I bought Star Wolves before but never got around to playing it as I was too engrossed with other genres at the time. Now that I've actually had a chance to tinker around and play a few missions, it's been quite the engrossing playthrough. Now, I've rated it about "Average" given the generation it was released and its contemporaries at the time. Graphics - They're "ok". Not going to win any awards but distinct and detailed enough for me. Ships actually have unique-enough mounted turrets when you equip specific weapons so that was a nice touch. Asteroid fields are fine but not exactly at the level of even Freelancer. Freelancer may be less detailed but it felt more alive given how compact the fields there were. Gameplay - It's a 3D RTS so there's quite a bit of competition in this area. Given I'm currently at the early stages, I have yet to have any weapons that give me clear advantages over the opponents so I can't comment too much on weapon balance. Weapon accuracy isn't too clear to me how it actually works as even point blank shots miss more often than I'd expect which makes playing a little bit of a chore. Micromanagement is a pain as well if you want to keep your fighters alive early on as telling them to attack a target just leads to suicide runs towards an enemy turret. The mission structure is good enough; it reminds me a bit of the old Mechwarrior mercenary games. Voice Acting - Given it's a game from a small studio (a non-native English speaking one at that), I don't have too many gripes about it. It's ok for what it is but could have been better with a bigger budget. Music - Nothing to write home about but not terribad. After a while, I agree it does get tiring. Sounds - Actually pretty decent. Distinct sounds for certain weapon types is a plus in my book. Overall it's a good enough game but other games do what it does better (Homeworld being the gold standard I use). I do recommend the game more for collectors than for RTS enthusiasts.
I've had this game on CD-ROM from years past and it was really my first foray into Strategy/RTS. The game plays like a Real-Time 4X strategy game in the sense you have to explore (for new worlds), expand (your empire), exploit new technologies and exterminate your enemies. This was also the first game I had encountered that had both space and ground encounters done really well for its day. The basic premise is to build your empires planets (which on its own is very reminiscent of Sim City), expand your territory,build up a fleet, and research new tech (to improve planets and your fleet). All of these things combined made for a very enjoyable experience that felt neither rushed nor overly long. The few minuses that take away from a full 5 star are the somewhat mediocre voice acting (to me its still a 5 but that is a biased opinion given my nostalgia glasses). It's fairly cheesy and predictable and has a fair lack of proper emotion for a lot of the lines. Also, the campaign mode is quite punishing at the higher difficulties (for me, anyway) which can make the game not quite enjoyable. Finally, at least for my old CD-ROM version, it doesn't exactly play well on modern machines. I haven't played the GoG version but I have played the Open Imperium Galactica version which has been remade for modern machines and that one plays like it did on my old 486. I would first check out the Open IG version to see if you enjoy that before dropping cash on this version.
I've followed Sword of the Stars since the original game was released up to the latest expansion of the first game, winding up buying multiple copies of the game over the course of my life. I've yet to regret any purchase. As others have mentioned before, things that make this stand out as a gem: 1.) Unique races: Each race has their own FTL technology, making the strategy portion that much more enjoyable. 2.) Randomized tech tree: Each race again has their own specialties (ex. Humans can research projectile weapons better than Liir while Liir are better at energy weapons). This makes each game a joy to play as you never know what tech tree you'll have by end game which makes the arms race also a treat. 3.) Random events are fun to try to beat. There's enough variety in the game to spice up each game. 4.) Large galaxies to conquer. A large galaxy makes for a lot of opponents. Always a treat in 4x games. 5.) A nice blend of TB and RTS. TB for the strategy map and RTS for the planetary combat. That said, there are still some areas where some people may have issues with: 1.) Fairly simple art. The art for character portraits and loading screens are ok. It's not going to win any awards but nor is it an eyesore. It still could be better for its time. 2.) Multiplayer is basically dead. Due to gamespy closing, I have no idea how multiplayer even works now. Am I biased with the 5 star review? Yes, but I believe it's a fair assessment from my end. Even now I enjoy this game over other single-player 4x games.
I played the heck out of this game when I was (much) younger and it still plays as it did. As others have mentioned, it doesn't stand up too well to the test of time and will likely turn off new entrants to the game. It is, however, a welcome addition to GoG and to my own growing collection of games I once thought lost to floppy disk decay. There are 2 reasons I can't give it a full 5 stars 1.) 1 star is taken away for nostalgia reasons. I'm wearing rose tinted glasses and am likely biased on how "well" it plays 2.) DOSBox settings - the default dosbox settings are still kinda crap. Despite running on 386_low, the siege and joustings still move way too fast to be able to do them properly on an i5 processor. Oddly enough, everything else seems to move at a proper "DOS" speed which confuses me.
As others have posted, the game feels way too short. The puzzles have been well done to me but the entire game's length has been more due to unskippable animations than actual gameplay. It's enjoyable as a short romp due to the art, the cuteness, and the ethereal quality but past that, it falls short of anything deep. I would hold off buying unless it was on sale. The length can't justify the price.
I love Sci Fi games. Even more so when I get to manage a ship and crew. Given that, I was immediately hooked on FTL despite the dated looking graphics. The graphics and music give that old-school feel which fits perfectly with the kind of gameplay it offers. The sheer randomness of the map generation does ensure that no gameplay is exactly the same. There are a few things that keep it from getting a full 5-stars from me: 1.) Roguelikes. After dying 10 times without figuring out why I kept losing, it frustrated me to no end and I had to stop playing. I'm not a very big fan of the perma-death games but after finally beating the end boss, I can see why. On a "good" run, you can finish the game in < 2hrs. the RNG gods not with you? be prepared to "ragequit". A reload feature would be welcome but might not really be worth it given how short the game is. 2.) Additional stories. I finished the game 3 x as of this writing. The ending doesn't change and the only benefit to replays is retrying with different ships/crew just to see if you can. That to me seems tiring after a while. Overall, I got my money's worth out of the early launch of FTL. Great little game for the price and still worth replaying from time to time.
I already bought the game on the app store and after finding it here on GoG, I just had to buy it again. From a game perspective, it captures everything an adventure game is supposed to have; an engaging plot, an evil villain, and a love triangle :p The point-and-click interface is simple to use doesn't really require much intuition although some of the puzzles really make you think which is great! I haven't had to think like that for games in a long time. A great buy for any adventure fan.
I remember playing this back in the day and imagining myself in the captain's seat. As a fan of star trek, this gave me the closest thing to the universe. I can't recall how many hours I've spent simply exploring the universe, finding those trade deals, meeting new species, and blowing ships up. The copy protection was unique and part of me wishes that game companies used something similar today instead of the DRM and online activation schemes we have now. Still, I digress. This is definitely a must have game for space fans. Be warned that as this is an old DOS game, graphics are VERY dated and may not be for everyone. I think the gameplay more than makes up for it and stands up to the test of time.
