The first thing I noticed about Darkstar One was how pretty it looks. Unfortunately the next thing I noticed was that not all controls are explained in the manual or the tutorial. (Equiping weapons, I'm looking at you.) Oddly, I also thought the game was better played with a keyboard and mouse as opposed t my Logitech Flightstick. However, once all the controls and how to's were all sorted out I found myself enjoying this game.
I love space sims and though I found this one to be a bit repetitive and sometimes tedious, I thought my freedom of choices were first rate. I absolutely loved deciding how I was going to cross the universe trying to make a buck or credit. I also really liked that the story progressed when I wanted it to. Being able to jump to any system at virtually any time really did make me feel like I was captain of my own ship and that I called the shots. It doesn't matter that I had a crew of one and couldn't issue her any orders.
The storyline was decent, a little predictable at times but overall good. The voice acting however is a another matter. UGH! I don't know how I managed to get used to it but somehow by the end of the story I had almost built up a tolerance. The soundtrack of the game was quite good, conveying the proper moods of action and safety efficiently enough.
The biggest let down in this game was the ending. (Don't worry no spoilers here) I felt the end of the story was coming but when it did come I was left wondering why am I still playing? Where are the credits? What am I supposed to do now? Very disheartening. I had to check an online source just to ensure that there really wasn't anything else to do in the game except for missions similar to those that I completed countless times throughout the main game.
Anyway, the ending aside I feel that as a person who enjoys space sims I would've liked this game to be recommended to me. So I'm going to recommend this one to those who may have doubts. To be clear this game is not Freespace or Freelancer and I don't want to compare one title to another because I feel that there are good individual aspects in all of these titles. For what it is Darkstar One is a good game that will keep you occupied for many hours and the value given from this site is unsurpassed.