we really missed these kinds of games...
What fascinated me?
+ Open end, free gameplay, do whatever you want go wherever you like.
+ you are not alone, you can hire wingmen, you can ask help from the ships nearby taking a pirate, you can make deals with anyone you see around.
+ Merchant or Pirate, go the way suits you. (being a pirate is much more fun though
+ Customize your ship, freely, even change the chasis for a warrior model or a trans passenger liner.
+ Very interesting quests, mostly text based, adds an increadible flavor to the game. A prison life, or an experimental test pilot you are, will live and feel different stories.
+ Living universe, like dominators and allies assaulting in nearby systems (they are announced in news if you want to participate - or you can just pop-up in time to loot goods and weapons during battle aww how rude!)
+ Living universe (2) the tech level of systems increase by time. (not -relevant of your actions)
+ Very interestingly, there is a search engine inside the game, looking for planets and trade prices, just shoot the name, searching for a renegade for bounty? hit the name for his whereabouts. Searching for a new item or weapon perhaps, just write the name and the list of planets selling this item.
+ upgrades of weapons, applying artifacts, adss tons of customization to your game. Buy a next gen laser or upgrade your old fella for a few bucks?
+ Planet scavenging, deploy some probes to unhabitated planets to find artifacts, weapons, goods and perhaps survivors of a crash?
+ Your character earns XP and improves his abilities just like in a RPG.
+ You can actually participate in a land battle for an invasion of a planet.
What i am frustrated about?
- Extremely long play, open ended would be better described as; "infinite ended" The game takes too long that you feel l ike you playing a MMORPG w/o being online!
- Graphics are ok. but with a little more work, perhaps with an able-3D artsman, there would be fascinating views for sure.
- Sound effects are mediocre.
- item variety is fairly limited. Same items with a level increase.
- Star forge protection.
Why it is worth to buy?
Well, its definitely a different way of approach to the genre. Text based quests, undeniably addictive game, endless expenditures and greed for revenues, search for a better ship, with more capacity, a better and small scale engine for more speed... (and goes on ) made up a very rich game actually. And its fair price doubles its value.
A game, brave enough to be "different" among identicals.