Tag Archives: Space

Evochron Mercenary and other Space Sim’s

Posted by Steve on October 30, 2012 No comments

As you could probably tell from my earlier post, I have had a recent re-fascination with space sims. Like I mentioned, this had to do with the recent announcement of Star Citizen, the new game by Chris Roberts. (Which got totally funded and it looks amazing, BTW) Since we have at least 12 months before we are able to play anything in Star Citizen, I have been browsing around for a decent space sim to fill the void until then. This led me to quite a few titles like Freespace: The Moddening, Galaxy On Fire 2, and Evochron Mercenary.

Most of my friends told me to look at Freespace since there were a TON of mods for it and it could do all of what I saw looking for. Unfortunately, it doesn’t. I was looking for an up to date modern style space sim. Like if someone updated X-wing vs. Tie Fighter. Freespace looks like someone tried to put a coat of polish on Decent. It almost looks pretty, but it doesn’t quite hit the mark. The only interesting thing about it that looked cool was that you could mod the heck out if it and there are versions for every type of sci-fi genre you could want. There is even a Wing Commander mod that it really good, but not quite there. At least, it’s not what I was looking for.

For my mobile needs I found Galaxy on Fire 2. For an iPad game, it’s pretty damn cool. I like the idea that I can take a good space sim with me when I am away from home. The graphics are good and the story is the right balance of campy and fun. It’s not a cockpit view, so that part makes me sad, but I guess that’s what you can do at the mobile level. It’s worth a check out if you have a mobile device. (it’s on iOS and Android). It reminds me a lot of the game Freespace, which I also reinstalled to give a second run.

Wanting to go full blown sim on my PC, I started looking at what was out there and came across Evochron Mercenary. EM is a independent game created by ONE guy, who has been working on the engine for the last 13 years. The bones of the game are amazing. It’s absolutely stunning in how it looks and runs. The physics are spot on for how a ship would work in space. Unfortunately, it lacks polish. The learning curve is VERY steep and can be daunting at times. There are some of the campaign missions that make you re-think how you have to do a space dogfight just due to the realism of the physics. The other downside is the equipment management. I have yet to find anything that tells me that one item is better than another except its level or class. The standard gamer in me tells me that I want the highest class/level equipment. But that’s not always the case. I may not need a class 10 engine while I am running a mining quest.

Overall I am happy with the game. I have kind of reached a stand still on the campaign since its REALLY hard and could use a wingman. The Multiplayer side of the house is a little barren of folks playing so finding someone to help can be tough. Of the few times I have tried though, I did manage to find someone and it makes a HUGE difference.

In the meantime I will continue to wait and yearn for Star Citizen.

What are you (Wanting) to play?!

Posted by Steve on October 16, 2012 No comments

It’s been awhile since I have done a good “What are you playing” post so I thought it was about time to bring it back. Now, you may notice the difference in the title, and with good cause. If you have been listening to the Retro-Nick podcast that we have been doing, you may have a feel for the types of games that I enjoy. One of those types of games is the Space-Sim. I have loved the space sim since space sim’s started to get big. The concept of flying around in open space, exploring, dogfighting, etc. It’s all awesome.

One of the biggest Space Sim’s out there was a series called Wing Commander. There is something about the story based saga that led me down the career path of Commander Blair that just made me feel like it was my story. When the Tigers Claw was destroyed, I was devastated. (if you played, you know).

So when I heard that Chris Roberts, the creator of the WC games, was working on a new game, I got excited. The best part about it is that it’s the game I have always wanted to play!

Wing Commander Cockpit

Let me explain that last bit. I love space games in general. the physics, the concept, everything. I love Star Wars, Star Trek, Firefly, and nearly every other space adventure show/movie. (still struggling with Babylon 5) The idea that a game could allow me to experience that myself, instead of just watch it, is amazing. A great example of this was in the early beta of a game called Star Wars Galaxies. The beta was for the space combat portion of the game where you could pilot ships like the X-wing, and YT-1300 (look it up). My friends and I were in a YT-1300 and I was piloting. One friend was navigating, one in the Turret, and one running around the ship repairing damage that was happening in the fight we were in. The experience was outstanding.

Sadly, the actual game didn’t live up to the initial experience. Those of you who played SWG, know that Sony Online broke all the best parts of the game while emphasizing all the crap.

Chris Roberts is a gamer. He knows what we want because that’s what HE wants. I have faith that this will be the Go-To space sim game. Go check it out! http://www.robertsspaceindustries.com/

In the meantime, I have been brushing up on my space skills by re-installing Freelancer on the PC, playing Galaxy On Fire on the iPad, and I just picked up Evochron Mercenary, on Steam. I am waiting for my Saitek X52 Flight Control System to arrive today.

Oh, and a little Borderlands 2 to mix it up.

What are YOU playing?

Working through the Trilogy (again)

Posted by Steve on March 26, 2012 No comments

Lately I have been suffering a little PTMED (Post Traumatic Mass Effect Depression, it’s a thing). I tried to go play some Old Republic, but found myself too distracted with all of the huge range of emotions I experienced with my playthrough of ME3. (Note, still liked the ending). As I have mentioned before, I never did a second playthrough, only the single story, and single save. The quick recap about this meant that I was able to experience the whole story in a very unique way. It didn’t get convoluted with alternate choices or multiple stories. (Not that there is anything wrong with that, just not what I wanted to do). I have now experienced the whole story, and I loved it.

So, what do you do with a story you just finished and loved? You experience it again! I made the decision to run through the whole story again, starting at Mass Effect 1, and working through the whole trilogy. I experienced a small snag in this though. My ME1 disk went missing! I had pre-ordered and bought the collectors tin for ME1 and had the tin, and the bonus discs…..but no game disk! I checked with Gamestop and they wanted $30 for a pre-owned copy (WTF!!!). Amazon had new Platinum editions for $19 (UPDATE, it’s $16 now!!!) with prime shipping so that’s how I went. It arrived on Friday.

To accompany this epic playthrough I also splurged and purchased the N7 branded G155 Personal Gaming Environment. I have a number of trips coming up that may end up with me in a place that might get boring. (assuming I don’t get out and take pictures.) So I picked up this case so I could take a 360 with me. I will probably have a post about the case after I get it wit photos and such.

So, I am now 10 hours into Mass Effect 1 and the experience is amazing. First off, it’s VERY difficult to transition from ME3 controls down to ME1, you can tell they improved on quite a bit. Outside of that, though, it’s been outstanding. It feels like one of those movies where I have been transported back in time and given the opportunity to make new choices, knowing what I know now! My favorite moment so far was meeting Wrex for the first time (again) with the Dialogue

Wrex: Do I know you human?

Me: * Not yet
* You will
* Shut Up

For those that are curious, I am playing through as BroShep. My first was with FemShep, and my Romance options were ME1: Liara (Duh), ME2: Garrus (Comedy Option), and ME3: Traynor (Stress Relief). I would be happy to explain these if you ask, but I think I know how I will steer things this time around. I will certainly keep you updated on the progress both here and on Twitter.

What I am playing

Posted by Steve on April 4, 2011 No comments

Wanted to toss up a quick “What I am playing” Since I haven’t done one in a long while. My gaming has been a lot sporadic and varied over the last few months. With the new job I, of course, lost a little bit of free time with the commute and new taskings so I have had to modify the gaming schedule to fit. Because of this, my iPad has become very valuable to me as a gaming platform. So I will break it down via platform….

iPad:

Angry Birds Seasons – Who doesn’t play this, really.
Carcassone – This is a great little board style game that we love playing while waiting for food at a restaurant or wherever. The scoring being done by the system is a huge plus.
Catan HD – Same as above, we recently wanted to try playing Settlers of Catan and I found the iPad version. It’s a great translation, but could use some updates.
Zombie Dice – It’s an iPad Version of Steve Jackson’s dice game about Zombies! what’s not to like! If you enjoy dice games, and playing with statistics, you should check it out.
Words With Friends – It’s Scrabble. Sarah loves playing and keeps getting mad at me because I am beating her.
Galactic Empires – GE is a iOS port of the classing O-Game which is a Space Based conquest game. It’s kind of addicting and fun in a weird project management kind of way. You get a planet and you mine for resources, but the tasks can take hours to complete. The draw is the investment that you put into it and climbing the ladders to research the best ships and build a great fleet. The downside is that it’s kind of an MMO. All of the other planets in the game are other players and they all can either help you…..or attack you. As with John Gabriel’s “Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory”, there are internet assholes everywhere. If you can get past that, it’s a fun game.

Next up, XBOX 360!

Dead Space 2 – This is currently in the Tray and being played. It’s creepy as heck and I am still just starting. So far…. Love it!
Rock Band 3 – Picked this up at launch (of course) and managed to get teh MIDI adapter for the drum kit with it. No more swapping of cables, my drum brain is wired into the 360 now for real feel of rocking!
Kinect, Your Shape Fitness – So when my schedule got re-arranged, I kind of lost my workout time as well. I get down to use the Your Shape every now and then, When I do, I feel great, but I need to do it more.

Android Phone

CyanogenMod – ok, so it’s not a game so much as ROM replacement on my phone. I recently upgraded my rooted Droid to the latest CyanogenMod running Android’s Gingerbread. At first I was having all sorts of sluggish problems, then realized that I had some redundancy with SetCPU running. It was bogging my phone down a lot. After un-installing it, the phone runs amazingly now.

Lastly, PC.

StarCraft II – Working my way slowly through the campaign. I love the SC games, but only the Single player side of it. As a friend proved when we teamed up in a match, I suck at Multiplayer.
Civilization V – I haven’t really played many of the Civ games but I picked this one up as a fun game to start on my new laptop. I was so sucked into the first match that I think I lost a full weekend.
World Of Warcraft – Yeah yeah, I guess a lot of people could have seen this one coming. I have re-joined the collective and re-activated my WoW account. A number of my friends went back for Cataclysm and I caved to the peer pressure. I have been impressed in many of the changes. I like the phasing that happens on some of the quests too. It really makes you feel like you are doing something in the game and not just grinding out an area.

So there ya go. Now….what are you playing?