Space Force 2 ....Under The Radar

[Igor_Muravyev]

What are the RPG aspects like besides the inventory (trade, control over allies, XP, etc)? Is there going to be joystick support or is this going to be lame like that FreeLancer game?

[Kunikos]

Apparently you have companion wingmen that you can hire and fire.

[Igor_Muravyev]

That’s pretty much a requirement nowadays, but how much control over them do you get? Can you customize their inventory? Give them clear cut orders that they are supposed to follow? Level up their skills as you see fit? Give them your own ships and take theirs away? Or are the wingmen lame like in Space Rangers 2?

[Hump]

@Igor_Muravyev

That’s pretty much a requirement nowadays, but how much control over them do you get? Can you customize their inventory? Give them clear cut orders that they are supposed to follow? Level up their skills as you see fit? Give them your own ships and take theirs away? Or are the wingmen lame like in Space Rangers 2?

no tutorial or manual to be found.

go JoWood…

[Saxman_72]

My tolerance for wretchedness must be waning as I get older. By the end of that godawful introductory segment my stomach was about to turn over. And I thought Darkstar One was bad…

Lucasarts needs to get off their friggin’ asses and do another Tie-Fighter game already. In the meantime, I think I’ll reinstall Independence War II.

[Kunikos]

I don’t think LucasArts even does games anymore unless they are shitty prequel movie tie-ins.

[Saxman_72]

@Kunikos

I don’t think LucasArts even does games anymore unless they are shitty prequel movie tie-ins.

How the mighty have fallen. =(

[Jaysun]

I suck at this game. I can’t even kill the first two ships that ambush me on the way to the first story location.

[Munin]

How is this game for someone who does not care so much about combat (i.e., how deep is trading, etc.?)

[Igor_Muravyev]

@Saxman_72

How the mighty have fallen. =(

Hey once they realized the Rogue Squadron games will sell way more than TIE Fighter sequels, why bother making games that are actually good?

[Linnaeus]

I think one of these days I may have to learn Russian. Between the number of NEW Russian space sims I’ve seen and the turn-based strategy games coming out of Nival, they’re doing a better job keeping the PC genres I like alive than the American game industry.

[dytexx]

@Hump

The core gameplay, combat and artwork are fine, its the things like no joystick support in the demo, placeholder app for the options etc that tips one off that JoWood hasn’t changed their practice of not allowing for any polish.

oh, and like any eastern European game, the dialogue is so bad it’s almost entertaining in a b-grade movie sort of way.

It’s not that Jowood wouldn’t allow any polishing - it’s just that they simply do not know what that means and they are definitely not prepared to pay for esoteric concepts such as quality, user-friendliness or real support. Developers can deliver a polished product if they want to, but it is nothing that Jowood would insist on before pushing a product to market.

[jpinard]

@Linnaeus

I think one of these days I may have to learn Russian. Between the number of NEW Russian space sims I’ve seen and the turn-based strategy games coming out of Nival, they’re doing a better job keeping the PC genres I like alive than the American game industry.

Many times I’ve thought the same thing. My sister took 4 years of Russian at UofM. Difficult language for English to learn.

[Robert_Sharp]

@Linnaeus

I think one of these days I may have to learn Russian. Between the number of NEW Russian space sims I’ve seen and the turn-based strategy games coming out of Nival, they’re doing a better job keeping the PC genres I like alive than the American game industry.

Nival games often come here though…in English. Are there some good TBS games that are only in Russian?

[Linnaeus]

@Robert_Sharp

Nival games often come here though…in English. Are there some good TBS games that are only in Russian?

I was thinking more of the Space sim games I’ve seen. Unfortunately I can’t find the damn website I was looking at that had a good list of all the publised and in-the-pipeline space sims because I un-bookmarked it a few weeks ago. I’ll edit this post when I find it (Basically, for every english game there were 3-4 russian games, many of which weren’t slated for EU/NA release).

[Incendiary_Lemon]

1C is expanding their reach Globally. They’ve got the UK office and plans to distribute in Europe. Atari has rights of first refusal in North America and 1C has signed digital distro over to Gamers Gate. If you check their site int.games.1c.ru you can find a listing of their current projects.

[Sebmolo]

Who’s tried Parkan 2?

@breathless fanboi

So I know I’ve gushed about Parkan II before, but after playing it for about 10 more hours, I think it’s my new favorite game of all time…

This is no mean feat. For years my favorite game of all was Starflight, a game that’s 21 years old, yet still was unmatched in its feeling of exploration, discovery, and awe. The thing I loved about Starflight – and now Parkan II – is freedom. You can go to multiple star systems, land on hundreds of planets, encounter lots of aliens, and so on. Many games have come close to the level of scope and freedom found in Starflight, but IMO they haven’t come close until now.

Here’s an example of how awesome ONE MISSION this game is (and the game has dozens if not hundreds) – I was to infiltrate this pirate base and load a virus into its computer. So as I approach the planet, I get approached by two cruisers. I launch drone fighters and take out one of the cruisers, the board the other one. Once connected, the game switches to FPS mode, and I transfer over to the other ship. I then fight off the ship’s defenses and steal its cargo before it sets the self-destruct, giving me two minutes to run back to my ship and undock, which I do in the nick of time. Once the orbital defenses are cleared, I head down to the planet and land. I then leave my own ship and get attacked by the bases’ warbot defenses. I then unload my own warbots and fight alongside six of my own bots to take down the base’s heave defenses, which takes out three of my own bots. Once the bases’ outer defenses are down, I enter the spaceport itself to fight off the bases’ inner defenses on my own. Once that’s done, I steal all their cargo and load up the virus to the base’s computer, upon which I’m paid by my contractor. I then leave the base and head back to my ship for repairs.

This takes place in one planet, in one system. There are 500 systems in the game, of which I’ve only seen 4 in the 20 hours or so I’ve played. I gotta tell ya, this game is just incredible.

I can’t gush enough about this game. I really can’t…well, maybe I can, but I think that’s enough for now. :)

[Igor_Muravyev]

If you didn’t join back in 2002 I would’ve called you a shill.

[ElGuapo]

More Parkan 2 info please. But only if it’s in EN-RUSS-GRISH.

[Mind_Elemental]

Sounds like a first-person Space Rangers…