Although the graphics don't look that good at the start of the game this soon changes as you enter the 3d space enviroment. With an excellent 3d enviroment and nice effects, this game trully convinces. After the intro-scenes you get to decide if you play for the confederation or the empire. Ofcourse.. one stands for good.. and the other for evil. After you made the choice that reflects your character, I chose Evil :), you can start one of the seperate missions. The Full-Campaign mode isn't incorperated in the demo version yet, but it promisses a good and inviting storyline.
After you have chosen your side, you enter a ship selection area. Here you can chose your ship, and modify it's performance
by upgrading parts like shields and weapons. Ofcourse this isn't free, and you will have to pay for these upgrades with credits that you
get for succesfully completing a mission. Being a destructive personality, I quickly
put all the available cash in weapon upgrades..
Might come in handy when you fly towards a huge cruiser that tries to blast you out of the skies. As I exit my Fluid-space jump, it soon turns out to be a wise decision. Huge cruisers hang silently in the void in front of me. Small ships scatter as I approach the enemy fleet and start firing at me.
Luckily I'm not the only pilot on my side and some small vessels and three Large carriers exit Fluid-space just behind me. That should give me the firepower I need to win this battle. (or maybe "survive" is a better word) Quickly I target the enemy's main battle cruiser and I give the radio order to attack my target. As I switch to the exterior view I can see the carriers launching small fighters that bore down on the enemy cruiser.
Accelerating with the help of my ships afterburners I decide to join the frantic action
in front of me. Ofcourse the enemy's cruiser is my main target, but I soon
find out that the smaller fighters should be my first priority if I don't want them
to blast me out of the sky.
Switching my weapons to missiles I get a lock on one of the enemy's fighters.
Before he gets a chance to escape I fire several missiles that lock on to it.
After the first missile vaporized it's shield
, the only thing I see is a blinding flash and a huge explosion as the other missiles reach it's target.
It's has been a long time since I've seen something like this on my amiga.. to be exact, it
was Wingcommander 1 that sturred the same feellings in me. Being in control of a spacefighter
with a gigantic battlecruiser in your sights is something you shouldn't miss out on. It feels great!
Especially if you manage to vaporize it. Look at the screenshot to the left for an example.
I think Geosync Media has done a fine yob with this release, But there are still some
minor things that could be improved. Because this game is both for AGA and ECS the cut scenes don't look as good as the
could have been. The non3d graphics don't look particuly brilliant and I think that's a shame.
They could be so much better with some proper work (maybe render them),
and that would
make the entire game look better. Maybe a seperate AGA version is the solution, making use of higher resolutions and
more onscreen collors. Another minor letdown is the sound. Although all the communications
are made up off sampled speech, this sometimes sounds like 4bit. Also some of the voices
don't fit the parts they are given (e.g. a high shrieking voice shouting 'Ill kill you')
On the other hand, the 3d engine looks great and it moves really fluent, even if you approach the huge battle cruisers.
If they make some changes in the area's I mentioned, this game would be a winner.
I just hope some publisher will pick it up and release it. (maybe a yob for vulcan?)
Because this is a preview of a demo version of starfighter i hesitated about
giving it any scores. But I decided to do it anyway, although some of the scores
will surelly improve with the arrival of the full game.
| Graphics - 80% |
| Sounds - 60% |
| Playability - 80% |
| Motivation - 85% |
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