When the developers of the acclaimed
Homeworld series make a new IP (intellectual property) the gaming world takes
notice. This has been the case with their newest game that goes by the title of
Sword of the Stars. After previewing a demo of it several months ago I came back
impressed with what I saw, but I wondered how the game would shake up once it
was fully finished. Well that day has finally come and I have had the chance to
immerse myself into this game. Read on to find out more!
When you hear the name: Sword of the
Stars, what exactly comes to your mind? Well the first thing that came to my
mind is an RPG game that has a sci-fi setting mixed in with medieval setting.
Basically what I thought was King Arthur meets Star Craft. I then came to my
senses when I found out it was built by the developers of Homeworld and realized
that this would be a strategy game, and a 4X strategy game at that (more on that
later). Just like the title says, this game takes place in the vast universe,
and players will be able to explore various planets, manage huge empires, learn
advanced new technologies, and try to become the ruler of the entire universe.
Like I said early, this game is a 4X
strategy game, which means the players have four different objectives to
accomplish in the game: eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate. There are
many ways you can accomplish these objectives and it is up to you on how you
want to do this. One thing that helps make this game unique is that there are
four different races that you can take control over, which helps keep each play
session unique and makes you want to come back for more. The races that you can
become are: Hiver, Tarkas, Humans, and Liir, and as always each of them have
their own unique abilities, strategies, and distinct advantages/disadvantages.
The main difference between each race is their modes of transportation across
the galaxies. If you want to know even more differences the only way is to
actually play the game and see for yourself.
One thing that I dislike about 4X
strategy games is the amount of micromanagement that has to been done in order
to get anything accomplished. Personally I find that tedious work annoying and I
would rather get myself into some heavy space battles and show my dominance
there. Sword of the Stars takes the same approach, so instead of being bogged
down with a lot of diplomatic, trading, and many other minute things, in this
game you will get to do a lot of war battles, and this is what I like best.
Putting this much emphasis on the
war portion of the game was a huge gamble, and it proved to be a double edge
sword for the developers. There are only three difference classes of ships to
build in this game: destroyers, dreadnoughts, and cruisers. From there you will
be able to customize your ships weapons any way you want, and your enemies will
never know what to expect. What really stinks about this is the lack of
information; such as how do you know which weapons cause so much damage. When it
comes down to starting to make some fine-tuned decisions the lack of information
is really hurtful.
This game is a lot about combat and
the developers know combat since they made the delightful Homeworld game. They
borrowed a lot of elements that made the combat really fun but they forgot one
thing that is very different from previous games. 4X strategy gamers demand and
expect to know what goes on after a battle. The problem is that there is no
health bars so you never know how badly your ships are damaged unless you look
at them. Also there is no summary after a battle so this makes it really hard to
know what to fix up before the next attack that will be only moments away.
Since there is a lack of health bars
in the ship how do you know how badly damaged a ship actually is? The way that
you know what shape your ships are in is by looking at them and checking out the
damage they took during the previous battle. Everything else about the game is
good, but there are other games out there that looks a lot better so this game
will get lost in the shuffle if you are looking for a graphics-heavy game. The
explosions in the battle are not as spectacular as they could have been either.
The sound for this game has been
done with a lot of thought in mind in trying to keep this game somewhat
“authentic.” I know what you might be thinking that there are made-up
civilizations in this game so how can it really be authentic? Well the
developers made sure that they found voice actors that got into their characters
to make them feel different and their voices fit their outward appearances.
In my opinion, music in a game can
make or break it in the long run. This is because if you are forced to listen to
something for hours on end, it might as well be something that you like and that
keeps you wanting to play, instead of something irritating and bland. Thankfully
the developers have a decent soundtrack that will keep your eyes occupied for
hours while you play the game. The sound effects used for this game also fit the
genre and setting that you are playing in.
Sword of the Stars is rated for
everyone
The system requirements are as
follows:
Microsoft Windows 2000/XP
1.5 GHz Pentium/compatible CPU
1 GB RAM system memory
128 MB RAM
DirectX9 class video card
4x CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive
Broadband Connection for Internet play
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Gameplay: 7.3
The lack of variety of units is hurtful, but
not as much as the lack of information when selecting parts for your ships or
after a battle has been fought. This is information that you really have to
include in a game like this.
Graphics: 7.9
There are other games out there that look better then this game. The explosions
are lackluster though. The damage modeling on the ships is a nice touch.
Sound: 8.1
The sound section is done with some flair. The voiceovers that the
developers use and the music really fits the entire mood of the game.
Difficulty: Hard
The game is only as hard as you make it to be and 4X strategy games are
usually some of the more difficult games to get into, but once you do you will
find yourself hooked.
Concept: 7.6
I liked how the developers wanted to really expand this genre of games
and make it better than any of the previous games. While this is a really good
thing, the developers should have worked out some more of the finer aspects of
the game to make it even better.
Multiplayer: 7.1
Playing a multiplayer 4X strategy game online is just an insane idea
and only the most hardcore people would undertake this task as it is will be a
very tedious and long played-out game. It is a nice touch allowing the AI to
help take over if you have to step out for a bit.
Overall: 7.6
I had some good times with Sword of the Stars game. I just wish that
some of the smaller quirks were fixed so that this game could have been so much
better.
