Darkstar One

it's the next best thing. That doesn't really say much, but as Freelancer is pretty hard to get a hold of, and the likes of Star Citizen are a fair way off being released, this is probably the 'best of the rest'. The good: It has a decent story, good voice acting, and the ship upgrade system is pretty innovative. The combat system is good, and there's a nice selection of weapon types. The bad: you can't change ship, so once your ship is fully upgraded (roughly by the end of the storyline) there's really not much to do or work towards. While the upgrades can make your ship more specialized (some variations may have more hardpoints, or a bigger cargo bay etc) ultimately it's still more or less a multirole ship, so you can't play as a bulk freighter or a racer etc. Conclusion: If you can get this on special, it's worth a buy as the story will give you a few fun hours. If you can find a copy of Freelancer though your much better off playing that.

An otherwise solid space sim dragged down by a bad story and terrible dialogue and voice acting.

There's a reason this thing is selling for like 2 bucks. Long story short, I was around during late development of this thing, hanging around the forums, checking out the news and hype. The developers promised "Freelancer done right", which is why I'll be comparing it throughout this review. In Darkstar One you're stuck with the ship you start with. Right off the bat it takes a step back from Freelancer, where you pretty much upgrade ships regularly. Not to belabor the point but this is a big deal. It's like saying in a racing game you only get to play 1 type of car, forever. Fail. Every single system is the same - a station to dock with, a star at the center, an asteroid field. Oh, the background starscape might be randomized. So you're basically just rerolling the wallpaper to the exact same system each time. This kills whatever exploration aspect that might've existed. And again, in Freelancer each system was unique, from the planets, the lanes, the jump points, etc. Another step back. Factions. Oh boy. Freelancer, despite the weird leveling system causing law enforcement in the early game to be far weaker than end game area ships, had multiple factions - many unique in their spread instead of simply game-wide. They reacted to each other, you got dynamic radio chatter, etc. Here in Darkstar One it's basically "cops and robbers". You have the obvious good guys, bad guys, and merchants. No chatter either, except the generic interactions with the player. Freelancer's spiritual predecessor, the aging decrepit space sim Wing Commander: Privateer, does the same thing but it at least has the excuse of being an old game: it came out in 1993, well over a decade before this game. Playstyle. I'm running out of characters for the review so I'll be brief. No, you can't do anything other than being a mercenary hired killer in this game. No hauling cargo etc. You shoot stuff, that's it. So what does Darkstar One offer? Looks kinda nice. The end.

I'm tempted to reinstall Freelancer. Not tempted to reinstall this.

It has all the bits and pieces - trading, RPG-like evolution, a decent combat, plenty solar systems, a interesting story, a nice control scheme. Missions are decently short - you can hop in and do a mission-or two in 10-15 minutes. Trading is very intuitive and simple - but you dont have to do much grinding to afford equipment. You can choose your fighting style - focus on automate turrets, missile or cannons - or choose a combo. Story is not too simple, but not overcomplicated - and it drives you forward. And, for me it was a plus that it was a ending in sight - I finished the story in like 50-60 hours. Also it has decent graphs. All and all, it's a must for both space sim enthusiasts, and the ones scared by giant space operas like X series...