Greatest space game of all time, or is it?
Escape Velocity is in a league of it's own as far as genre goes. Your first impression of it might be "bleh" but when you start to play and get into upgrading ships and what not, you really get addicted. It's not a traditional 3D type game either. It's a birds eye view for the most part. Which makes it very unique. Those of you that play EVE Online will notice this game has a very similar feel to it. However, EVE Online isn't as old as the Escape Velocity series. Which first came out on Mac a long time ago. This is the Windows version of the popular game. Which I was excited when I found out it finally came out on Windows.
Escape Velocity: Nova(EV:N) is similar like Sim City or the Sims. In the sense that you start from the ground up. You make your way in a little peapod ship and undertake missions, trade/buy/sell supplies and kill other ships in order to make a living. It's a very addicting game once you get into it. If only they made an online version then it would just be pure awesome. But I guess EVE beat them too it, oh well!
The requirements to play this game aren't high at all. As a matter of fact, I'd be surprised if a 400mhz P2 with 128 MB ram couldn't run it. I play on P3 with 700+MB RAM and it runs smooth. It's not graphically demanding, thankfully. It makes up for that with the amount of content and customizing you can do to your ships.
Gameplay - 9/10
Note: This game is NOT two player or online.
When I mean you can customize ships, you can REALLY customize them. Every single planet with outfitters has something different from the last. And a few planets have some very rare add-ons that you won't find anywhere else. It's best to remember these locations because you may never find them again. Most places have the basics though. Gun pods, machine guns, solar panels, etc. In order to get more powerful stuff, you either need to explore more of the universe or undergo in a storyline. This is when you really unlock the good stuff. The thing that sucks though is starting a storyline restricts you to the unlockables of one race and not the rest. But that doesn't mean you can't find other ways of obtaining "some" of the stuff. Such as stealing ships.
You can do everything to your ship from adding on loads of destructive turrets and cannons to nuclear missiles and afterburners to get away from enemies. Batteries to help recharge your energy for more system jumps, add shields and armor, take on a platoon of soldiers to make it easier to capture a ship for your use or as an escort to protect you when you aren't up for wiping the floor with some scumbag pirate. The thing with the Outfitters however is most of the good stuff is real expensive. And getting money early on is a real *****. Your best bet is to jump into a storyline to help you out quickly. Just remember jumping into a storyline will end your chances of starting another. You can tell how storylines start, when you enter bars, something will pop up with a person talking with you. It's hard to know which one you'll get for which race, but the more you play the easier it to should be to figure it out.
Buying ships, this is what we all want. A bigger, badder ship to kick everyone's ass. These come at HUGE prices. Were talking in the millions for the good stuff. And some upgrades cost this much as well. You just need to know how to make some bank to get what you want. There's ships ranging from giant transports if you want to do goods runs from system to system, asteroid miners, close range fighters, long range fighters and the big guns. And mind you, most every upgrade can be put on any ship. So don't worry about not being able to put a dozen turrets on something, chances are, they'll fit. When you check out ships, you can see the statistics on them. For example, how many guns and turrets can be mounted. How much cargo and weapon space is available for YOUR use with adding on things to your ship. Shields/armor and speed. All this can be upgraded in due time. With that being mentioned, I might add that most all ship upgrades/add-ons have "space" requirements. You didn't think you could add a 40 ton turret onto your ship for no extra cost did yoU?! HAHA, dream on. Ok but seriously, the bigger the weapon, the more it's going to take to get on your ship. And this is where a lot of the smaller ships fail in, being able to have tons of big weapons. Which is ok, most excel is speed.
Other things you can do while visiting a planet would be refueling your ship, going to the bar where you can gamble on space races, strike up a lot of sub-missions and start most storylines. You can buy and sell goods where available. If you get into this, remember the prices at places. Some will sell very low and others will buy very high. This is where your trade routes will be. Make lots of runs for tons of cash! Then get yourself a big transport ship to move mass loads at a time for huge bank. You can also check out missions. This is most likely where you'll start off at. You'll get missions ranging from civilian or goods transport, bounty hunting, long ship deliveries worth lots of money and usually your next storyline missions will be here. One other thing as well, if you want, when you approach a planet, hail it and you can demand tribute. Just beware, most planets have an assload of defenses and ships. So be prepared to have one hell of a fight because you probably won't live, haha.
Now onto storylines. I'm sure you've noticed I've said it quite a bit. And unfortunately, if there was a real downside to this game, it's the fact that once you start a Storyline, you negate the possibility of ever doing another on that character. However, some Storylines will branch off into others depending on the decisions you make along the way. Which Storyline you play, whether it be the Federation, Rebels, Aurorans or Polaris all have their unique ships and upgrades the farther you get into there storyline. You will make enemies and allies along the way, so get used to being attacked and killing other ships just to make it to the next system alive.
Space combat, not very many games go truly indepth like this game does. Sure something like Star Wars might be fun, but when you add in all the possibilities with weapons, speed and armor/shield rankings, oh man does it get heated. Upgrading your ships speed and turning will make it easier to rob larger transports of... *cough*money*cough*. And might I add they usually have TONS on them. That's where you make your living if you don't want to do a storyline.
Controls - 6/10
I have to admit right now, I hate PC games for this one reason. KEYBOARD SUCKS! This game revolves around keyboard, purely. You best get learning them buttons because you won't get very far if you forget how to warp out of a system. :| You do however have the option of changing them around to your liking. Which I've done so myself. Makes it much easier on the hands not having to jump them across the board just to do something simple like firing your guns. Once you get a nice setup, it should be easy to get around then the game will be more enjoyable. And yes, the mouse actually is used. But you can play the game with just the keyboard if you really wanted too. Most everything in-game has shortcuts.
Storyline(s) - 8/10
Storylines is what this game literally revolves around when you advance and get farther into it. And getting involved in one is what also kills lots of other options, such as starting another storyline or getting the chance to see what others are like. Once you start one, you're on it forever. So count on making more than one character in this game's lifetime in order to get the full experience and enjoyment out of what there is to do and use.
Storylines get real indepth and take you right into what's happening. You have to build up a reputation of course, but this is where you get the real good ship upgrades and the good ships depending on the race you with. They're all unique with vastly different weapons. You will notice as you play that sometimes you WON'T get involved in a storyline. You might run into sub-missions that are just for your enjoyment, a quick buck or the key to starting a new sequence of missions that could lead up to new weapons or ships if you're lucky.
Graphics - 7/10
For a 2D game, these are some pretty impressive graphics. Lots of color and distinguishable features on ships, weapons and planets. Lots of action can go on at once and make for one heck of a picture!
Sound - 5/10
Uh... I don't think there's music in this game. Just stuff going boom and some "intro" sound for every planet you visit. Don't expect to hear some Final Fantasy music as you fly around or something, just ain't gonna happen.
Replay Value - 10/10
This is where EV:N wins at. With there being more than 5 possible Storylines to get involved in, you have TONS of gaming to do. Even if you speed through them without really taking in the Story behind the race or how the past has effected the present, you will be at it for a long time. A 2nd go around will definitely be easier than the first time. At least you know what you're doing and what not to waste your money on, haha.
Overall - 8/10
This game just kicks ass. It's one of those few that last as long as they do. There is just so much to do and so much destruction to cause! Even after you've done everything possible, you'll come back a few months later just to get the taste of that space combat ownage and probably get hooked on it again and again and again.