Graphics- 6/10
It's hard for me to say whether or not these are good graphics, because while they are very nice, the alien races you encounter are very well drawn, the space ships could have been more detailed, but still look very nice, but that's all true when compared to mobile games of older generations.. So, yes, they do look nice for a mobile game, but given the capabilities of today's phones and OS, I can't give it a high score. You see, while the alien races ARE very well drawn, they don't really change through out the game, they remain as speaking background photos, and while the ships DO look nice, they could have been more detailed (again, we are talking about a very old game, I realize, but for the sake of equality I have to treat it as if it was just developed), and on top of all that most of the game is spent in exploration, which is very low on any details, and is basically your tiny ship traveling through space, exploring planets.bottom line- looks nice compared to old gen mobile games (it's a computer game, after all), but the game's strength is not its graphics, if you ask me.
Sound and music- 8/10
Oh, the sound! If the graphics were a small taste of what games on maemo can be like, the sound is a direct peak to the future of mobile gaming. Every dialog (!!!) is dubbed, but simple dubbing is not enough for me, they are dubbed well. You see dubbing in games is a complicated matter, as it is much better than reading long lines of text, but at the same time it tends to suck. Really suck. When it is done well, though, it can be a selling point for a game, and that's exactly what happened here- Well written dialogs and awesome voice actors led to humorous, fun, interesting dialogs, and the acting is very versatile, very creative. Basically very good.
"So, wait, why isn't it a 10/10???!11" you must ask yourself.
The music.
While it is not entirely bad... It's not that good either, repetitiveness + average, uninspired, run of the mill midi sci-fi tracks = annoyance.
I got sick of them real quick. You will too.
Gameplay and playabilty- 7/10
The gameplay is where this game shines- this game is long, hard, interesting, and requires you to think, make choices that will effect the rest of the game, and the plot, as it reveals itself slowly, is very interesting.
The game itself is very RPG influenced- instead of a character you get a ship, instead of XP you use money to add different component to your ship- more fuel pods, stronger weapons, etc. All this makes your ship very versatile- you can make it a strong fighter, or a resource collector, or an explorer, or a bit of all. It's up to you.
The universe you are in does not remain constant, it changes with decisions you make- Alien races go to war against one another, unite with each other, their sphere of influence grows bigger or smaller, and it's all displayed on the star map.
The game itself is mostly spent exploring planets and star systems, and collecting resources to better equip your ship, which can be tedious, but soon it becomes just a means to an end- become stronger, make your ship better, only so you can explore and find new races and eventually free earth from being slaves to (what at first seems) an evil alien race with great powers.
Finding new races at first seems impossible, but the game itself will provide you with all the clues you need to finding all the alien races. Pay close attention to everything you hear, and take note of locations and names that are given to you- these will aid you greatly in advancing.
The fighting is another element of the game- if you choose to fight (and you might not be inclined to do so, for reasons explained later) you will enter the battle screen (.. thingy) where you get to choose which ship represents you in the fight- your mothership is a weak fighter at first, but with the right equipment can be turned into a killing machin, and then you also have the fighters of other races- each with its own unique abilities, advantages and disadvantages. Not all are powerful, but each is powerful in its own way. fighting is done by placing both you and an enemy ship somewhere next to eachother and making you blow eachother to bits, the winner gets to stay and fight the next ship, while the loser is, well, blown to bits.. Tactics also have an important role in the game as many weapons require different thinking to deploy- fast ships with short ranged weapons, ships with slow homing weapons, etc.
Right, so the gameplay is awesome, and again you ask yourself "OMFG why 7/10?!?1" well.. I am not here to review just the game, I'm here to review the game on the n900, and one thing that really made this game much worse than it should have been is the controls. Oh gawd, they're awful- this game has no touchscreen compatibility, fine, so we are forced to use the keyboard, and using the keyboard means using those tiny arrow buttons. Now, if I had one of those giant d-pads maybe I wouldn't have been complaining, but trying to fly a fast flying ship using just my thumb is a nightmare, and it makes fights a living hell. Other than that the game works well, no glitches, no crashes, the game goes silent when you put the phone in silent mode, which is nice, and the only thing is the game's sound effects (like when starting a conversation, or battle) will clash with your media player sound so if you're playing with background music, like I did, you have to go back to the desktop and turn it off once in a while, and go back in the game, as it gets unstuck once you do so.
Overall- 8/10
A very good game, both addictive (in a "Oh god, I NEED MORE MINERALS" kind of way) and fun (in a plot that sucks you in, funny dialogs that keep you interested even in the less important dialog options, puzzles to solve, and good RPG elements combined with star fights kind of way). Yes, graphics were not intended to be its strong point, and the sound makes up for it anyway.
All in all it's a great gaming experience if you're into RPGs, sci-fi.. And even if you aren't, you should give it a try anyway...
It's hard for me to say whether or not these are good graphics, because while they are very nice, the alien races you encounter are very well drawn, the space ships could have been more detailed, but still look very nice, but that's all true when compared to mobile games of older generations.. So, yes, they do look nice for a mobile game, but given the capabilities of today's phones and OS, I can't give it a high score. You see, while the alien races ARE very well drawn, they don't really change through out the game, they remain as speaking background photos, and while the ships DO look nice, they could have been more detailed (again, we are talking about a very old game, I realize, but for the sake of equality I have to treat it as if it was just developed), and on top of all that most of the game is spent in exploration, which is very low on any details, and is basically your tiny ship traveling through space, exploring planets.bottom line- looks nice compared to old gen mobile games (it's a computer game, after all), but the game's strength is not its graphics, if you ask me.
Sound and music- 8/10
Oh, the sound! If the graphics were a small taste of what games on maemo can be like, the sound is a direct peak to the future of mobile gaming. Every dialog (!!!) is dubbed, but simple dubbing is not enough for me, they are dubbed well. You see dubbing in games is a complicated matter, as it is much better than reading long lines of text, but at the same time it tends to suck. Really suck. When it is done well, though, it can be a selling point for a game, and that's exactly what happened here- Well written dialogs and awesome voice actors led to humorous, fun, interesting dialogs, and the acting is very versatile, very creative. Basically very good.
"So, wait, why isn't it a 10/10???!11" you must ask yourself.
The music.
While it is not entirely bad... It's not that good either, repetitiveness + average, uninspired, run of the mill midi sci-fi tracks = annoyance.
I got sick of them real quick. You will too.
Gameplay and playabilty- 7/10
The gameplay is where this game shines- this game is long, hard, interesting, and requires you to think, make choices that will effect the rest of the game, and the plot, as it reveals itself slowly, is very interesting.
The game itself is very RPG influenced- instead of a character you get a ship, instead of XP you use money to add different component to your ship- more fuel pods, stronger weapons, etc. All this makes your ship very versatile- you can make it a strong fighter, or a resource collector, or an explorer, or a bit of all. It's up to you.
The universe you are in does not remain constant, it changes with decisions you make- Alien races go to war against one another, unite with each other, their sphere of influence grows bigger or smaller, and it's all displayed on the star map.
The game itself is mostly spent exploring planets and star systems, and collecting resources to better equip your ship, which can be tedious, but soon it becomes just a means to an end- become stronger, make your ship better, only so you can explore and find new races and eventually free earth from being slaves to (what at first seems) an evil alien race with great powers.
Finding new races at first seems impossible, but the game itself will provide you with all the clues you need to finding all the alien races. Pay close attention to everything you hear, and take note of locations and names that are given to you- these will aid you greatly in advancing.
The fighting is another element of the game- if you choose to fight (and you might not be inclined to do so, for reasons explained later) you will enter the battle screen (.. thingy) where you get to choose which ship represents you in the fight- your mothership is a weak fighter at first, but with the right equipment can be turned into a killing machin, and then you also have the fighters of other races- each with its own unique abilities, advantages and disadvantages. Not all are powerful, but each is powerful in its own way. fighting is done by placing both you and an enemy ship somewhere next to eachother and making you blow eachother to bits, the winner gets to stay and fight the next ship, while the loser is, well, blown to bits.. Tactics also have an important role in the game as many weapons require different thinking to deploy- fast ships with short ranged weapons, ships with slow homing weapons, etc.
Right, so the gameplay is awesome, and again you ask yourself "OMFG why 7/10?!?1" well.. I am not here to review just the game, I'm here to review the game on the n900, and one thing that really made this game much worse than it should have been is the controls. Oh gawd, they're awful- this game has no touchscreen compatibility, fine, so we are forced to use the keyboard, and using the keyboard means using those tiny arrow buttons. Now, if I had one of those giant d-pads maybe I wouldn't have been complaining, but trying to fly a fast flying ship using just my thumb is a nightmare, and it makes fights a living hell. Other than that the game works well, no glitches, no crashes, the game goes silent when you put the phone in silent mode, which is nice, and the only thing is the game's sound effects (like when starting a conversation, or battle) will clash with your media player sound so if you're playing with background music, like I did, you have to go back to the desktop and turn it off once in a while, and go back in the game, as it gets unstuck once you do so.
Overall- 8/10
A very good game, both addictive (in a "Oh god, I NEED MORE MINERALS" kind of way) and fun (in a plot that sucks you in, funny dialogs that keep you interested even in the less important dialog options, puzzles to solve, and good RPG elements combined with star fights kind of way). Yes, graphics were not intended to be its strong point, and the sound makes up for it anyway.
All in all it's a great gaming experience if you're into RPGs, sci-fi.. And even if you aren't, you should give it a try anyway...
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