Space, Flying and Space Flying

[mjc0961]

Haha, love the bit at the end about Sonic Unleashed. Hell, watching Yahtzee rip Sonic 4 *groan* will probably be the only good thing to come of the game. Then again, SEGA's track record already tells us that the game will be crap (giving it the name they did is just adding insult to injury, nothing more as they would have you believe; Sonic Unleashed returned to the Sonic series' roots too, and look at what utter ass that was), so maybe there's no point in spending money on it even for the sake of seeing how horrible it is.

Either way, I really hate SEGA right now.

In contrast though the space exploration on the newest Ratchet&Clank game was awesome. You switch from zooming around a solar system and blasting enemies faces off to walking around a spherical moon and blasting peoples faces off!
That was only flying across a 2d plane though, imagine that on a 3d plane with even more stuff to explore.

Heh yeah, the being able to land on any planet whenever you want part of A Crack in Time, plus the full 3D planes of flying from Going Commando put together would be all kinds of awesome. I hope Insomniac is paying attention, haha.

 

[Carnagath]

I'd dig a new Wing Commander game for sure. Also, X3 was awesome in my opinion, the combat mechanics were actually smooth and the world felt very much alive.

 

[Ed.]

for fans of space flying/combat and back-and-forth switching between it and regular "ground based" combat...the HL2 mod Eternal Silence provides exactly that.

two teams in a fleet battle: you can FPS around your flagship(defending it's subsystems from enemy boarders) or jump into a fighter/bomber/interceptor/etc and fly out to battle it out in space.

it's still fairly buggy and the community is tiny..but I highly recommend checking it out. it is, after all, free =)

that's the exact one I was linking toa video of or was that why you mentioned it?

Oh and development is going again i have a new map near completion other new content is in the work's.

Main reason for this post i forgot the link to the site.
http://www.eternal-silence.net/about.php

Anyone interested in Space sims has to try Freespace and Freespace 2. Best Space Combat Sims ever.

Seconded also anyone who has freespace 2 should check out the SCP at hard light productions it basicly brings FS2 up to modern standards in graphics and such and adds slightly better physics.

 

[Ed.]

 

[Wodan]

Holy shit Yahtzee you never cease to amaze me with your ability to simultaneously rip a game apart with words in a hilarious fashion and do it in a way that doesn't sound like just some random preteen twat playing halo online. That is quite a skill, and I am jealous.

Also I say HELL YES to the WTF HAPPENED TO SPACE FLIGHT GAMES? Did any one play Wing-commander and Privateer? I don't have any words to describe the happiness and glee those games bestowed. In fact I believe Wing Commander to be one of the first PC games I ever played back in the day when i was still a little knee-biter myself. And yet nowadays we have the potential for a space flight game of epic proportions and the whole genre disappears faster than my balls 3 feet of winter snow.

O well, Branston Pickle for you Yahtzee.

 

[ewhac]

I'd like to see a modern remake of Starglider 2 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starglider_2]. It was essentially one very elaborate fetch quest, but I still enjoyed it. (I wonder what Jez San is doing these days?)

 

[GonzoGamer]

I've been wondering this myself, for a very long time. Eve online doesn't even count... I want my x-wing vs tie fighter back!!!

Games with monthly subscription fees don?t count. It?s too bad that one does, it looks pretty cool.
I miss the xwing vs tie fighter games. There was a thread floating around here where others were saying the same thing.

Last I left it, we were trying to figure out if the present gamepads have enough buttons for an xwing vs tie. I believe we settled on the fact that it would be doable if they allowed you to communicate with the AI team using voice commands like in End War.
If that didn?t work, I?d still get it for the PC.

it's definitely not the type of game i would waste money on for the console. PC or nothin for that kinda game, definitely. something about those kinda games that I just do better with a keyboard and mouse over game pads or joysticks....

I always preferred Xwing Vs/and Tie with a flight stick and keyboard which is why I can see myself trying it on the console. Sure those knobs are a good deal smaller than a flight stick but I would still give it a shot.

 

[HolidayBrick]

Project Sylpheed on 360 was pretty good. It had this absolutely ridiculous JRPG/Star Wars storyline but the gameplay was good. It's really cheap right now too which always helps.

 

[Jamesigh]

got to be the biggest nerd genre ever.

 

[coldfrog]

Wait, are pants good or bad?

Good - Pants on legs.

Bad - Pants on dog.

Very Good - Pants on floor.

Very Bad - Pants on head.

Location, location, location.

 

[DanDeFool]

Where did all the space-flight games go?

THAT'S WHAT I WANNA KNOW!

Seriously, I grew up on games like X-Wing, TIE Fighter, and X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter later on, and although I remember all of those games being joystick-crushingly difficult, they were a lot of fun, especially when you were going up against a Star Destroyer by yourself with nothing but a bay full of proton torpedoes and an orange jumpsuit full of cajones.

But yeah, looking forward to Fun Space Game

If you can find it there's a game called Tachyon: The Fringe which came out some time around 2000-2002 or so. It had no joystick support which is why I passed on it, but it did have Bruce Campbell as the player voice.

Really? I own that game and I'm pretty sure it had joystick support. Could be wrong though...

A couple of my favorites were Wing Commander: Prophecy (which I could never get to run under Windows XP) and Freespace 2, which had you going up against ships so huge and powerful they make Star Destroyers look like the Space Shuttle.

 

[f0re1gn]

There's a few space shooters on kongregate I've actually had fun playing - like Frantic (2), Enigmata (if you turn off the music). And actually, what I discovered in myself through kongregate is that I simply love these space-shooters. I don't know why, but what Yahtzee described there would probably make my balls explode through my eyes as well.

 

[DeadpanLunatic]

I have removed my words from this site.

 

[KDR_11k]

If we want to sell Yahtzee on Freespace maybe we should mention that it's made by the same developer as Saints Row 2?

 

[lumpenprole]

Freespace 2 really took off for me once I got a flight stick and mapped most of the buttons to it. it's one of the reasons I would rather play on the console. Trying to find keys in the midst of evasive maneuvers ceases being fun for me after a while. It starts to feel like "Mavis Beacon Teaches You Typing In The Howling Void Of Pitch Black Destruction"

 

[lumpenprole]

You either go the captain route, and you end up with Mass Effect or you go the pilot route

Yeah, but there are so many story routes around this it's insane. How about you're a falsely-accused criminal who's stolen a small ship with limited interplanetary capability and you have to fight your way through the local law enforcement to get to each planet.

Or.. You're the leader of a military convoy, partly you have to plan out attack strategies, but then in combat you have the lead ship. Plus planetary refuels.

Or.. you just change perspective and play more than one player. Nobody says it has to be an RPG.

The possibilities are there, it seems only the will is lacking.

 

[Azhrarn-101]

Freespace 2 really took off for me once I got a flight stick and mapped most of the buttons to it. it's one of the reasons I would rather play on the console. Trying to find keys in the midst of evasive maneuvers ceases being fun for me after a while. It starts to feel like "Mavis Beacon Teaches You Typing In The Howling Void Of Pitch Black Destruction"

That's what 21-button(42-function) programmable joysticks were invented for. Sadly those no longer work on modern PCs. But I sure loved my Gravis Phoenix back in the day, it was great for those games.

It uses a 16-bit pure DOS program for setting the keys, it might still have worked with some serious emulating on a 64-bit OS. But then there's the issue of needing both a joystick port (no PC has them these days) and a conventional keyboard port to get all the data around to the massive device (it's a lot bigger than an average keyboard).

 

[Mr. GameBrain]

The best damn space flight game I can think of is Star Fox 64, (aka Lylat Wars)!
Sure it was on rails, but the gameplay is smooth, real smooth, and fun.

And the Star Wolf dogfights were brilliant! (More of these please Nintendo!)

I loved the Landmaster levels, (that were very different, but not too different to alienate the main gameplay).

Its just a shame that there was only 1 level like Aquas though...

Damn it Nintendo! Give us a true Star Fox 64 sequel plz!

With Online Dogfights, and Co-op! (I'll be Falco!)

More paths, harder difficulty levels, (make it Nintendo Hard on the most extreme setting!),
The return of Andross, (Hey maybe this time we can fight a full bodied Andross! XD).

Get rid of Krystal, and all those other shmucks too!, (Or at least give us a Star Fox led by Fox's son, I'd preffer a clean slate than an expansion anyday).

Heck, make it a prequel for all I care!

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

Also, people who comment on ZP videos: take note of Jeff Combos' email to Yahtzee. If the developer of a game has enough humility and a sense of humour to thank Yahtzee for ripping into something he's slaved over for several months, I don't see why there has to be a weekly outpouring of "omg y don't u lyk dis game" from people who don't have any appreciation of the subjectivity of reviews.