Shattered Galaxy Preview
Massively-multiplayer Starcraft it's not, but Shattered Galaxy will be one of the first online strategy games on the market.
It was only a matter of time before a developer took the best qualities of Starcraft and Diablo and combined them with an enormous strategic aspect to create a massively multiplayer strategy game. Nexon's Shattered Galaxy isn't just a strategy game you can play online with seven other players--it is truly a massively multiplayer campaign that could potentially engulf tens of thousands of players. It's a concept that is intriguing and full of promise, and the execution, as we've learned from playing the beta, is actually pretty good.
Nexon is a Korean developer, and it makes sense that from this nation there should come a game that takes the best of strategy and role-playing and goes one step further in the multiplayer arena. The story of Shattered Galaxy is average, but it does an adequate job setting up the action. In the far future, Earth's scientists are experimenting with teleportation. On the verge of a revolutionary breakthrough, these scientists use a lab rat to test out their latest teleportation device. The experiment goes horribly awry, and instead of teleporting the rat to the desired location, the scientists manage to instead teleport a huge chunk of Earth to a far-off galaxy. Deposited in a strange new world, light years from home, those who survived the catastrophic displacement are forced to fight for survival against the aliens of the new world and rival factions that have sprung up from among fellow survivors. What this all means is that you have an excuse to battle to the death against the other factions and strive for galactic dominance.
The setting for Shattered Galaxy is thus a cluster of planets spread out over a few solar systems. Each faction stakes out a claim in a different part of this galaxy, but the beauty of this game is that the geopolitical boundaries are fluid and ever changing. The "world" of Shattered Galaxy is persistent and dynamic, and you and every other player can and will directly contribute to reshaping borders, stealing planets from other factions, and defending your holdings from rapacious enemies. In this game, you and the other players literally control the campaign.
At first glance, Shattered Galaxy looks like a dated game. The graphics are 2D, and the animation is somewhat simple. Then again, this game has to accommodate tens of thousands of players on its servers, with up to 40 players per battle, and all of it over the Internet. So a dated look is understandable. We'll have to wait until the game ships later in the year to find out if it can be forgiven by players at large, though.
The biggest impediment to playing right now isn't the graphics, but the interface. You eventually get used to it, and you can always find a veteran online to clue you in to the workings of the game. However, there isn't a lot of in-game help or control explanations. And many of the terms in the game, such as "influence required," as well as the resources themselves, aren't explained to newcomers. We stumbled through the interface, trying to learn how our various attributes contributed to the units we could buy, equip, and command, and it wasn't clear to us at all how the resources worked. But after asking around and trying out some battles, the game become much easier to manage. Basically, when this game ships, you will need to read the manual, and you'll want to ask other players online for tips and advice. However, once you get past this first stumbling block, you'll find a rewarding and very promising game. Let's take a look.
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