A surprisingly solid presentation of a space sim despite the few bugs and technical problems.
In this space simmer, you take control of Kayron, a young pilot who takes control of a unique spaceship known as the DarkStar One. News of his father's death is still fresh, and there are rumors of conflict brewing forth in their part of space that threatens to plunge the six races and the Galactic Union into war. As you go through the story missions, and the myriad of side missions and optional missions you can take in trade stations, you can beef up the ship and try out a combination of weaponry.
Fans of Freelancer will find some similarities with this one, although you won't be able to try flying other ships in the game. However, you can take up different free mode paths in the game, and in between story missions. You can be a mercenary by taking up side missions and terminal missions and completing them, be a bounty hunter by taking out pirates and gangs, and/or learn the univeral marketplace by selling high and buying low to become a merchant. You can also go the other way by being a smuggler, a pirate, or a flat out killer, killing anything in your way. Keep in mind that system police will scan cargo for illegal goods, which vary from system to system, and either the Galactic Union, Rebels, or the Neutrals, will know of your criminal record and act accordingly. Unlike Freelancer, where there were four different groups of humans, you will find six races, which includes the humans. There are the warlike Mortok, the fish-like Raptor, the snail-ish Oc'to, the spider-like Arrack, and the Amazon-like supremacists of the Thul.
GameSpot's review are in touch with the feel and sight of the game. There are the reused arts that are, at times, modified, to go with the feel of a system. There aren't much in the way of varied voices except for major players like Kayron, and his eventual co-pilot, Eona. At least you do hear other pilots speak to one another, and to various space stations, and hear your victims scream when their shields are down or are doomed to become space dust. Capital ships blow up spectacularly and leave shipwrecks, and asteroids and other space debris shatter when shattering them to clear your path or to mine for resources, which you'll have to do on one of the story missions. The bright spot is the intriguing story, which brings twists and turns as you go.
Technically, most players have or will find that they'll have to do some technical tweaking to lower the risk of constant crashes that forces some of them to completely reboot their systems manually. A combination of that and patching to the latest version should help, although others may find that they'll need to make hardware upgrades.
Despite all this, the game gives a solid presentation of story and gameplay. The graphics, though redundant in the long run, are nice, and the cinematics help move the story on. At its starting budget price of $40 USD, it is worth a try, even if you don't have much space sim experience or are more familiar with Freelancer.