|
|
 |
|
If you can look beyond the ludicrous premise of
Starlancer that in the year 2055, our old cold war foes, the Russians can come back to challenge
us in open interplanetary warfare. Then you have a fun game that will immerse you into the
character and the conflict and offers you one hell of a compelling gameplay and sound.
Right from the beginning of the amazing cutscene showing the coaliation's surprise attack on
base Kennedy and you answering the alliance's desperate plea for civilians with flight
experience to contribute your talent to help turn the tide of tyrrany. The game immerse you
into the conflict and each mission is a personal one, each friendly ship you save are personally
tied to a face, and the enemy aren't the faceless enemy of freespace or prophecy either.
After hearing |
|
and seeing the horrible things that they do, you will want to maul the coalition
scum with your proton cannon, tachyon laser, and havoc missile. And when you go into battle,
you will not go alone like in the original Wing Commander, you will go with your squadron,
the 45th Volunteers, of 8 fighters and on certain mission with up to 3 torpedo bombers as well.
And in certain stages, friendly alliance squadron will come to your aid and sometimes even
whole alliance fleet and your base carrier, the reliant herself will come to your aid.
And at your disposal is a wide selection of arsenal depending on your progress in the game.
Early, you have the Nimble and agile Naginata which is the ultimate fighter superiority unit
packing a lethal mass driver cannon. At the right hand and with the right tactic, she can
stand up to the best the coalition has to offer. If you want to have a pig fight instead of a
dog fight and you're a glutton for pain, then take out the grendel. She packs quite a punch
with four lasers and a great missile loadout, but piloting her will be well a royal pain. The
Predator is a great all around fighter sporting a dual proton cannon with blind fire which is
almost a must if you have to take on more than 2 enemy torpedo bombers. She has an above average
amount of afterburner fuel but you still need to carry at least one fuel pod and she got good missile
loadout. The Mirage is a fun fighter to play with her dual gattling and one messon, and she is one of
the coolest looking ship, but I have a hard time taking out enemy torpedo. My favorite is the Coyote,
an awesome fighter even if she only got two proton cannons, but with blind fire, great agility,
great speed and acceleration she is a serious force and a boat load of fun. I don't care much
for the heavy fighters like the Wolverine and Tempest. Too slow, too bulky, too big a target even
if they pack a wallop of firepower. But the shroud, now she's a thing of beauty even if she is
basically a Kilrathi Dralthi fighter from Wing Commander. Her best asset of course is her cloaking
ability and it's a must have in the last few stages unless you enjoy watching your own funeral
ceremony. The phoenix is a great ship but by the time you got her, you gotta have cloaking ability
or you'll be flying into a world of pain.
As for tactics, here are some of my top fav. If you're in a medium to heavy fighter that can take a
bit of punishment, the direct approach is to approach an enemy formation slightly from the left
or right side then blast your laser and missiles at the first ship in sight and work your way thru
their formation. I've been able to take out as much as 4 enemy fighters in one pass under medium
difficulty. The safest tactic is to climb high above them or below them, then after burner behind
them and blast the first ship trailing the pack. And to take out a kurgen and corvettes, if you don't
got a jackhammer missile, then the best way is to afterburner right behind them and rip them with
everything you got. And for enemy capital ship, always go straight for their engine, then shield,
then turrets. Once those big uglies can't move, then they're much easier to deal with. As for controls,
make sure you got the target closest enemy, target next enemy, target closest friendly, target torpedo,
counter measures, and afterburner to one of the buttons in your gamepad or joystick.
Starlancer is one of the best space combat sim I've played in a long time since Wing Commander II and
it does all the major core element of a space combat sim well. But because of its poor story and lack
lustre ship design, I would have to penalize it to a 3 planet rating.
Codewarrior's Rating:
3 out of 5 Planets
Talk about
Starlancer>> |
|
|
|
Buy it @
amazon.com |
|
|
|
Game News
