From Darkstar to X3
August 27, 2006Started playing Darkstar One (the new space sim from Ascaron Entertainment) this week. It’s a reasonably good game, and I think the 7.0-8.0 score from IGN and Gamespot is about right. The two biggest irritations I have with this game are the copy protection, and the AI scaling.
Darkstar uses Tages copy-protection. The biggest problem with Tages is the excessive number of reads from the DVD that are required. Not just when loading the game, but also when loading or saving savegames, and even during in-game activities like leaving space stations. Its annoying and considerably slows down game performance.
The other irritating problem is the AI-scaling. The fighter in the game can be upgraded with extra weapons and engine upgrades. So by the time I reach level 10, and am armed with a multitude of turrets, lasers and missiles, I should be able to take on any pirate squadron in the game. Unfortunately the game designers chose to scale the AI up with you. What’s the point of having an uber-powerful spacefighter if 3 pirate ships can take it out with a barrage of direct blasts? It was an extremely bad design decision.
For those reasons, I uninstalled the game after only a few days play. Hopefully, once the English Mod tools are released, someone will release a mod that fixes the AI scaling problem. A similar mod (Obscuro’s Mod) was released for Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, and considerably improved the game.
And I went back to playing X3: Reunion instead. And I’m convinced more than ever that this is a potentially fantastic game, albeit a complex one. With the games I really like playing, I get an illusion of freedom - that I can do anything I want to within the boundaries set by the game designers. Its one of the reasons I enjoy Freelancer and Oblivion so much. Different genres, but in both games you can do whatever you want to within reason. Despite its large size, Darkstar One limits itself due to the small size of individual systems. Each system consists of an asteroid/debris field and a trade station. That’s it. After the 10th or 20th time, this type of layout becomes repetitive and boring.
Darkstar One is definitely a major dissapointment. Hopefully, upcoming mods over the next few months will resolve those problems. But for now, I’m putting this game back on my shelf.
