darkstar one yay or nay?

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SAN JOSE, Calif.--Space simulations that let you play as a starship captain piloting a complex vessel from the future have fallen by the wayside over the past five years. But there's one kind of space simulation game that seems to be plugging along--games that focus on exploration and trading, such as X3: Beyond the Frontier. Darkstar One is described by publisher CDV as being similar to Freelancer, Microsoft's ambitious 2003 space game. In Darkstar One, you'll be able to role-play your own character as you decide to be a fighter, a trader, a mercenary, or some combination of the three in a dynamic universe filled with more than 400 star systems.

In Darkstar One, your character inherits his father's spaceship (appropriately named Darkstar One) after he's killed under mysterious circumstances. Apparently, your father had some highly prized device that he had stashed aboard the ship, and over the course of the game, you must solve the mystery of his death, as well as seek revenge on those who killed him. Of course, the story will take you all over the galaxy, and you'll be able to follow up leads, take on various paying missions, and do dozens of other things until you get to the end of the tale.

CDV refers to the game as "Freelancer done right," which is perhaps why there seems to be a ton of content in this game. In addition to including the aforementioned 400 solar systems, the game lets you customize the Darkstar One with more than 300 different modules, and the ship will get bigger and more formidable the further you get into the game. That's not even counting the strange McGuffin device that's on the ship, but it's apparently very powerful and much sought after.

The game will also have a dynamic economy, which means prices for various goods should fluctuate depending on supply and demand. There are six alien races in the game, each with its own tendencies and tactics. Some may like provoking a fight, while others will skulk in the background. When you can't get through to your alien neighbors by being diplomatic, you'll have a vast arsenal of weapons to outfit your ship with, and from what we've seen, combat is fairly typical for this kind of game. You fly your ship much like a fighter, usually from a first-person cockpit view, maneuvering to put your nose on the enemy and fill him full of lead (or, in this case, laser).

Visually, the game looks very good. Space games tend to look great in general, since the designers can put lots of focus on rendering beautiful ships and planets. After all, there's nothing much else out there in the big empty void to render. Still, Darkstar One brings all the latest graphical prowess to the forefront, and we saw some really interesting spaceships and stations, as well as plenty of pretty graphical effects. Darkstar One looks sharp, and it should definitely be on the radar for fans of space games everywhere. It's scheduled to ship this year.
 
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Download the demo, see for yourself.

I found it to be a cross between X3 (or X2, doesn't matter) and Freelancer. Good game, enjoyed the demo. Hopefully the full game will be even better.
 

XPE

XPE

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Boogle said:
Download the demo, see for yourself.

I found it to be a cross between X3 (or X2, doesn't matter) and Freelancer. Good game, enjoyed the demo. Hopefully the full game will be even better.


What makes Freelancer different from x2 ?
 
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I enjoy Freelancer but it is a bit repetative, I wouldn't mind a space sim that's got a few more features to keep you interested. Darkstar One looks good, not sure about X3 though.
 
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Eeugh! the space bits look hideous compared to X3, which btw is stunning. I remember Eve online looking nicer too. It might play ok though, is there a demo?
 
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XPE said:
What makes Freelancer different from x2 ?

Freelancer you're fairly restricted as to what you can do, making cash is pretty much secondary. There is a strong story too. You can only purchase ships, equipment for said ships, and then either attack NPCs or trade.

The X series is more about making a massive empire, and then doing whatever the hell you want. You can destroy entire sectors and set up camp there yourself. There's the story too, but it has more of a back seat role. X is a lot like a cut-down Eve Online.

Darkstar One shifts more towards X, from the base of Eve Online. All imo of course :)
 
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This is diffrent really to X3. More rpg'ish with the ship thing. The psychedelic colours in space aren't a mega concern to me as long as the gameplay is solid.....altho you wouldn't want to play it drunk

From playing the demo it feels kind of a hybrid of sorts. More along the lines of Freelancer if anything.
 
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Im waiting for this to be released, looks really good & it will be something different to the normal FPS / RTS fare i play most of the time.
 
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imo its poor, its a very basic space adventure sim, it has its good bits but x3 or freelancer wipe the floor with it.
if you like your games simple without the learning curve of say ' x3 then this might just do it.
 
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Personally i think its great, and while it looks nowhere near as good as X3 its certainly not a bad looking game. Plenty of missions in there, an evolving ship, loads of ship upgrades/weapons, a trading system that has items similar to Elite, a combat ranking system, whats not to like about it. You can be a pirate, a trader, a merc, a bounty hunter and in many ways its not all that disimilar to Elite which itself was a fairly simple game by X3 standards. What stands it apart from Elite is that its obviously story driven and its not quite so open ended due to the limited number of systems etc.
 
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hmm, looks ok. But why anyone would buy a sandpit space exploration/empire game over eve online is beyond me. ;) and ive played X2, and freelancer before discovering eve.
 
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XPE said:
What makes Freelancer different from x2 ?

IMO X2 was a spaceship simulator, while Freelancer is essentially an arcade game. The freelancer controls are basically accelerate, reverse and use the mouse to steer. X2 is a lot more complicated than that - not something you can pick up in an hour.
 
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DanSolo said:
hmm, looks ok. But why anyone would buy a sandpit space exploration/empire game over eve online is beyond me. ;) and ive played X2, and freelancer before discovering eve.


simple....no monthly subscriptions...personally I believe once you have bought a game that should be it...end of... monthly subscriptions are a con, you end up paying 100+ over a year for a game that would probably would be worth 15
 
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dafloppyone said:
simple....no monthly subscriptions...personally I believe once you have bought a game that should be it...end of... monthly subscriptions are a con, you end up paying 100+ over a year for a game that would probably would be worth 15

I was of that opinion for several years, then i gave it a go, ive now been playing a year and a half. In that time i would have easily gone through 8-10 retail SP games, so in my case its saved me a ton of cash. I dont think you can really go wrong for 30p a day.

Eve is worth every penny, it is truly immense in every aspect, with no forced purchase updates and the social side of it is a blast.
 
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XPE said:
What makes Freelancer different from x2 ?

As everyone else has said. X3 is just so slow and really hard to get into IMHO - there was no obvious tutorial or anything.

Freelancer was just great - excellent graphics, sounds, story, etc. if you've never played it the £8 or so quid it is now is worth it. Very similar to Descent Freespace 2 which is another game you need to play.
 
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