First off let me get something out of the way. I have played this game for over 20 hours and still haven't found the FIRST ****ING STORY MISSION yet.
Now that out of the way I can go on to the actual game itself. There are missions that don't involve the main story which does make it a sandbox game (I believe). By missions I mean about 5 per sector and there are at least 100 sectors. The map is huge beyond anything I've ever seen before. The map seems even bigger if you're in a small single person fighter. I docked at a corporate headquarters and was astounded at the size of it.
Now let me get this also out of the way. Just to do this review (and to help me find the first story mission because that ****er is elusive.) I downloaded a script editor so I could spawn what I wanted when I wanted. Yeah I cheated. A lot. But it didn't help me progress the story and setting of the game for reasons previously stated.
Anyway let me break this down into categories.
Graphics: Top notch. The stations and ships are extremely well detailed which is surprising given the size of them. The planets and weapons look good though if you're in a single man fighter as I was for most of the time I played you will feel really small. The game's sense of scale is excellent. Big ships feel big and small ships feel like bugs on the window of a big ship.
Sound: The music is very pleasing and feels appropriate for space. That's all I can really ask for in a game given my onboard sound.
Gameplay: You can be anything and do anything. You can trade, you can fight, you can even be a taxi driver in space (no that's not as exciting as it sounds unless your client wants you to go through an asteroid field). The fighting is fun with shipboard guns and massive torpedoes from capitol ships making big battles feel as epic as anything in Star Wars. The smaller battles are better then I expected because the game has the proper physics. what I mean by that is when you turn in space you will drift a little and not turn on a dime like in previous space based games.
So all in all I'd say it was worth $40 especially once I find the first story mission. When I do and finish the story I'll post more about that but till then it's a beautiful space sandbox game with more content then I could've hoped for.
Now that out of the way I can go on to the actual game itself. There are missions that don't involve the main story which does make it a sandbox game (I believe). By missions I mean about 5 per sector and there are at least 100 sectors. The map is huge beyond anything I've ever seen before. The map seems even bigger if you're in a small single person fighter. I docked at a corporate headquarters and was astounded at the size of it.
Now let me get this also out of the way. Just to do this review (and to help me find the first story mission because that ****er is elusive.) I downloaded a script editor so I could spawn what I wanted when I wanted. Yeah I cheated. A lot. But it didn't help me progress the story and setting of the game for reasons previously stated.
Anyway let me break this down into categories.
Graphics: Top notch. The stations and ships are extremely well detailed which is surprising given the size of them. The planets and weapons look good though if you're in a single man fighter as I was for most of the time I played you will feel really small. The game's sense of scale is excellent. Big ships feel big and small ships feel like bugs on the window of a big ship.
Sound: The music is very pleasing and feels appropriate for space. That's all I can really ask for in a game given my onboard sound.
Gameplay: You can be anything and do anything. You can trade, you can fight, you can even be a taxi driver in space (no that's not as exciting as it sounds unless your client wants you to go through an asteroid field). The fighting is fun with shipboard guns and massive torpedoes from capitol ships making big battles feel as epic as anything in Star Wars. The smaller battles are better then I expected because the game has the proper physics. what I mean by that is when you turn in space you will drift a little and not turn on a dime like in previous space based games.
So all in all I'd say it was worth $40 especially once I find the first story mission. When I do and finish the story I'll post more about that but till then it's a beautiful space sandbox game with more content then I could've hoped for.
