Charming game! A clever mix of Master of Orion and Freelancer
In a nutshell, you find yourself in the midst of a galactic war against a powerful armada of AI monstrosities called Dominators that are programmed to kill all living things. There are five races in the galaxy who are battling the Dominators across dozens of sectors and star systems. However, you can play the game however you'd like and never bother with the main story line. You can be an honorable spacer and help out others in distress. You can be a pirate and prey upon weaker opponents and traders. You can be a treasure hunter and just collect resources for tricking out your ship. Or you can just make it up as you go along. The authorities on various planets will have quests for you to do, which are all optional. The quests are generally of the delivery, escort, or assassinate variety, though each has a backstory that makes it at least interesting on the surface. The big twists with the quests is that there is so much going on in the galaxy that doing a mission can easily get you involve in some encounter with pirates, dominators, or some other random event. Although there is not a single line of audible dialogue in the entire game, the galaxy feels alive with deadly skirmishes, high-speed chases, large battles, asteroid collisions, black holes, systems changing hands, other spacers asking for assistance (or demanding your cargo!), etc. The space fighting is simple and marginally turn-based, but it never gets old since you will become so invested in customizing your ship and seeing how it stands up against others. The game does have a number of dynamics going for it that compel you to play for long sessions, including all of the ways that you can earn money, earn ranks, customize your ship, and improve your stats. While much of the game is based on dice rolls and other algorithms, you never get the sense that the game is too scripted or linear. Replay value is good since a new galazy is generated each game, and you can customize the race, class, and starting abilities of your ranger.
The problems with the game are all rather minor, but still worth mentioning. Although there are a lot of quests to do, the only ones worth doing are the space-based one. There are a number of planet-based missions that play out as real-time strategy battles, but they can be annoying and consist entirely of spamming mechs and turrets. Similarly, there are text-based missions that are often original in concept, but the execution is tedious and repetitive, quickly becoming boring. Thankfully, these missions are optional, so you can just refuse to do them. And with the Dominator war always raging, along with other random events, there is always something to get into. Still, I just wish that the energy put into making mediocre RTS missions and lengthy text adventures had been spent instead making even more space-based assets.
Graphics: The visuals are functional, but not notable in any way. The game is in 2D, and the maximum resolution is 1024x768 (thought the RTS planetary battles can be played in 1280x1024). Space is render is beautiful color and detail, but the other items such as ships, planets, bases, and so forth are merely iconic representations, nothing special. Fortunately, there is so much going on in the game that the visuals are not required to carry the narrative or the action.
Sound: There is no voice acting in the game, so be prepared to read text. I suppose that some voice work would have given the game a bit more character, especially regarding the various alien races. However, I got used to not hearing voices. The writing is interesting and humorous enough--despite the occasional typo--to give the game a good amount of atmosphere. Also, there is a variety of music tracks that help to drive the action.
Technical issues: The game does not have DRM. After I installed the game, I could play it without the DVD in the drive, and there was no internet connection or online account required. Refreshing, indeed. There is a decent manual, but it is in the form of a .pdf file. An in-game tutorial is helpful for getting into the game, though you'll have to learn a lot about the game by actually playing it. During my first playthrough, the game crashed 4 times over about 25-30 hours of gameplay. No big deal, since you can save the game at anytime.
Replayability/value: The game has good replayability, since you can do so much customizing, role-play in numerous ways, and generated a new galaxy each game. I thought that this was a well-conceived, nicely executed game that is open-ended enough to be played in a variety of ways. I would recommend it to anyone who likes a good space simulator or sci-fi adventure.
Pros:
+Many role-playing possibilities
+Endless customization options
+Lively galaxy with much to do
+Earning ranks and levels can be addictive
+Some interesting quests
+No DRM!
Cons:
-RTS battles and text-based quests are tedious and boring
-Graphics are merely passable
-No voice acting