superstande: I've been testing the In-Dev version during its progress... I can't say _anything_ of the finished game yet...
Except I've just downloaded it and am excited to try it when I have a 5+ hours to sink later today :)
The controls were really good... Having played Freelancer, Starpoint Gemini Warlords, Frontier (Elite 2) etc. I can say this game is unique in the crowd... And there is relaxed, silly humour there... Ah I'm so happy!
Anyway, I'm a space nut so you can make of it what you will :)
viperfdl: Would be nice if you could give here some feedback and your impression. :)
Sure. A bit slow this week, but there you go:
First thing comes to mind after a few hours of the full game...
The beginning is very linear, and it takes a good few missions to get out of the whole tutorial feelings...
The game has a bunch of "modes", like the missions where you control an AI-driven robot, so I kinda understand these all need to be introduced thoroughly.
The game certainly has this "you must do this and like it" - the ship for instance will explode if you leave the mission area during the tutorial...
I wasn't a big fan of the robot mission type - but luckily there has only been that one so far - and also it may be partly because I've done that same exact one so many times already when the game was in-dev :D
Perhaps in game proper, the other robot missions will prove more interesting, there is certainly potential.
I haven't explored the other campaign modes, as you can play as a outlaw pirate for instance in a whole different campaign as well, for example, or as Earth Empire hireling or some such... My experience is all about the normal story campaign.
The game has some really silly, low-brow humour at the start, and the first dialogue really gives very little to the player, aside those jokes, while the plot is... well there is almost zero plot at the start.
But after giving the game a chance, the plot does start building slowly...
The main character in the story campaign is a rather selfish youth, no care in the world, no thought for anybody else, and likes to steal things without any remorse...
So yeah, one needs to have a rather fair amount of patience, before the plot actually starts to build around the character and then a bit of depth and some seriousness will enter into the picture.
The gameplay itself, especially the space fights, and flying around... no complaints there... Pretty spot on controls, easy to learn the basics. Not super hardcore tactical. But it gets more tactical when you start making money, and have to choose how to spend it on the ship upgrades. And there seems to be quite a lot of stuff.
I especially enjoyed the variety of missiles and comparing various types of missiles. There are dumbfire/guided and also ranges, damage types etc. Also decent amount of gun stats.
One thing that I'm a tad bit disappointed is the RPG system of the character, at least in the beginning. It seems a bit too simple. But maybe it will open up later on.
The game seems to allow a ton of customization for the ship, you can even combine any part with any other it seems, to allow even more variety for different strategic approaches... But the level-up screen has basically given a point or two to distribute into a few combat related skills (like increase chances for critical hits, or damage of some gun type, or better shields...)
Starpoint Gemini Warlords had a lot more variety for the skills...
But if you don't mind the simple RPG system, the game is quite relaxing, and it is maybe the most immersive space flight experience in modern games I've ever had. It really feels like proper combat in big open space now. Also the battles are not easy. I can certainly appreciate that... You can't just blast your way through them without any concentration... I really had to constantly plan my attacks, switch to different guns and missiles, do evasive manouvers, barrel rolls and quick attacks...
So overall so far I'd give it 9/10... Maybe if the plot gets into epic proportions, I could forgive the RPG liteness even more and push it up to 9.5/10 :)
But anyway, this is not a complete review - just my impressions so far.