Has anyone here played this game?
I've got it, and it is rather fun, a space-sim/shooter in the mould of Freelancer, Starlancer etc. One thing it has got is the facility for a number of control systems. Mouse + Keyboard, Joystick + Keyboard and even Gamepad for those of us who use them.
One thing to note is that unlike something like Freelancer you can't buy a new ship. You start with the Darkstar One, a ship built from alien technology. You can upgrade your vessel with the use of artifacts that are found at random in mined out asteroids, some are given for completing missions, and you get one for liberating a system under pirate control. There are three systems you can upgrade on your ship. The Hull does a number of things, it adds strength to your hull integrity, basically HP, and at higher levels allows you to mount turrets. Unlike say the turrets in early Wing Commander games you don't have to man these, and unlike the turrets in Freelancer the aren't tied to your main weapons. These turrets will operate fully independently, so while you're destroying one ship, your turrets can be engaging others.
The Wings upgrade will affect a number of things including the number of weapons you can mount.
Engines will affect your speed, agility and energy systems level (ie shield generators, jump drives)
With each upgrade you also boost the level of the DS1's plasma weapon. A special weapon which can be boosted to do a variety of tasks like EMP bursts, shield boosts etc.
Graphics are fairly nice, though the game has some issues for some (including me) and a 1.2 beta patch has already been introduced and Ascaron are working on a 1.2 release patch.
Darkstar One
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Jade Falcon
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Darkstar One
Don't Move you're surrounded by Armed Bastards - Gene Hunt's attempt at Diplomacy
I will not make any deals with you. I've resigned. I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own - Number 6
The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done.
I will not make any deals with you. I've resigned. I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own - Number 6
The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done.
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Jade Falcon
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I will say that the gameplay doesn't vary by a great deal, but I did like hunting pirate gangs, liberating systems. Some of the missions are pretty good.
It's not a revolutionary game, but a decent one, and unfortunately space games are so uncommon these days.
It's not a revolutionary game, but a decent one, and unfortunately space games are so uncommon these days.
Don't Move you're surrounded by Armed Bastards - Gene Hunt's attempt at Diplomacy
I will not make any deals with you. I've resigned. I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own - Number 6
The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done.
I will not make any deals with you. I've resigned. I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own - Number 6
The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done.
-
Jade Falcon
- Jedi Council Member
- Posts: 1705
- Joined: 2004-07-27 06:22pm
- Location: Jade Falcon HQ, Ayr, Scotland, UK
- Contact:
Well I never played the demo, but I can assure you that combat while maybe a bit dumbed down does get a lot more difficult. The patch has also brought in modding capability which could help somewhat.
Don't Move you're surrounded by Armed Bastards - Gene Hunt's attempt at Diplomacy
I will not make any deals with you. I've resigned. I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own - Number 6
The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done.
I will not make any deals with you. I've resigned. I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own - Number 6
The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done.
Tried the demo, didn't really like it, altough I'm usualy a big fan of space combat "sims". It felt like Freelancer light. That game at least, while not being excellent, knew what space sim fans wanted and very often didn't get - planetary landings, cool ingame cinematics, a lot of other little things like that, besides the usual space sim stuff. Darkstar one, on the other hand, seems to be a trowback to the '90ies in all the wrong places. Single ship, corvette sizeed ship acting like a fighter (Sorry, but I-war I & II happened to the genre, acknowledge that), too simplified economy, pirates that exist as pirates for no good reason, small systems, landing on a fucking trade station (I fucking want to see cool alien planet vistas) etc. It's essentialy Privateer I all prettied up. Sorry, but the genre has moved on a bit.