is a modern update on the old-school space combat and adventure game that used to be a staple on the PC a decade ago, with games such as Wing Commander: Privateer. And like in that game, DarkStar One lets you fly around the galaxy in a customizable spaceship, battling pirates and other foes while also buying and selling on the open market. We recently got our hands on a preview version of the game to check out what it's like to be a space-fighter jock in 2006.
You play as a young pilot named Kayton, one of the newest escort pilots in the galaxy. The game's name is taken from the fact that you inherit the DarkStar One from your late father. Already one of the most powerful fighters in known space, the DarkStar One is a vehicle with a mysterious past that only you can uncover over the course of the game's story, which involves some kind of mysterious menace to the galaxy.
Space trading and adventure get a graphical upgrade in DarkStar One.
In terms of gameplay, DarkStar One doesn't seem to do very much different or new with the established formulas of the genre, but since space games are few and far between nowadays, any kind of technological update is welcome. Your job is to fly around the galaxy, looking for missions and jobs to do, from delivering supplies to a distant sector to hunting down a band of pirates that have grown too brazen for their own good. The game features more than 300 systems to visit, as well as six races to interact with, so there is plenty to see and do in the galaxy of DarkStar One.
While most early space action games required a joystick, the good news is that DarkStar One doesn't, though it will support a joystick if you have one. Otherwise, the controls seem well adapted to the keyboard and mouse, and you'll use the traditional W, A, S, and D keys used for action games to help maneuver your ship, while you simply move the mouse to steer. If you played these kinds of games before, you'll feel right at home with the controls. The opening tutorial walks you through the basics, from getting used to flying by maneuvering through a series of rings (a space-game staple) to combat lessons by battling waves of pirates. Shooting someone down is as easy as maneuvering behind them and putting the cursor onto the lead indicator and then holding down the left mouse button to fire until they're dead. Your own ship relies on shields and armor, so you need to keep a close eye on the indicators and disengage if you're on the receiving end of too much fire. Still, you get the idea that combat is very much about the dogfight, and we must admit that the tight-turning battles reminded us of Wing Commander at times.
It's not all about combat in DarkStar One, though, as the game features an economy with supply and demand, which means there's always room for another trader willing to haul stuff from one station to another. There's a wide variety of goods in the game, and traders will want to pay attention to the best places to buy and sell certain items. Whether you battle or you trade, you'll need cash to upgrade your vessel with a variety of parts. One of the secrets of the DarkStar One is that it was designed by your father using alien technology, so the ship actually "transforms" over time by automatically incorporating new technology into its hull. You can get more powerful weapons, engines, shields, and more, all of which naturally make you a much more effective pilot. And you can also go on various quests where you must recover organic alien "parts" to really upgrade the ship.
Upgrade and repair your ship, get new missions, and trade while docked at a space station.
Visually, DarkStar One is impressive thanks to a beautiful graphics engine. Space games in general always tend to look good, thanks to the fact that it's easy for the designers to create detailed spacecraft since they don't have to worry about rendering much else. Indeed, some of the ships in DarkStar One look almost organic in nature, while others are a bit more conventional in terms of spacecraft design, but they still look good. There are intricate lighting and particle effects that kick in throughout the game, particularly during combat, that help immerse you into the void, and, in general, it looks so good that you may yearn for a similar graphical treatment for some of your favorite space games from a decade ago. From what we've seen thus far, DarkStar One seems like it may very well be a faithful heir to games such as Privateer, so that's good news indeed for space fans starved for some action. The game is scheduled to ship later this summer.
DarkStar One is a space combat and adventure game that's inspired by classics such as Wing Commander: Privateer--not that there's anything wrong with that.
By Jason Ocampo, GameSpot
Posted Jun 26, 2006 5:44 pm PT
Gameplay Footage Prepare to dogfight in outer space in DarkStar One.
Watch | Download
DarkStar One is a modern update on the old-school space combat and adventure game that used to be a staple on the PC a decade ago, with games such as Wing Commander: Privateer. And like in that game, DarkStar One lets you fly around the galaxy in a customizable spaceship, battling pirates and other foes while also buying and selling on the open market. We recently got our hands on a preview version of the game to check out what it's like to be a space-fighter jock in 2006.
You play as a young pilot named Kayton, one of the newest escort pilots in the galaxy. The game's name is taken from the fact that you inherit the DarkStar One from your late father. Already one of the most powerful fighters in known space, the DarkStar One is a vehicle with a mysterious past that only you can uncover over the course of the game's story, which involves some kind of mysterious menace to the galaxy.
Space trading and adventure get a graphical upgrade in DarkStar One.
In terms of gameplay, DarkStar One doesn't seem to do very much different or new with the established formulas of the genre, but since space games are few and far between nowadays, any kind of technological update is welcome. Your job is to fly around the galaxy, looking for missions and jobs to do, from delivering supplies to a distant sector to hunting down a band of pirates that have grown too brazen for their own good. The game features more than 300 systems to visit, as well as six races to interact with, so there is plenty to see and do in the galaxy of DarkStar One.
While most early space action games required a joystick, the good news is that DarkStar One doesn't, though it will support a joystick if you have one. Otherwise, the controls seem well adapted to the keyboard and mouse, and you'll use the traditional W, A, S, and D keys used for action games to help maneuver your ship, while you simply move the mouse to steer. If you played these kinds of games before, you'll feel right at home with the controls. The opening tutorial walks you through the basics, from getting used to flying by maneuvering through a series of rings (a space-game staple) to combat lessons by battling waves of pirates. Shooting someone down is as easy as maneuvering behind them and putting the cursor onto the lead indicator and then holding down the left mouse button to fire until they're dead. Your own ship relies on shields and armor, so you need to keep a close eye on the indicators and disengage if you're on the receiving end of too much fire. Still, you get the idea that combat is very much about the dogfight, and we must admit that the tight-turning battles reminded us of Wing Commander at times.
It's not all about combat in DarkStar One, though, as the game features an economy with supply and demand, which means there's always room for another trader willing to haul stuff from one station to another. There's a wide variety of goods in the game, and traders will want to pay attention to the best places to buy and sell certain items. Whether you battle or you trade, you'll need cash to upgrade your vessel with a variety of parts. One of the secrets of the DarkStar One is that it was designed by your father using alien technology, so the ship actually "transforms" over time by automatically incorporating new technology into its hull. You can get more powerful weapons, engines, shields, and more, all of which naturally make you a much more effective pilot. And you can also go on various quests where you must recover organic alien "parts" to really upgrade the ship.
Upgrade and repair your ship, get new missions, and trade while docked at a space station.
Visually, DarkStar One is impressive thanks to a beautiful graphics engine. Space games in general always tend to look good, thanks to the fact that it's easy for the designers to create detailed spacecraft since they don't have to worry about rendering much else. Indeed, some of the ships in DarkStar One look almost organic in nature, while others are a bit more conventional in terms of spacecraft design, but they still look good. There are intricate lighting and particle effects that kick in throughout the game, particularly during combat, that help immerse you into the void, and, in general, it looks so good that you may yearn for a similar graphical treatment for some of your favorite space games from a decade ago. From what we've seen thus far, DarkStar One seems like it may very well be a faithful heir to games such as Privateer, so that's good news indeed for space fans starved for some action. The game is scheduled to ship later this summer.
VURT The only Feathers to Fly With......
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muppetts
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muppetts
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Not sure why the recommended stick SP2 for XP in like it is an upgrade you buy!
Minimum System Requirements:
Intel/AMD 1.6 GHz
Windows XP (32Bit)
512Mb RAM
DX9 Compatible 128 MB Graphics-card
Support for Pixel/Vertex shader 1.1 (GeForce 3 and above)
DirectX Compatible Sound Card
DVD-Drive
6Gb HDD Space
DirectX 9 (included)
Recommended System Requirements:
Intel/AMD 3.0 GHz
Windows XP SP2
1024Mb RAM
DX9 Compatible 256Mb Graphics-card
Support for Pixel/Vertex shader 3.0 (GeForce 6/Radeon X1x00 and above)
DVD-Drive
7Gb HDD Space
Minimum System Requirements:
Intel/AMD 1.6 GHz
Windows XP (32Bit)
512Mb RAM
DX9 Compatible 128 MB Graphics-card
Support for Pixel/Vertex shader 1.1 (GeForce 3 and above)
DirectX Compatible Sound Card
DVD-Drive
6Gb HDD Space
DirectX 9 (included)
Recommended System Requirements:
Intel/AMD 3.0 GHz
Windows XP SP2
1024Mb RAM
DX9 Compatible 256Mb Graphics-card
Support for Pixel/Vertex shader 3.0 (GeForce 6/Radeon X1x00 and above)
DVD-Drive
7Gb HDD Space
VURT The only Feathers to Fly With......
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muppetts
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June 9, 2006 - I suppose my affection for space-based action adventure games started with Wing Commander, but WC was, at its core, a flight simulator. Being based in space allowed for some unique tactical options, but it wasn't reinventing any wheels. Then came the spinoff, Privateer. Now this was a cool game; a galaxy so big that you actually had to hunt down the beginning of the storyline. While not as ambitious as MegaTraveller 2, it had its own charms. You could be a mercenary, trader, or bounty hunter, or a combination thereof. Unfortunately, this type of action adventure game never really took off. Another Privateer came out, but it was an FMV adventure, and not particularly good. Then came X: Beyond the Frontier and its sequels, and the long-awaited Freelancer. I was starting to think that nostalgia had made Privateer seem better than it was. Then DarkStar One arrived in my mailbox. I had no particular expectations -- it was a preview build, in German with English subtitles, of a game that looked like Freelancer. Well, I've been there before, right? But, after several straight days of plowing through DS1, I'm here to tell you that it's turning out to be the best game of its type that I've played. That's right. Ascaron Entertainment, the guys mostly known for Port Royale and Sacred, have crafted an action adventure space game that puts previous watermarks to the test.
DS1, due in North America in August, has elements of all the games I've described above, but it also avoids many of their pitfalls. Privateer had some tedious trade routes and some vicious spikes in difficulty. Freelancer felt repetitive and arcadey. MegaTraveller 2 was perhaps too big of a game for its own good. X2: The Threat too often devolved into being an energy cell merchant, and its story wasn't particularly well told, or its characters very interesting. While DS1 has its problems, it manages a balance between guiding the player through a complex story and giving them freedom to wander around. It starts out slowly, with the main character Kayron inheriting an experimental ship from his recently deceased father. But as we learn how his father died and how the DarkStar One itself is tied to a larger plot with sinister overtones, the game begins to blossom. The game benefits greatly from cutscenes containing good voice acting, dialog and animation. There is tons of this stuff -- I don't know how Ascaron fits everything into one disk. And the main plot will weave these pre-rendered cutscenes in with in-game cutscenes and player actions, all woven together smoothly. What looks like a simple recovery quest turns into a multi-stage mini-adventure, and by the time you're done with the latest development, you're hooked into the plot and want to find out more.
Unlike Freelancer, DS1 doesn't lock you into one area where you have to assassinate some guy wandering around space or deliver a package from point A to point B until you gain an arbitrary amount of experience points, leading to the same pattern in the next solar system. Sometimes you do have to take some random quests, because the plot will move you along progressively farther and farther away star systems, requiring periodic upgrades of your "field drive," the key component to opening gates in hyperspace that allow you to jump from system to system. But the game never gets close to the churn that plagued Freelancer. And often you can take special side missions with premium rewards (and premium difficulty, natch). These side missions are actually pretty neat, because they usually involve large space battles and tense dogfighting.
Speaking of dogfighting -- for those of you who like upgrading ship components (raises hand), you should really dig on this. The ship has a whole ream of different sections to improve -- the generator, energy shield, afterburners, capacitor (which makes weapons more efficient), port scanner, cargo drones -- and that doesn't even cover the weapons, turrets, missiles, or specialty items, like scanning jammers, shield boosters, hull field repair, or energy transfer mechanisms like fore shield to aft shield, or weapon energy to shield energy. In addition to this, the DS1 has its own unique tools, akin to the World of Warcraft talent trees. Its plasma cannon system has multiple uses that act as power-ups: energy shield regeneration, enemy shield deactivation, enemy weapon deactivation, and a couple other tactical bonuses. Once activated, you have to wait about ten seconds to use the plasma cannon again, so its timing takes some experience before you get into the swing of things. But with all of these elements onboard, you won't miss the fact that you won't be upgrading to new ships. The DS1 is very modular.
The plasma cannon system is also integrated tightly into the storyline. In order to improve it, you must gather artifacts, and each level requires more artifacts. As the cannon gains levels, so does the ship, and certain levels are necessary to install better and better gear -- including the field drive. Thankfully, collecting the artifacts is a relatively painless affair. When you arrive in a system containing an artifact, you'll get a notification, and the item will show up on the menu of things in the system that you can target. It might be a bit of a ways away, but you can just use the time dilation feature that X2 popularized. All of the artifacts that I've found have been inside asteroids, and navigating these narrow, twisting corridors can get disorienting. But it wasn't too long before I was sailing in and out like a thief in the night. Also, a system containing an artifact will have a special icon next to it on the galactic map, so there's no aggravating mystery of "Where do I go, who do talk to?" Also, completing those special side quests will typically unlock a system containing a bonus artifact. These systems are populated by pirates, though, so you have to be prepared. On the bright side, eliminating ne'er-do-wells nets you some reward money. In fact, the faction system provides bonuses as you lean into particular character types. As a player who does a lot of bounty hunting, the game rewards me with a premium to the amount of money offered. As a counter, nearby pirates are likely to attack me, even if I'm minding my own business.
Perhaps what keeps this game elevated above its competitors is the variety of missions and the quality of the story presentation. Mission types include cargo recovery, sabotage, satellite deployment, assassination, spying, patrolling, pirate elimination, and reconnaissance. You don't have to fight to make money, but that does form the bulk of the experience. Interestingly, one mission type can turn into another. Taking a photo of an asteroid turns into wrestling with the military over a government secret; obtaining some trade goods from a ship becomes a deadly corporate rivalry. I had trouble with the spy missions, though, which may be the result of a lack of documentation. You're supposed to record a secret meeting with a laser microphone, but I get caught every time. And there are some missions that will put you on the bad side of the law -- the descriptions don't always indicate what the faction repercussions turn out to be. Fortunately, travel time is so short that you won't waste much effort heading towards an unfavorable conclusion.
You can also make money by trading goods, but there are a couple caveats. Cargo is transported inside of containers that trail behind your ship. They're easily jettisoned and recovered, but they make your ship quite sluggish when they're attached. Two, although you can click on any known star system on the galactic map and find out what its four most popular exports are, I haven't been able to figure out what a given system needs. You have agricultural, pharmaceutical, industrial, and "research" economies, but those don't clearly translate into specific items. So far, trade boils down to buying whatever the station has in excess and selling it in a nearby system. In the long run, though, the missions available at the terminal, and the escort opportunities available in real time, are more financially rewarding in this game than buying low and selling high. It's too bad, because the trade system looks interesting.
There are other quirks here and there, but this is a preview build, and I'm having fun regardless. We took a bunch of video, but the subtitles are difficult to make out at the reduced resolution. At the least, you'll get a sense of how DarkStar One looks and plays. On a side note, the subtitles are actually quite good. There are a few odd word usages, but the writing in general avoids a lot of genre clichés. And the voice acting is well-delivered; I can only hope that the English-language actors can do as good of a job. I watch a fair amount of foreign films, so I'm used to reading my way through a movie, but a game like DS1 requires an amount of focus that can make this unwieldy. Still, perhaps the English-language distribution will have subtitles as an option, if they can fit multiple spoken languages onto that disk. Even if the English voice acting turns out disappointing, I think there will still be a good game to be had when it gets released for us near the end of summer. So stay tuned for when we get our hands on the final version.
DS1, due in North America in August, has elements of all the games I've described above, but it also avoids many of their pitfalls. Privateer had some tedious trade routes and some vicious spikes in difficulty. Freelancer felt repetitive and arcadey. MegaTraveller 2 was perhaps too big of a game for its own good. X2: The Threat too often devolved into being an energy cell merchant, and its story wasn't particularly well told, or its characters very interesting. While DS1 has its problems, it manages a balance between guiding the player through a complex story and giving them freedom to wander around. It starts out slowly, with the main character Kayron inheriting an experimental ship from his recently deceased father. But as we learn how his father died and how the DarkStar One itself is tied to a larger plot with sinister overtones, the game begins to blossom. The game benefits greatly from cutscenes containing good voice acting, dialog and animation. There is tons of this stuff -- I don't know how Ascaron fits everything into one disk. And the main plot will weave these pre-rendered cutscenes in with in-game cutscenes and player actions, all woven together smoothly. What looks like a simple recovery quest turns into a multi-stage mini-adventure, and by the time you're done with the latest development, you're hooked into the plot and want to find out more.
Unlike Freelancer, DS1 doesn't lock you into one area where you have to assassinate some guy wandering around space or deliver a package from point A to point B until you gain an arbitrary amount of experience points, leading to the same pattern in the next solar system. Sometimes you do have to take some random quests, because the plot will move you along progressively farther and farther away star systems, requiring periodic upgrades of your "field drive," the key component to opening gates in hyperspace that allow you to jump from system to system. But the game never gets close to the churn that plagued Freelancer. And often you can take special side missions with premium rewards (and premium difficulty, natch). These side missions are actually pretty neat, because they usually involve large space battles and tense dogfighting.
Speaking of dogfighting -- for those of you who like upgrading ship components (raises hand), you should really dig on this. The ship has a whole ream of different sections to improve -- the generator, energy shield, afterburners, capacitor (which makes weapons more efficient), port scanner, cargo drones -- and that doesn't even cover the weapons, turrets, missiles, or specialty items, like scanning jammers, shield boosters, hull field repair, or energy transfer mechanisms like fore shield to aft shield, or weapon energy to shield energy. In addition to this, the DS1 has its own unique tools, akin to the World of Warcraft talent trees. Its plasma cannon system has multiple uses that act as power-ups: energy shield regeneration, enemy shield deactivation, enemy weapon deactivation, and a couple other tactical bonuses. Once activated, you have to wait about ten seconds to use the plasma cannon again, so its timing takes some experience before you get into the swing of things. But with all of these elements onboard, you won't miss the fact that you won't be upgrading to new ships. The DS1 is very modular.
The plasma cannon system is also integrated tightly into the storyline. In order to improve it, you must gather artifacts, and each level requires more artifacts. As the cannon gains levels, so does the ship, and certain levels are necessary to install better and better gear -- including the field drive. Thankfully, collecting the artifacts is a relatively painless affair. When you arrive in a system containing an artifact, you'll get a notification, and the item will show up on the menu of things in the system that you can target. It might be a bit of a ways away, but you can just use the time dilation feature that X2 popularized. All of the artifacts that I've found have been inside asteroids, and navigating these narrow, twisting corridors can get disorienting. But it wasn't too long before I was sailing in and out like a thief in the night. Also, a system containing an artifact will have a special icon next to it on the galactic map, so there's no aggravating mystery of "Where do I go, who do talk to?" Also, completing those special side quests will typically unlock a system containing a bonus artifact. These systems are populated by pirates, though, so you have to be prepared. On the bright side, eliminating ne'er-do-wells nets you some reward money. In fact, the faction system provides bonuses as you lean into particular character types. As a player who does a lot of bounty hunting, the game rewards me with a premium to the amount of money offered. As a counter, nearby pirates are likely to attack me, even if I'm minding my own business.
Perhaps what keeps this game elevated above its competitors is the variety of missions and the quality of the story presentation. Mission types include cargo recovery, sabotage, satellite deployment, assassination, spying, patrolling, pirate elimination, and reconnaissance. You don't have to fight to make money, but that does form the bulk of the experience. Interestingly, one mission type can turn into another. Taking a photo of an asteroid turns into wrestling with the military over a government secret; obtaining some trade goods from a ship becomes a deadly corporate rivalry. I had trouble with the spy missions, though, which may be the result of a lack of documentation. You're supposed to record a secret meeting with a laser microphone, but I get caught every time. And there are some missions that will put you on the bad side of the law -- the descriptions don't always indicate what the faction repercussions turn out to be. Fortunately, travel time is so short that you won't waste much effort heading towards an unfavorable conclusion.
You can also make money by trading goods, but there are a couple caveats. Cargo is transported inside of containers that trail behind your ship. They're easily jettisoned and recovered, but they make your ship quite sluggish when they're attached. Two, although you can click on any known star system on the galactic map and find out what its four most popular exports are, I haven't been able to figure out what a given system needs. You have agricultural, pharmaceutical, industrial, and "research" economies, but those don't clearly translate into specific items. So far, trade boils down to buying whatever the station has in excess and selling it in a nearby system. In the long run, though, the missions available at the terminal, and the escort opportunities available in real time, are more financially rewarding in this game than buying low and selling high. It's too bad, because the trade system looks interesting.
There are other quirks here and there, but this is a preview build, and I'm having fun regardless. We took a bunch of video, but the subtitles are difficult to make out at the reduced resolution. At the least, you'll get a sense of how DarkStar One looks and plays. On a side note, the subtitles are actually quite good. There are a few odd word usages, but the writing in general avoids a lot of genre clichés. And the voice acting is well-delivered; I can only hope that the English-language actors can do as good of a job. I watch a fair amount of foreign films, so I'm used to reading my way through a movie, but a game like DS1 requires an amount of focus that can make this unwieldy. Still, perhaps the English-language distribution will have subtitles as an option, if they can fit multiple spoken languages onto that disk. Even if the English voice acting turns out disappointing, I think there will still be a good game to be had when it gets released for us near the end of summer. So stay tuned for when we get our hands on the final version.
VURT The only Feathers to Fly With......
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DJ Die
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muppetts
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Hmm Economy looks nixed but IGN moved over that (?) and their is no English spoken version mentioned, I wonder if the demo will be with subtitles.
I read this guys review and it sounds just like Freelancer to me, economy just an add on, arcade dog fight makes 90% of the game and like the old 2D side on shoot ups you collect pods (artifacts) that upgrade and give you new weapons.
Not sure why this guy got so excited.
I still think X3 is on the right path but must agree that X3 could benefit from making you feel you belong to something and you are not so alone. I also think the the models used for people need to be re-thought, instead of trying to make them look ultra real go for japanese manga (just a thought).
I read this guys review and it sounds just like Freelancer to me, economy just an add on, arcade dog fight makes 90% of the game and like the old 2D side on shoot ups you collect pods (artifacts) that upgrade and give you new weapons.
Not sure why this guy got so excited.
I still think X3 is on the right path but must agree that X3 could benefit from making you feel you belong to something and you are not so alone. I also think the the models used for people need to be re-thought, instead of trying to make them look ultra real go for japanese manga (just a thought).
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Tsar_of_Cows
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SteveMill
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Looks like a promising game to me. Completely different game to the X series. Privateer for the 21st century, with the emphasis on story and combat rather than trade and exploration. I like the 'evolving' ship concept so that it reflects your style of play.
Shame the trade model isn't dynamic. I wish that wasn't always the first thing developers junk when deadlines loom.
Still - having a decent story - and hopefully one that you can actually complete without waiting for patches - would be nice.
Shame the trade model isn't dynamic. I wish that wasn't always the first thing developers junk when deadlines loom.
Still - having a decent story - and hopefully one that you can actually complete without waiting for patches - would be nice.
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pixel
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interesting, will be getting it I think, though the graphics are no better than Freelancer except for maybe the lighting.
Will maybe wait a week or two to see what peeps think. Then again, I'll probably just get it.
Anywhere cheaper than play.com who are offering it for £25?
Will maybe wait a week or two to see what peeps think. Then again, I'll probably just get it.
Anywhere cheaper than play.com who are offering it for £25?
"I find your lack of belief in the Three Dimensionality disturbing." Mercenary
"So getting this chick back is more than just getting a chick back. It's the concrete manifestation of an abstract policy goal. And we like concrete - right, Vic?"
Red wine...the only way to frag
"So getting this chick back is more than just getting a chick back. It's the concrete manifestation of an abstract policy goal. And we like concrete - right, Vic?"
Red wine...the only way to frag
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SteveMill
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But hopefully we'll be sitting in a cockpit with multiple views. I enjoyed FL but it was just a glorified FPS arcade adventure. I'm looking for good old Elite/Privateer/Edge of Chaos one man and his ship against the universe space sim. And hoping that their claim that the universe will respond to your play style so you can play a trader, pirate or bounty hunter and it will actually make a difference to what happens.pixel wrote:interesting, will be getting it I think, though the graphics are no better than Freelancer except for maybe the lighting.
Will maybe wait a week or two to see what peeps think. Then again, I'll probably just get it.
Anywhere cheaper than play.com who are offering it for £25?
But, hype - as we found with Oblivion etc - can be very deceptive.
Play.com is the cheapest I've found.
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Galaxy613
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SteveMill
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Having not been able to play x3 (finally beaten by the endless CTD's and losing hours of play to corrupted save games) I'm starving for a decent space sim.
Have I learned from the disappointment of Oblivion as as RPG? No I have not. I sort of know it's going to be a bug riddled mess when it comes out but I've ordered it anyway.
Have I learned from the disappointment of Oblivion as as RPG? No I have not. I sort of know it's going to be a bug riddled mess when it comes out but I've ordered it anyway.
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Nyax
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THe most recent preview does actually refer to the economy as being based on 'supply and demand' but i'll bet it's basically a freelancer style afair.Shame the trade model isn't dynamic. I wish that wasn't always the first thing developers junk when deadlines loom.
Frankly though that doesn't bother me one jot. I want a space game, not an economic simulator.
Which is one of the main reasons the X games have made it near my top 10 games list, despite the length of time i've spent playing them, too much work on things i don't care all that much about, and not enough on things i do.
In truth from things i'm reading i doubt Dark Star one will make it near my top 10 games list either, but it will probably make a nice and welcome interlude to X3s decidely slow pace, and 'do the exact same things you did in the last two games ad infinitum' gameplay.
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pixel
- Posts: 6106
- Joined: Wed, 6. Nov 02, 20:31
ok, well I watched the gameplay movies.
it IS freelancer.
god, that combat was pure FL, follow the enemy with your mouse and pull the trigger.
Got to say, it looked a bit dull.
And the radio chat. did they lift that completely from FL? It is not like they are even pretending it is different lol.
And the ping that happens when you hit the enemy ship, omfg, it sounds like a pinball machine. AWFUL. Seriously that would be a gamebreaker if it is not taken out on release. Really annoying pinging every time you hit summat. Would make me want to miss.
It is interesting, all the cutscenes are pre rendered movies it looks like (as opposed to in FL it being rendered in real time). Don't mind either way.
But as Steve said, we are a bit starved for space games atm, so I'll probably get it.
damn, how low will I sink to get my video game fix
(he says whilst chewing some nicotine gum...)
it IS freelancer.
god, that combat was pure FL, follow the enemy with your mouse and pull the trigger.
Got to say, it looked a bit dull.
And the radio chat. did they lift that completely from FL? It is not like they are even pretending it is different lol.
And the ping that happens when you hit the enemy ship, omfg, it sounds like a pinball machine. AWFUL. Seriously that would be a gamebreaker if it is not taken out on release. Really annoying pinging every time you hit summat. Would make me want to miss.
It is interesting, all the cutscenes are pre rendered movies it looks like (as opposed to in FL it being rendered in real time). Don't mind either way.
But as Steve said, we are a bit starved for space games atm, so I'll probably get it.
damn, how low will I sink to get my video game fix
(he says whilst chewing some nicotine gum...)"I find your lack of belief in the Three Dimensionality disturbing." Mercenary
"So getting this chick back is more than just getting a chick back. It's the concrete manifestation of an abstract policy goal. And we like concrete - right, Vic?"
Red wine...the only way to frag
"So getting this chick back is more than just getting a chick back. It's the concrete manifestation of an abstract policy goal. And we like concrete - right, Vic?"
Red wine...the only way to frag
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SteveMill
- Posts: 3952
- Joined: Wed, 6. Nov 02, 20:31
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UlteriorModem
- Posts: 495
- Joined: Mon, 28. Nov 05, 17:24
There ya go be optimisticSteveMill wrote:Having not been able to play x3 (finally beaten by the endless CTD's and losing hours of play to corrupted save games) I'm starving for a decent space sim.
Have I learned from the disappointment of Oblivion as as RPG? No I have not. I sort of know it's going to be a bug riddled mess when it comes out but I've ordered it anyway.
I looked at the reviews and screen shot and Darkstar looks alot like a mutated Freelancer with X series aspects thrown in.
Some of those screen shots I wasent sure if I was looking at DS or X3.
I think Ill wait a couple of weeks after release to get a feel for the communitys reaction before I try it.