This is supposedly based on the original DC release, and you'll hear of a PS2 and a previous PC ports which - don't know how the rumours got started - were said to have "extra content" despite "being ports with technical issues". Argh, what's a purist to do? Buy the DC version that doesn't have technical issues, or buy the PS2 port and bear with the problems because extra stuff?? I did some cursory searching but could not find anything to substantiate "extra content". Because as it turns out there ISN'T any (explained below). Otherwise you know some nitpicking nerd would've mentioned it in the game's wikipedia entry. Yeah wikipedia isn't a 100% reliable source but we're not doing scientific peer review here, it's good enough. What ACTUALLY is different in the PS2 port from the DC version is the introduction and the detail in one cutscene. THAT'S IT. 1) The introduction: DC version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9zroLFl5zA&t=3m4s PS2 version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-uC37AHDo4&t=2m51s 2) The tornado scene: DC version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwTH3e24F4g&t=35m19s PS2 version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzgnP852vGM&t=8m14s No "extra content". So enjoy this anniversary version, it's not "missing" anything.
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.
While I loved this game when it came out, I'm surprised it's getting so many 4-5 star reviews now on GoG. As far as I can tell it didn't sell all that well, I barely knew anyone else who played it despite the "obviously" awesome premise of giant robots smashing armies. It IS fun to play, but it needs a redesign. For example there's only 1 resource, energy, and more often than not all maps devolve into hunkered down huge armies because it's too easy to turtle up and protect what you have. This then degenerates into the age-old RTS issue of building as large a force as possible and then using it to steamroll the map... except your opponents will also have huge armies, which means you immediately get bogged down in your first confrontation, and then things grind to a halt again as you rebuild your army. Rinse, repeat. The 3 world layer seems like it would open new dimensions in tactics, but since the huge combot units are limited to the middle "ground level" layer, pretty much every confrontation underground or in the sky is hordes of small units tearing the other swarm apart. Worse, AI being AI can obviously coordinate multi-pronged attacks simultaneously - your human ingenuity can save you but you'll be constantly putting out fires in all layers. What this boils down to is if you don't decisively strike first -and strike hard- you can easily get perma-stuck in a neverending war of attrition. Miss even one tiny enemy pocket, they'll soon balloon up with energy and before you can yell "round two" they'll have another army ready to throw at you. Again. This is a shame, as the game is otherwise a decent themed RTS, sufficiently distinctive enough to escape being unremarkable. There are some issues with the combots and part design/research/use too but I'll leave that to other reviews because imo these issues aren't as pressing as the resource problem.
I played the PS4 version, which was largely bug free. The presentation is great. You'll never mistake it for AAA but the world building was done fairly well, from the neon bright colours to the synth music. The game world is a hub, and you're mostly free to roam each area without too many restrictions. Each has a distinct flavour, although they manage to retain the theme's essence. One thing that annoyed me about the decent soundtrack though is that the OST on sale is lacking several tracks, which are apparently permanently backer-exclusive. Needless to say this just dissuades fence sitters from buying it, or annoys them sufficiently to look up how to extract the music from the game files. Very questionable decision to sell a gimped OST. Should've given backers something else instead of chopping up the OST. Worse, this is a mark against the publisher and people will look for similar shenanigans in any future title. The writing is ok, not great but solid. The characters serve well enough but overall feel like they could've used more development. For an RPG there is surprisingly not that much lore. Game is fairly short if you rush. My main gripes are with the gameplay. The platforming is not tight enough, you will know by testing repeated jumps between platforms and see how some inexplicably miss. And forget firearms - aiming felt awkward but the worst sin is you have to buy ammo. Sure, by the end you realize you don't need that much, but throughout the game I felt scared of using up any of that precious expensive ammo. Turns out you don't even need to be great at combat - I unlocked virtually everything else and simply spammed carefully timed punches during the entire game. Not much of a skill tree either, you end up getting everything unless you maxed out combat-related skills. Don't get me wrong, this is a good game. I focus on the negatives because they detract from the game. I'm down for a sequel - provided they don't butcher the OST again.
