"; if(is_file("header.php")) include "header.php"; else include "../header.php"; ?>

forget star wars How did they do it? How did they manage to cram an entire UNIVERSE (the manufacturers are not kidding)into less than 2 gigabytes???? Whoever designed this went to a LOT of trouble, creating eight hundred years of intrigueing history, building a believeable space economy, and generally immersing the player in a realistic, believeable, and unfortunately HIGHLY addictive game environment. First I'll deal with the universe itself. Throughout the game, you have a map of the 'universe' which changes to show new places you have discovered. There are fifty 'systems', each of which usually consist of a few well-rendered planets, asteroid fields, gas clouds, suns, debris fields, and even shipwrecks.Each system has an unbelieveably beautiful backdrop painting of nebulas, clouds, and the occasional black hole. Systems are reached by 'jump holes' or 'jump gates', basically entries into hyperspace. The fifty systems are divided into four major races--Bretonia (Britain), Liberty (US), Kusari (Japan), and Rheinland (Germany). There are also the Border Worlds, which are inhabited primarily by descendants of the Spaniards. Now lets deal with the ships. There are perhaps a grand total of 25 player-flyable ships, about 5 freighters and 20 fighters. Fighters come classified as light, heavy, or very heavy. The heavier the fighter, the more devestating the firepower, however, there is a huge decrease in maneuverability. Now for plot. The plot itself is very intrigueing, with unusual twists and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat. I wont go into the Coalition/Alliance bit since so many other reviewers have, i will just stick to the main plot. i dont want to provide spoilers, so i'll just tell about the missions you will have to do. the missions are often near impossible. basic scenarios are as follows: you will be flying to the target, with juni, one of the main characters, warning you how difficult it is gonna be. well, thats no big deal, you say, it cant be much worse than the LAST mission. besides, you just bought that nifty anubis fighter. you will be in the middle of the last sentence when you burst out of the cloud or whatever youre flying through, and the sky will simply teem with rheinland heavy fighters, battleships, gunboats, and the dreaded nomad fighters. for a brief second they and you will just sit there, with your heart skipping beats and your mouth scraping the keyboard. then all hell will break loose. if by a miracle you make it in less than three tries, i take my hat off to you. as you desperately weave, duck, and just try to stay alive, juni will be angrily asking you why aren't you taking out the fifteen battleships. your reply will be through gritted teeth: after i take down this nomad, YOURE next. when you finally win the plot, you will feel infinitely happy. Your reward? An eternity of freelancing, going where you want, doing what you want, and no annoying juni to tell you what to do. ups with this game: excellent sound effects i REALLY like the other pilot's conversations. they will talk amongst themselves as well as to you. the 'virtual space economy' is, with its transports and pirates, very realistic and enjoyable. detailed and interesting history good weapons realistic ships like hte 'commodity' thing, where you buy (or loot) commodities, and sell em for a profit. likable characters--except for juni, i HATE her. SUPERB graphics considering the amazing graphics, you dont really need a supercomputer to run this. the reputation thing is fun. you can seriously annoy one group, and be good buddies with another. and if you get bored, its not too hard to change sides... downs with this game: missions are near impossible oftentimes. the 'level' thing--you cant buy cool ships or parts unless you advance to the next level--usually by completing the oh-so-annoying missions. the size proportions are ridiculous. planets are 20 km in diameter--barely the size of a large asteroid. distances between solar bodies are rarely over 80 km--they would be pulled into each other by gravity. oh well, this saves for long boring distances to travel. although being done with the plot will be nice for a while, not having any cool missions will make it relatively boring. i livened things up by attacking transports and becoming a pirate (besides, they have better ships anyway). oh i have just scraped the surface of this game. all in all, very enjoyable, and i cant wait for the sequel. one more thing. all the very distracting women look like supermodels, and the men are all built like the terminator. must be all that genetic engineering.