Spaceforce: Rogue Universe
Preview
For those who enjoy FPS games, especially shootouts in space
by Marcus Mulkins
previewed on PC
Space: Pacifists Need Not Apply
Still, it can't be denied that Provox has put a lot more meat onto the bones of the game that had been SpaceForce. To start with, the background storyline has been massively fleshed out. Like the original, humanity was about to step into space. And like the original, we were jumped by an alien race (the Ord). But from thereon, the player is buried in an avalanche of details: In the face of the alien threat, all of Earth's military forces staged a worldwide coup and established a united military joint command called the Earth Military Directorate. No ifs, ands, or buts; humanity was going to deal with the threat with a military response and to hell with any negotiated peace. Through the efforts of the EMD (and the lackadaisical offense offered by the Ord), the tables are turned and Earth manages to capture the (relatively) nearby Ord system. There Earth establishes the first of its space colonies, New Terra. But it has been many years under a military dictatorship, and many citizens believe that now that humanity has made it into space, and the immediate threat has been dealt with, it is time to terminate the Total War footing and involve ourselves with other things. The colonies rebel and establish the Union Force. Under the constant pressure of the EMD to drag the rebels kicking and screaming back into the fold, and the several belligerent alien races in the galaxy, the UF becomes every bit as militaristic as the EMD.
SpaceForce 2 has 11 distinct factions/races, but the player is limited to belonging to either the EMD or the UF. (Humans Uber Alles!) The "galaxy" consists of 46 playable star systems, 14 fighter class ships which classify into light, medium, or heavy classes (shades of Freelancer!) which in turn consist of 11 subsystem components so there will undoubtedly be substantial variety in ship customizations and many paths to wander. The economic system is more evolved than most spacefaring games. But overall, other than the obvious fact the game will have more of everything, I anticipate that the game will play more or less like a sandbox version of Freelancer or DarkStar One.
On the anticipated downside, SpaceForce 2 will most likely be a VERY demanding game if you want to actually see all of the gorgeous graphics. The game will allow either a first- or third-person view of the action and it features "live" music that changes based upon the context of game play: fights are associated by dramatic themes while calmer moments are accompanied by ambient tones. More intensive, detailed graphics and richer sound tracks undoubtedly require higher end systems. You'll undoubtedly be able to tone down the graphics levels and sound, but what fun is that?
How Do You Define "Big"?
SpaceForce 2 highlights several of my complaints about space combat games. First and foremost, there's the size of the playable galaxy. The game has the player come from human stock, which originates on the Earth - so therefore the setting is the Milky Way. And the Milky Way contains over 100 billion stars - yet the designers provide us only 46 systems? How can they, with a straight face even suggest that the game supposedly encompasses the galaxy? And in that volume, Provox provides us eleven major factions? I once heard an explanation concerning the possibility of intelligent life in the universe that goes like this: If only one in a thousand stars is similar to Sol, and of those only one in a thousand has planets, and of those if only one in a thousand has a planet at the same distance as Earth from Sol, and of those if only one in a thousand has life, and of those if only one in a thousand has intelligent life, enough to get into space then there will be millions of space traveling races for us to someday encounter out there. Yet, Provox is content to offer us eleven (two of which are human) and suggest that that's it.
