Return of the Space Sim

[Wicky_42]

I've just heard about two games that have excited me more than any other release for a VERY long time: Black Prophecy [http://blackprophecy-game.com/index.php?id=6] and Naumachia [http://naumachia.aureasection.com/]

Black Prophecy Trailer [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fka0SbpHGN0&feature=related]
Black Prophecy, an MMO, is everything that people who love space shooters/action games want but which EVE doesn't deliver: fully customisable ships, with gear modelled on the ship's exterior (missile racks, guns etc) and changeable colours, twitch combat - and the focus here seems to be on the combat:

Black Prophecy is more action-oriented than a traditional space simulation. We are trying to avoid long travel times or other activities where the player isn't really doing anything.

Only thing it seems to be lacking is Newtonian physics, but hey, it looks SWEET!

Numachia Debut Trailer [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL8usuG0avM&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fnaumachia.aureasection.com%2Fmedia%2F&feature=player_embedded]
Naumachia is not an MMO but session based - join a game, play, quit. It also says it's free to play, but a single purchase is necessary to 'enjoy all of its features'. Sounds like you join a game, rack up points, and purchase bigger ships for an all-out, frenetic multiplayer frag-fest. Oh, and I think it has at least a nod towards realistic physics, so woo for funky gameplay!

All I can say is that after thinking that space action games were long dead and gone, this discovery has seriously brightened up my day. And it's night time, so you can just imagine how happy I am

 

[L4Y Duke]

I'm still waiting for an online space sim where not everyone owns a ship.

I wanna be a gunner, dammit!

 

[Sevre]

I can't say I'm not interested. But EVE will be hard to outdo in the space genre. And Star Trek Online is going to be some big competition. I'll stick to Sins though.

 

[cordeos]

try X-3 Terran Conflict its a huge single player space sim with tons of ships and an active modder community. The combat is alot of fun and you can command an unlimited amount of ships.

 

[balimuzz]

That's honestly the first time that I've ever heard: "This MMO's going to be different. It's going to change things. We're not just copying WoW! We promise!" Then the game proceeds to crash and burn under the eagerly awaiting gamers shattered expectations.

 

[Jarc42]

I would play EVE if there was no monthly fee, the others look a lot more... simple.

 

[GothmogII]

I would play EVE if there was no monthly fee, the others look a lot more... simple.

Well, once you get enough ISK (EVE money) you can apparently pay for your subscription by by time extensions with it ingame, that way you no longer need to pay real money monthly. Only problem is is costs a lot of in game credits per extension, not really all that useful if you aren't going to be playing that often.

 

[Wicky_42]

try X-3 Terran Conflict its a huge single player space sim with tons of ships and an active modder community. The combat is alot of fun and you can command an unlimited amount of ships.

Tried X-3, found it hella boring and far to complicated, with a poorly though-out interface, piss-poor story execution and generally confusing gameworld. I did a couple of missions, got a policing license, hunted some pirats, captured a medium fighter, sold it for enough cash to set up an ore mine, then failed completely at deciphering the automatic trading commands - it just didn't make any logical sense.
The dogfighting component rocked, but everything else was boring, so meh.

 

[Mr_Powers]

Anyone else laugh at the Black Prophecy narator in the trailer?

Anyway, There really hasn't been that many decent space ship combat simulators in a very long time. Independence War 2 was the last I can think of and Freespace before that. I love space simulators and really think they could really make some good ones provided they're PC exclusive (cuz of all the controls) and that the developers look at what made the old space games good. From what I can see, Naumachia doesn't look too bad, but I don't know about Black Prophecy, combat focused Space MMO sounds like a lot of N00b killing to me.

 

[blipblop]

I´m still waiting for something like this to come out on xbox360.
only game that had any of these elements are precursors