Matthew Knott - Blog

In 1994 I discovered a game called Space Rogue. I was a latecomer to the title, as it had been out 5 years and was clearly dated in i ts appearance, but the game play was fantastic.

It was very open, in the same vein as Elite, but as enjoyable as the flight was, the ground action was also quite fun. It was an engrossing game, and captured my imagination in a way nothing has since.

There have been many games since that I thought might fill the void, in fact there are many games I would love to merge to make this dream game. There are a number of games that have come close but not quite had all the elements.

X-Wing Alliance had the best space combat I've ever experienced in a game since Wing Commander IV / X-Wing V's Tie Fighter.

Tachyon, The Fringe, was another close one, with a great flight system but non-combative ground areas.

Mass Effect & Knights of the old Republic have the Ground Combat and RPG elements, but not the space combat.

Eve Online has the trading and ship customisation, but is far too complicated to be fun.

Star Wars: Galaxies promised to be everything I wanted, but it was fairly boring in the end and had some huge problems with it's game play and levelling mechanics.

Star Trek Online

So, to the topic of this post, Star Trek Online. I wouldn't describe myself as a Star Trek fan as such, not in the same way I'm a Star Wars fan, but I have enjoyed it immensely for the most part, for as long as I've known the franchise.

With Star Trek online going into open beta this week, I'm again wondering if this will be the game that fills the void, it has some many of the elements I'm looking for except one, freedom.

I want to choose when I fit in this galaxy, I don't necessarily want to be in the federation, can't I be a pirate? It has what looks to be a good space and ground combat system, although I'm not sure what resources are available in terms of trading, mining etc. I suppose trading won't really figure in the game too much, but the beta starts Tuesday, so I'll find out soon enough.

The main problem I have with Star Trek online is that it really needs to sell itself in the Beta phase, as £40 is a heft price to play for an mmo client these days, and this may seriously impact their initial uptake. Paying upwards of £75 a year to play on top of the initial fork out is a lot to ask of consumers, and may show a little arrogance towards consumers, but I suppose they have to cover the massive upfront costs that they themselves are facing.

That said, if that fails, there is another option...

Star Wars: The Old Republic

An RPG game by Biaware. These 5 words tell me that I will have a wonderful adventure, intricate story, and total immersion. What I don't think I'll get, and what I really, REALLY want, is space combat.

I really can't imagine them doing it, there's been no mention of it so far, or about any vehicle control, so I'm still unsure how long the void is going to be there but I think it'll be a while.

Update

Well, I'm probably throwing away a tenner but it's worth a try. Sony seem to have pulled their socks up in the "letting me download the latest version of the galaxies client" stakes and I'm 50% through with an hour or so to go. This has to be their final chance at wooing me over, but I've wasted invested so much time into the game previously that the thought of not wasting investing more disgusts me. 51% now. 

So, I'm going to settle down with operation flashpoint 2 (the shooter where you win by not shooting people) for a bit, and then see where we are. I think I realise that once baby 2 is here, game time is over for a few months.

Update 2

This unprecedented second update of a blog post sits nicely with my unprecedented enjoyment of Galaxies. Yes the engine is quite flakey, but in a strange way, I like it for it's flaws. I've finished running through all the nursery missions now on a new character, and at least feel like I have a vague awareness of what I should be doing now.

I must confess I'm still confused by the crafting professions, but that said I've now got all my characters back and firing, just getting to grips with the classes, although god help me I cannot work out how to drag actions to the action bar!