Thank you. :D I haven't spend much this month so I'll probably snag this bad boy.

Not exactly. It's more an ARPG with spaceships as far as I remember. I only tried the demo a while ago.

Isn't that what SPAZ is?

In my humble opinion SPAZ is more an action game with a few RPG- and strategy components but the difference between the two games might not be that great as I make it sound.

Pretty much; if you're familiar with other similarly styled games like Escape Velocity, Escape Velocity: Nova, or the Infinite Space series, you've got a decent idea about what this game is about.

The "A" part is because the meat of the game play is combat, just like in Soldak's other games. However, like Kivi's Underworld, the plot has been reduced to being a thinly veiled excuse to give you a ship, some guns, and the order go fuck up someone else's shit. The "RPG" part is that your ship's stats can get boosted as you gain levels and XP, and you can equip various outfits and items to give your ship stat boosts, or bonus perks (like increased resistance to radiation, cloaking, etc.)

I haven't played SPAZ a lot, but one of the big features of Drox Operative is that that it uses the dynamic world mechanic from Din's Curse, and the diplomacy mechanic from Depths of Peril. That means that in addition to battling and leveling up your ship, you also have to balance diplomatic relationships with other races (which amounts to doing various quests, bribery, or killing their enemies to befriend/placate them), and you have to nip developing problems in the bud before they can cause massive problems all around.

If you fail or take too long to help your allied faction quash a rebellion, it can spread, and lead to a totally new faction arising, which you can ally with if you so desire. If you ignore the construction of a pirate missile base or build up of marauders in that outlying system, you may find yourself SOL as you realize that they completely destroyed all of the allied outposts that you helped build up and protect earlier in the game.

It's a nice game -- my only complaint is that, like some of Spiderweb Software's earlier titles, you can find yourself at a severe disadvantage if you end up making the wrong choices in leveling up your ship's skills and stats.

Can you inform me about the multiplayer for this GOG ver?

Wishlisted :D

Nice addition to catalog.

Just checked out the demo and it is GREAT but a little confusing. The tutorial said the 1st thing I had to do was find another race, so I start looking, and aside from a merchant every other ship I came across started blasting! :P

BTW, love the cargo hold for the player and for all the players ie. Torchlight.

I'm for sure going to have to snag this bad boy. It looks and sounds great. I normally turn the music off but this has a nice Tangerine Dream vibe that when kept minimal makes nice background

OH! And there is "Pause + Action" which helps for folks not really keen on being rushed and/or overwhelmed.

That is vital info for me, thanks for passing it along--- I'll likely grab it so long as it's possibly plausibly pausable. :)

There is a Player's Guide that might help here: http://www.soldak.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5556

agree, nice addition, will have to wish list for now (maybe this weekend)

From what I played of it, it was ok, not great or awful, just ... neat... is how I'd put it.

Seems like a mix of games/gameplay.

Most unfun thing I incountered was not being able to play till I beat it, as some of the win/lose conditions sneaked up on me. Or I was killed in one hit.
Why spend 2 hours playing then, pow "game over".

Of course this is from 6+ months ago, and my memory maybe fuzzy :P


Some of it I did like, like the variety of non-weapon equipment (all ways fun customizing your ships energy/speed/etc via reactors/engines/etc.)

After making it all the way to max level on two occasions (and never actually winning... :sad face:) I never came back.


A main story would of helped this game in my view point, sure keep the current game as a sandbox mode.

That guide appears to be unavailable but I'm sure I'll find others, if I need them. It seems like a pretty nice game to just experiment with so long as you don't mind starting over a lot. :P

I'm new to reviewing games, can we not edit/update our reviews?

Because I planed on coming back to my review after I put in more game time and play other space games to make comparisons.