Euro Gamer DarkStar review Negative to X Universe

[Jericho]

Played the demo for a few minutes. Soooo... Did these guys settle out of court with Egosoft? Or are Egosoft spending a small fortune to sue their pants off?

[muppetts]

Tough to compare I would have thought MS had a better case. It is about as blatant a rip off of freelancer as you could do but hey most games rip others, look at the number of Roman city building games!

The demo eventually put me off, I got bored, trading held no interest, I mean you only have one ship and upgrades are free so what is the point in any major trading, just do missions. Not enough change for me, too same same.

Having said that I am really enjoying my MOD'd single player Freelancer that I re-started.

[Jericho]

I launched into space, targeted a friendly ship, and opened fire. The familier X-series red-blue sheild/hull lines appeared (Oh, wait, that was Freelancer wasn't it? Damn), and a virtual copy of the X-music kicks in.

Yup, Freelancer, you are right.

[SteveMill]

Played the demo for a few minutes. Soooo... Did these guys settle out of court with Egosoft? Or are Egosoft spending a small fortune to sue their pants off?

Neither - I guess they just hired the same talentless chimps to do the cut-scenes. It's the freelancer publishers who need to sue. Thank God Microsoft are known for their tolerance and strong sense of fair play.

[SteveMill]

Tough to compare I would have thought MS had a better case. It is about as blatant a rip off of freelancer as you could do but hey most games rip others, look at the number of Roman city building games!

The demo eventually put me off, I got bored, trading held no interest, I mean you only have one ship and upgrades are free so what is the point in any major trading, just do missions. Not enough change for me, too same same.

Having said that I am really enjoying my MOD'd single player Freelancer that I re-started.

That's beginning to be my thought. why pay for a FL-lite when with a mod you can have a whole new freelancer to keep you occupied the three months it'll take DS to slide into the bargain bins.

In the end this is just a half-arsed freelancer clone with a lot of the good stuff taken out. I'm haiving more fun with Evochron Alliance, and that's 'independent' programmers effort.

It might not be as graphically flash but it feels like a proper space sim, like the X series. I've spent hours just mining and scavaging in my dinky little scout and have barely got anywhere but I love the modified newtonian flight model.

[VincentTH]

Hold on, didn't you just say you'd played the full version of the game? How is that different from this mythical "real" version of the game?

According to DS1 forum,

Version 0.9.1260 is the demo version.
Version 0.9.1270 is the full version in German (and in English on www.metaboli.co.uk)
Version 0.9.1290 will be the one released in August for UK and US markets.

The demo only contains 2 clusters with the story line truncated right after the 2nd mission, and have a few systems without keys (i.e. not accessible). Otherwise, the gameplay is the same.

IMHO, DS1 is just a mix of Fl and X put together. I really wish they add a Newtonian flight model and planet landing. I also miss the Hyperspace Cloud in FE series.

Re: DS1 and X:
They hire the same guys/gals that do Saya and Julian voices in X2/3, and probably the voice of the Raptors (The Teladi voice in X).

[Maximum476]

Just read moodog's comment. He's joking right?

[pixel]

Just read moodog's comment. He's joking right?

?

who?

where?

[Maximum476]

Sorry I left out the link.

http://www.metaboli.co.uk/MetaGame/prod ... ct_id=4307

[avicenna]

Well, Moodogs comments are interesting, but how about this one from Miko Worsley, the Community Manager Game Design for DSO:

Graphics is an interesting subject. What X3 lacks, DSO excells in. What DSO lacks, X3 does not have.

A lot of people say that the graphics of X3 are better, but has anyone noticed any colour textures in x3? The shaders used in DSO are also better, clearer, more detailed. I could go on of course, but a lot of it is also open to interpretation.

found at the following link:

http://213.198.65.214/forum_DS/showthre ... 205&page=3


Apart from the cutscenes which are done better than X3, I can't find one aspect of DSO where the graphics are better than X3, or X2 for that matter.

[Harlock776]

After looking at some pics from those links you guys are talking about it looks like the game is the result of someone taking games like tachyon the fringe, X2/X3, starlancer, freelancer, and sticking them all in a blender and leaving it set on puree for about an gour lol. The interface looks like a mix between X3 and freelancer and the hyperspace flight looks like the flyby sequence of tachyon the fringe not to mention the ship designs too.

I dunno about the graphics being better but if your gonna make another space game PLEASE make it different than other games that have already come out since we have all seen it and done it all by now. Space games are such a niche market since most people enjoy playing mindless sports games or something usually associated with porn and violence mixed together like any of the rockstar games lineup. Look at the cover of DS1 it's basically the same as X2. We really don't need another box cover of two dumb looking people holding flashlights mocked up as guns. The idea of using just one ship is really stupid it makes no sense thats why egosoft moved on from forcing the player to use only the x shuttle and more into an advanced system of multi ship ownership lol.

This game will end up next to all those unsold copies of starlancer in the bargain bin for $1.99 at the local eb games or gamestop.


What I have never understood about the cutscenes of X2 is why didn't egosoft simply hire the people that did all the talking heads for the comm window to do the fully character cut scenes? Even the old talking heads from XBTF were great and are somewhat reused even in X2.

[muppetts]

Well, Moodogs comments are interesting, but how about this one from Miko Worsley, the Community Manager Game Design for DSO:

Graphics is an interesting subject. What X3 lacks, DSO excells in. What DSO lacks, X3 does not have.

A lot of people say that the graphics of X3 are better, but has anyone noticed any colour textures in x3? The shaders used in DSO are also better, clearer, more detailed. I could go on of course, but a lot of it is also open to interpretation.

found at the following link:

http://213.198.65.214/forum_DS/showthre ... 205&page=3


Apart from the cutscenes which are done better than X3, I can't find one aspect of DSO where the graphics are better than X3, or X2 for that matter.

How you can compare the manky ship models in DS to X3 is a mystery, first thing i noticed 'hmm ships are abit crap!'

[Krusade]

Well, Moodogs comments are interesting, but how about this one from Miko Worsley, the Community Manager Game Design for DSO:

Graphics is an interesting subject. What X3 lacks, DSO excells in. What DSO lacks, X3 does not have.

A lot of people say that the graphics of X3 are better, but has anyone noticed any colour textures in x3? The shaders used in DSO are also better, clearer, more detailed. I could go on of course, but a lot of it is also open to interpretation.

found at the following link:

http://213.198.65.214/forum_DS/showthre ... 205&page=3


Apart from the cutscenes which are done better than X3, I can't find one aspect of DSO where the graphics are better than X3, or X2 for that matter.

How you can compare the manky ship models in DS to X3 is a mystery, first thing i noticed 'hmm ships are abit crap!'

I've only had a brief look at the scrrenshot but I agree, the ships are not even as good looking as the X2 ships.

EDIT: Taking a closer look it looks like the Raptor Frieghter is an X2 Boron Hydra with a worse texture.

[pjknibbs]

Graphics is an interesting subject. What X3 lacks, DSO excells in. What DSO lacks, X3 does not have.

A lot of people say that the graphics of X3 are better, but has anyone noticed any colour textures in x3? The shaders used in DSO are also better, clearer, more detailed. I could go on of course, but a lot of it is also open to interpretation.

What he seems to be saying is that the technology used in the DSO engine is better than that used in X3. That might well be true. However, no amount of technology can make up for uninspired modelling and boring star system design--I mean, people criticise X3 for the saminess of some of the sectors, but DS takes that to a whole new level (and I don't mean that in a complimentary way).

[avicenna]

That is precisely the point I tried to make in the DSO forums, and a few DSO fans were not amused.

One of the things that constantly amazes me about X3 is just how often you come across a situation where you think to yourself my god that is beautiful. I don't know whether it is removing the fog from my game, but some of the background nebulae and galaxies particularly when rising above the horizon of a planet are quite stunning.

And I don't think there will be anything in DSO that will compare to skimming down the length of a Teladi Phoenix in a discoverer. The attention to detail on that ship is fantastic.

For me graphics is about how the game looks, not the use of technology and from that point of view I would consider it at about the level of X-BTF.

[Jericho]

That is precisely the point I tried to make in the DSO forums, and a few DSO fans were not amused.

Hmmm... Criticising a game on the supporter's own turf. Not good idea

[SteveMill]

To compare DS to X3 in terms of graphics is a largely a joke. It does asteroid fields better and has full depth of field (semi transparent asteroids don't loom out of a fog you can see stars through) and in general space itself is better done IMHO (including planets) but the ships and stations? No way.

Besides - In DS everything is moving so fast you get no chance to appreciate detail anyway.

And the sectors themselves are uninspired in content and variety, even if, thanks to the absence of nebula, they look nicer.

But what little of the story the demo has seemed okay and the cut-scene animation not quite as risible as x2 & x3.

The ship customisation options are better than x3 but it's only 1 ship. I've finished the demo now and as an arcade adventure it is fine. Doesn't come close to the X series as a sim though.

[avicenna]

SteveMill wrote:

To compare DS to X3 in terms of graphics is a largely a joke. It does asteroid fields better and has full depth of field (semi transparent asteroids don't loom out of a fog you can see stars through) and in general space itself is better done IMHO (including planets) but the ships and stations? No way.

Thats largely a matter of taste, personally I like my space environment to be semi realistic and the asteroid fields of DSO are far from that, their density is more reminiscent of a ring system around a gas giant. The textures are also rather bland in comparison to the ones in X3.

I agree with you about the fog, Egosoft paid too much attention to the freelancer fans complaining about X2's lack of freelancer style nebulae for my taste. However, that is easily fixed. Just apply the mod that removes the fog and changes draw distance. I have done this, performance is better and I can see asteroids 120 km away. Personally, I think Egosoft should include the ability to change this in the options.

[SteveMill]

I agree with you about the fog, Egosoft paid too much attention to the freelancer fans complaining about X2's lack of freelancer style nebulae for my taste. However, that is easily fixed. Just apply the mod that removes the fog and changes draw distance. I have done this, performance is better and I can see asteroids 120 km away. Personally, I think Egosoft should include the ability to change this in the options.

I'd like to but running a mod is a 'get out of jail free' card for tech support here.

It's a matter of taste but I much prefer the textures of DS on asteroids. And I like the way they don't respawn from the vacuum and just sit there way out of the way. But yes - they do cluster like rings, with no gravity source to account for their stability. But if either x3 or Ds went for realism there would be one asteroid in the entire volume of space covered by all the sectors.

The whole asteroid plague in X3 is silly. There are so many things I'd like to be able to toggle in x3. From nebula to asteroids to the stupid God Engine randomly destroying my ships. A 'Don't remove a factory if player ship is docked' would be a great (not to mention obvious) patch.

I'm still up in the air about DS. The one thing I do like is the combat - at least it is able to fight back fairly effectively and it's not quite as much of an arcade shoot-em-up as Freelancer's action could be.

In the end I probably prefer the feel of X series more stately combat (but the more visceral weapons of DS), although the AI is still harmless. Sometimes it's just nice to do some high speed dogfighting. IMHO the space combat in Edge of Chaos has never been beaten. I can't envisage spending the number of hours I've played X games on DS. Like Freelancer it seems to be a play the story and throw away thing.

I can't help but feel DS is a half-finished product. A half-finished space-sim released on an unsuspecting public? Whoever has heard of such a thing?

Well, at least this time the German paying public have performed the beta test already.

[Hinder]

Well I have to hang my head low and admit I downloaded the demo of Darkstar One today and gave it about a 90 minute whirl. While it does have some strong points, I really am starting to believe X3 is not going to be surpassed by any new game in its genre for a very long time to come.

The few things I found in Darkstar One that I think surpass X3 are:

The flight controls with a mouse are a bit less clunky. They duplicated Freelancers controls where you can regulate how fast you turn by the distance you pull, gives a soft touch to it which I liked.

The overall interface was a bit less clunky but I will give X3 a pass on that because the feature count in X3 is well above and beyond DS1 and Egosoft had to put them all somewhere so they did a good job.

The combat was fun.. A bit more precision is required in DS1 and it is more intuned to being close combat. You don't get the long 2km overshoots and passes like you do in X3. Overall DS1 and X3 are about equal in combat as they both have strong and weak points.

The graphics are a bit too cartoony for my taste. They are ok, decent textures and reflections but the cartoony overlook just takes away from the experience for me.

The game mechanics seem pretty cool. The way your ship can be tweaked and tuned is a neat feature.

I did notice alot of VERY CLOSE simularities between the two games in trading, I think DS1 borrowed heavily in some areas

Overall, I give it a 7-10 day hardcore game experienced then shelved. X games on the other hand, well lets just say it's been 2 years and I'm still playing

Hinder