Independence War™ II: Edge of Chaos

I still have the original discs of this game, but I bought it again here because I had some trouble setting the graphics to higher resolutions (Windows 8.1 64 Bit, GeForce GTX 960). The GOG version fixes that, as I hoped. However, there is an annoying glitch that prevents it from saving games if you don't add a "saves" directory to the game directory manually - GOG should really fix that, should be easy enough! The game itself is every bit as good as I remembered it. I liked the first I-War better because of its setting and story, so in comparison I can only give four stars to this one, but it is still an excellent, excellent game. And it has aged a lot better than its predecessor. Some have complained that it's too difficult. I can't see why. I wouldn't call myself an expert gamer, far from it. Maybe it's because I played I-War before, which was harder (IMHO), but I don't understand people who wrote that they were unable to survive even the first few combat missions. Apart from the obvious tips that you should have a joystick and that you should keep moving constantly, I have nothing to say to you. Of course, you will die some times during the course of the game. And yeah, it can be tiresome when you were in the middle of one of the more complex missions because you'll have to start over. Just allowing the player to save anytime wouldn't have been the solution, though, as that would kill all perception of actual threat. As it is, when you're on a pirating haul, you will always think twice whether you should get your loot to safety or take on that next freighter with the slightly too strong fighter escort... :P I spent a lot of quality time with this game and I'll definitely spend some more thanks to GOG, even if the installer has still room for improvement.

To think that this game is SO good, and 20+ years old, is mindblowing! They got all the right things in place, and so I am left wondering what the heck happened to the industry...it's a mystery. Anyhow, this is an absolute thumb up, just be sure to visit the official website for some QoL and maybe Texture Mods, and you're set. It plays wonderfully with all sorts of input devices (again, Mod section) including Mouse and Gamepad, and works very well with them all. Gameplay is tactical and action -based, those Newtonian physics and the ships' hardware are implemented in way to allow the player to think, let's remember this is a SIM after all. You can have a dogfight here and there, but that alone won't be enough, strategic positioning is very important too, and it's great! Graphics aged very well, once you are in space, it just looks good. There is somewhat of a learning curve, and a little of frustration here and there, but QoL Mods allow to make these limitations more bearable. Do yourself a favor and give it a try!

Though I was able to get past Wolf's Lair in game (It just slows down and chunks at the end, but as soon as you warp out, it clears up), there is a mod to just get past it that you can find here: https://www.i-war2.com/downloads/category/4-patches-fixes

It's the original version with the latest official patches applied, so old savefiles and mods should work (mine did)! In 2022, the Wolfs Lair and Dagda bugs have been !! FIXED BY THE COMMUNITY !! (EoC Community Patch - 22 September 2022), see this link: https://i-war2.com/downloads/download/4-patches-fixes/435-eoc-community-patch-22-september-2022 Up in the link hierarchy you can get the missing CD drive fix as well in case you require it, and full HD cinematics. https://i-war2.com/downloads/category/4-patches-fixes Just don't use any whitespaces or other special characters in the folder name for the mod: it will be shown and selectable, but won't actually load and not stay selected (probably applies to all mods). The game itself is, as Beckett wrote, on the hard side because only being able to save in the base can be very punishing (I've lost countless hours due to that). The keyboard setup (no mouse outside of menus!) is, while not horrible, not great, and it cannot be changed. Also, in-flight menu navigation replaces ship info, and some keys overlap, so you'll have an unnecessarily hard time changing ship settings during a fight. Targetting via the contact list is hit and miss as contacts scroll through depending on proximity, so you will be hunting the target both in the menu as well as in space. There's hotkeys for enemy contacts but not for the juicy freighters. ;) The original game box included a keyboard reference card, which should have been added to the digital-only version. You can get a scan here: https://i-war2.com/downloads/download/34-goodies/260-i-war-2-keyboard-reference-card Print it (maybe a second screen works), as the game black screens if you tabb out of it (at least for me). In the home base, your navigation buttons are on the tiny side when using present-day resolutions. The autopilot also needs to be carefully observed: when set to "approach", it'll try to go right to the center, nevermind the hull size. Still, a very solid game IMO!

This is a big game with fantastic space travel. You start off and your father has been killed by a corporation, leaving a little boy pilot named Cal to make his own way, with his military AI friend Clay (from the first I-war I think), and the first chapter is how you get into a bit of trouble and end up thrown in prison for life. Next chapter starts and you're grown up, and have friends in prison - and you stage a jailbreak, bringing them all with you. You escape to your Aunt's secret lair, a known space pirate, which is your home base for the rest of the game. Now you're a space pirate... And you can travel through space, and hijack freighters belonging to whomever you like, certain factions like you more, certain factions like you less. You know what, writing this has got me all nostalgic. I'm going to play it.