While it was the least attractive of the series in its time, it was definitely the best. I'm not saying the others were bad, but this one had definitely the most depth, and this is still true today with all the remakes and fan based spin-offs out there. While most of these types of games are about saving the world, in this game you focus on one mega city that has been built after almost all the rest of earth has become uninhabitable. This time, you're not only focusing on aliens, you're also occupied with keeping other factions/corporations happy (or not if you don't care). Some corporations get taken over by aliens, and there is no reason not to raid them completely dry, because if you don't they will attack you at some point. The research tree is definitely very interesting and it sticks to normal humanity (except for psy maybe) where other games need things like enhancements and almost wizard like magic (that where I lost interest in the new XCOM2 while I really liked XCOM remake). I was born in the 70's, I saw user interfaces improve over all the years, so I have no problems playing this game, but for those who grew up later, it can be hard to get used to the controls. Try to overcome it, because this game is definitely worth the time. I think I have spent more time in this game than in the sum of all other games (maybe excluding DOOM II). I am running this game in Linux although neither Steam nor GoG supports it for this game. Just download, get the files and run your own Linux native Dosbox after modifying the config a bit for better results). Warning: even if you play really hardcore, save the game regularly and at the start of every mission, but - although it's very rare - the game may hang from time to time. This may be a Dosbox issue because I don't remember it hanging in the 90's.
The game has never worked on my Linux Mint, Ubuntu or Arch distributions. They were all clean installations of those distributions and all other Linux native games I have work out of the box and have always worked perfectly. There are workarounds that may or may not work, but then there are tons of bugs. Unreadable fonts, crashes, ... I have been in touch with the developers and they made lots of promisses but never did anything. They kept me hanging until any possible refund period was over. Sad and terrible practice. On the game itself: I have been able to test the game on a Windows installation and it's not terrible but I believe the retro graphics are more an excuse for lack of skills than really trying to bring back the feeling of those games. The gameplay itself gets old and boring very quickly and the story is very dull. There is the typical good-boy jobs quests and the typical bad-boy narcotics kinds of quests. Nothing new at all. Also... saving is only possible on bases where you may or may not arrive due to crashes. If you really need to feel a 80386 boot up again... find a video on YouTube. Because that's all the fun I got out of this game.
There are several negative reviews on this game. I personally don't understand them. For me, this is the first industry building game since years that I keep playing. I have tried a lot of them but they all lack some part of the fun and I believe this game has it all! Why? - The graphics are gorgeous. This should not be important, but it is imo. This is why I no longer like to play games like open transport tycoon. I played the crap out of them in the 90's but now, I need more. - The user interface is gorgeous. I am talking about the looks and the feel. It works so smoothly, it reacts smoothly. They even made things that need calculations so that they are calculated in the background while the user interface already shows. It then updates when the calculations are ready. This feels very professional. - The user interface is handy. Everything works as I expect it to work. Yes, there are some things that might work better differently, but all in all, I think how it works already is very well thought out. You just know that the developer is playing his own game and is being critical onto his own developments. But also: - The game is not too complex but still has depth. It keeps a fun factor with a not too difficult learning curve. Everything is logical, yet you need to somewhat figure things out (which is fun). - The game starts easy but gets more difficult when you expand. Your first game, you may wonder why you would ever want to build your own truck network, but at some point you'll understand it and next time you'll play better. This is a fun way to learn. Most games of this genre expect you to learn everything at once or you won't be able to play. This game gives you fun on any learned level. The game is still in development, but I can already keep playing it for hours without noticing any problems with it. Still though, you know that the developer still has plans and you can't wait to see them. Support this developer, he deserves it! He knows what he's doing!
Well, lots of people compare this game to FTL. Although this game is also in space, about fighting, trading, upgrading, and rogueing your way through, like so many games, I can 't say it has that much resemblance. I actually see more resemblances with VoidExpanse although it's also not that much alike. (I liked FTL and VoidExpanse a lot by the way, but I like this game so much more! Here's why...) You start in space, with a battleship. You don't have to run from anyone because you are considered good and you have a (random) mission. You need to fulfill this mission and you have all the time you need. And you need that time, because if you go straight for your goal (and that is, if you can get there), you will be destroyed hard. So you need to accept missions in between, kill bad guys and loot them, upgrade, buy or craft new weapons, And here's the fun thing about this game. You can go and attack your enemies in various ways, you can lure them into a trap, you can attack them fully armed, you can attack them with a big fleet (yes, you can add extra ships to your fleet), you can even sometimes scare them off. Also there are so many ways to configure your weaponry. You can go for the heavy nuke weapons or you can go for lots of light lasers or things like that. You can even place shields in your weapon slots, going more defensive than offensive. But there are also droids - offensive, defensive, repairing, ... little ships roaming around you (or your friends if you want them to), helping you with your mission. I sometimes start a game without any weapons, but with 3 repair droid ships and 2 missile droid ships. I'm without weapons, but my repair droids keep me alive while those little missile droids are attacking. Try out this game! I think its price is right, even worth a little more I believe. You'll be surprised at how many hours you will invest in this game.
