Starlancer Review

"...I felt an overflow of sentiments the first time I loaded up the game, and it seemed like once again my free time and social life would be a vague memory sucked into the black hole known as "game addiction". I guess Starlancer is in many ways a game that has an awkward predisposition. It's supposed to live up to the greatness of Wing Commander and be good enough to tide us over before the coming of the much anticipated Freelancer."

Ah, the glory days... I cannot even begin to tell you how much I used to enjoy playing Wing Commander... You know, that slogan - we create worlds, I always thought that was solely related to Wing Commander games. It never occurred to me that it could survive at Origin after the slow passing of the true Wing Commander(s). I know they have MMORPG games these days, they have all sorts of things, but the level of immersion that consumed my days and nights while flying as "The Heart of the Tiger" is just unrivaled. I may be a sentimental fool, but I miss Blair, Maniac... the pilot-babes.

As you probably already know, the masterminds behind the project, the talented Roberts brothers broke away from Origin forming their own company, Digital Anvil. The years past, many space-sims came and went, and now Chris and Erin are back with the first of the two class one, capital space simulations --- Starlancer. I felt an overflow of sentiments the first time I loaded up the game, and it seemed like once again my free time and social life would be a vague memory sucked into the black hole known as "game addiction". I guess Starlancer is in many ways a game that has an awkward predisposition. It's supposed to live up to the greatness of Wing Commander and be good enough to tide us over before the coming of the much anticipated Freelancer.

Overall Design, A Reflection of the Storyline...

There we have two of the game's conflicting factors in terms of its creative achievements. The storyline bares traces of a James Bond/Apocalypse Now memorabilia, with a pseudo cold war setting --- the 22nd century variants of NATO and Warsaw Pact - Western Alliance and Eastern Coalition are tangled in a perpetual fight for land and resources. The whole of the Solar system is now a battlefield with heavy space fighting on Mars, Neptune, Jupiter and other space colonies. The player enters the scene at the time when Eastern Coalition is gaining the upper hand with their unsuspected, and bloody breaking of the treaty, followed by massive attacks on the Western colonies. With little or no fighting experience the player joins the 45th volunteers, an expendable, last resort squadron of inexperienced pilots stationed on the good-old ANS Reliant. Although it's fun at first having a Battlezonish backdrop, the real catch is that the cold war theme, just doesn't turn into a global human-alien conflict... ever. There is just not enough variety in keeping a futuristic story within the boundaries of a cold war era. On the other hand, the design of the ships and the interiors is pretty unique, bringing a surreal sense of diverse elements mixed into a "WWII meets the 22nd century" visual experience. The biggest drawback to this approach is the fact that the designers couldn't really experiment with the design and were restricted to a certain style of spaceships.

The number of clichés in the story ranges from a classic portrayal of the bad guys to an overenthusiastic, marine-type spirit of the Western Alliance. It is a story of a clear-cut "good versus bad" conflict in which you don't get to actually choose sides. On the other hand, the game's visual design does a very good job at reflecting the basic concepts of Starlancer. It is introducing a new type of a space-sim universe, never before seen in the genre. You might call it an artistic experiment that, in my humble opinion gets high merits for its consistency and refreshing appearance.

Starlancer Visuals....

I've mentioned the "WWII meets the 22nd century" visuals... What is that really all about? Starlancer visuals represent one of the game's definite high points, whether we are talking about the design itself or the technical capabilities of the 3D engine. Both elements are on a superb level of quality. The in-game space is a dynamic environment with some nice nebulas and a bit over elaborate lighting. The cockpit design is nothing short of excellent. The pilot's control board is textured in such a manner that it gives off that retro metallic look, important to the overall design concept. Firing a heavy gun feels much like it's supposed to feel in a game, with great looking laser blasts and a strong force feedback effect... Explosions are done just right. The emphases are not on the flames, but on the ship debris. Although this may seem unimportant, it really brings added strength (intensity) to the explosions, and ultimately adds more dynamics into the battles.

As for the ship design, two distinctive features caught my eye... Texturing of the ship models is absolutely fantastic. The ship's hull almost feels like it's made out of welded steal plates. If you think about it, that's saying a lot about the quality of texturing...As for the model design, Digital Anvil managed to compensate a relatively low number of polys with the great representation of materials. Also, because there aren't any exotic races, different models of spaceships do seem to resemble one another on an odd occasion or two...

Finally, the best thing about Starlancer's 3D universe is the silky smooth FPS count, achievable on mid-level PCs with full details and in high-res. The dynamic level of detail works incredibly well in the game. It's not just about hard core gamers showing high FPS numbers; it's the overall gameplay experience. Dog fighting is much more fluent; there are no apparent slowdowns once you get near a capital ship, and it all translates into adrenaline-pumped battles, with the players attention focused on the action rather than the pains of not having a steady aim near high poly-count objects... Great job Digital Anvil!

The Atmosphere, Mission Design....

Starlancer is not a ground breaking project. It's not the next big thing in space-sims, but boy --- does it ever have an outstanding atmosphere and mission design. Chris and Erin Roberts have a great reputation for making atmospheric titles, and flying as a member of the 45th volunteers certainly doesn't break that tradition. Starlancer missions are a combination of great sound effects, with very believable voice-overs, smooth visuals and high-paced action... All of these elements contribute to the feel of the game, or atmosphere (call it what ever you like really)... And the missions just keep getting better... The sudden in-flight twists and turns are a regular occurrence, and the way in which they are carried out matches the intensity of good action movie sequences. If I take MechWarrior 3 to be an example in recent action-sim games of a static and uninventive mission design, Starlancer is quite the opposite. Digital Anvil has succeeded in creating missions that will constantly keep the players on the edge of their seats. It is in combination with all the above mentioned elements that the game becomes a well-rounded space-sim with all the ingredients necessary to capture the gamer's full attention. The enemy's AI gets better as the missions progress, and the presence of your co-pilot is indispensable in "hot situations". Your wingmen are not the smartest bunch you'll ever meet, and it sometimes feels like you are all alone in your efforts to save the Alliance. And Of coarse, Alliance's luck can go either way. Any Wing Commander veteran would expect the Roberts' trademark in mission design, the open-ended nature of missions to be an integral part of the gameplay. Starlancer missions are consisted out of several different objectives. Depending on the number of objectives the 45th manages to carry out, and the level of their importance, the faith of the Western Alliance will shift accordingly, thus reminding us of the open-ended, cat-fighting days of Wing Commander... In this way you feel more like a human (to err is human), behind the controls than a superhero hot-shot... Again, this adds more suspense, and character into the gameplay; at least in my opinion.

A Little Something on the Ship Selection...

The higher the rank, the better your craft gets... For all you tech buffs, the right place to find all the info on ship characteristics, weaponry, and particular levels of clearance can be found at http://slvault.ign.com/thegame/ships . The fact that you can customize your ship's load out and choose the craft that best suits the mission is a nice touch from the programmers. I've always felt I needed more control over the selection of craft in Wing Commander. As the game progresses, different cool add-ons become available... The player starts out flying on a Coyote, Naginata, Crusader and Grendal, and ends up flying on a top of the line Wolverine with Tachyon Cannon, reverse thrust and all sorts of other lovely goodies....

Don't be fooled though, because Coalition has in store a few nasty surprises of their own....

In a Nutshell

In a nutshell... You cannot go wrong with Starlancer, especially if you are a space-sim fan... The title doesn't earn the reputation of groundbreaking, because it doesn't introduce any significant new concepts into the genre. Nevertheless, it's a gorgeous space simulation, with a classic conflict and non-stop action... It's something you'd expect from the guys that created Wing Commander. I'm just glad I was able to participate in Chris and Erin's latest virtual world...

Next stop: Freelancer.