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Rebel Galaxy by Double Damage Games (Travis Baldree/Erich Schafer)

cw8

Cipher
Joined
Oct 7, 2014
Messages
677
Will probably buy this. Something to tide me over till Egosoft releases the real X4 game.
 

praetor

Arcane
Joined
Apr 27, 2009
Messages
3,069
Location
Vhoorl
the combat is fun, it's just not spasim combat but more of a "naval combat with space background". hopefully they add some carrier-type ships later on. feels like Freelancer (similar strengths and weaknesses) with a Firefly-ish atmosphere and "naval" combat (which i honestly enjoy more than FL. and it works much better with a gamepad than kb+m... which is kind of dumb but whatever). it's solid if you want something like that, definitely worth it at 50% (and considering there are 2 sales right around the corner...) but not full price unless they add some more content to it
 

lefthandblack

Arcane
Joined
May 5, 2006
Messages
1,287
Location
Domestic Terrorist HQ
How is it possible that someone interested in making a game like this, saw what Starpoint Gemini did absolutely wrong and did the exact same thing? I almost bought this, thanks pakoito for posting the video. No Z axis in space? Get the fuck out of here with that bullshit.
 

Eyeball

Arcane
Joined
Sep 3, 2010
Messages
2,541
It's got no Z axis because its combat is basically Sid Meier's Pirates! in Space. You need to align your ship next to the enemy to fire laser cannon broadsides, you don't have a nose-gun and don't fly 1st person either. You have turrets that can fire in all directions as well as missile bays, but your broadsides are really your main killer regarding tough enemy spaceships.

No Z axis is a design decision, not a fuckup, because firing broadsides would be awkward as hell in 3 dimensions. If you like broadside-based combat, I don't see why you'd not like Rebel Galaxy, as it's pretty much the bastard lovechild of Pirates! and Space Rangers 2, with copious amounts of buttrock thrown in to keep you entertained while blasting Jabba-the-Hutt sounding aliens from the heavens.

I like it a lot, personally. Totally worth the 18 euros I paid for it so far.
 

lefthandblack

Arcane
Joined
May 5, 2006
Messages
1,287
Location
Domestic Terrorist HQ
No Z axis is a design decision, not a fuckup, because firing broadsides would be awkward as hell in 3 dimensions.

I'll agree that it was a design decision, one born from apathy about making something beyond "good enough".

Starpoint Gemini learned their lesson in the second game and it works beautifully, not awkward at all. I had zero trouble "firing broadsides" from capital ships in X2, X3, and X3TC. I'd be willing to bet that one of the factors leading to this decision was that "modern gamers" (consolefags) cannot handle three usable dimensions without being reduced to tears. I'm sure that the fact that this enabled the dev's to shovel the game out the door that much quicker was just a bonus.

Hell, why didn't they just scrap the Y axis too and give it a cool name, like DEFENDER.

This is why we can't have nice things.
 

Metro

Arcane
Beg Auditor
Joined
Aug 27, 2009
Messages
27,792
Refunded it. For anyone wondering it's as simple as clicking three buttons. Will grab it when it hits $5.
 
Joined
Aug 10, 2012
Messages
5,871
yeah, the missing axis really bothers me even though the game looks and feels competent enough. I just can't see the point of having a space game if you're limited to 2 dimensions - and yeah, I get the Pirates! homage, the combat doesn't even bother me that much; it's the fact that it doesn't feel like you're flying a ship in, you know, space.

aesthetically it's pretty good, great even, and the music is pretty awesome in a From Dusk til Dawn way. not sure if I'm going to keep playing, economic wankery (wow buy 3 mcguffins here for peanuts and sell it 20 minutes away for profit! such excitement) was never my thing in these sorts of games and the combat, while not egregiously bothersome, doesn't strike me as being able to carry the game on its merits.

I'm pretty sure it'll be a hit with the console crowd, though.
 

Metro

Arcane
Beg Auditor
Joined
Aug 27, 2009
Messages
27,792
Per my comments in the other thread I did end up refunding it. The 2D thing is too weird for me. Being unable to take any kind of evasive action other than raising your temporary shield is... meh. Combat also feels too automated as aside from your broadside most of the damage you're doing is from AI controlled stuff. It's not very satisfying. And a game like this is primarily about the combat unlike Elite which has more Universe to explore and other things to do. I will gladly pick it up at 50-75% off, though. If you enjoy the combat you won't be disappointed with the rest of the game at its price.

Dropped to #2 seller on Steam but is apparently the #1 seller on GOG. They've done well so perhaps that means they'll add some more tweaks to it.
 

ArchAngel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 16, 2015
Messages
19,889
I played it a bit yesterday, I found it fun. It is very hands on experience, you have to maneuver, target enemies yourself and control speed/boosters and time using deflectors at right moments. Also they are extra weapons like Flak or Missile that you can use during combat.

It is very different to games like Starfleet Command or Bridge Commander although you fly big ships in all of them and it is different then Freelancer as there you mostly fly better and better fighter craft. Here you fly a big ship and combat is not about getting on the tail of your enemy.

The game does not have complex ship systems management during combat like games I mentioned but it has enough action things to do so you are occupied most of the time. There are enough different components to install into your ship so you can specialize in long range combat, short range combat or even ramming :)
 
Joined
Mar 3, 2010
Messages
8,820
Location
Italy
i'm a sucker for anything with spaceship.
i found this game seriously unfun. most of the problems come from interface and controls, really messy, probably it's been built as a game for tablets and badly converted. it's basically the same as the sea part of ass creep 4, but ac4 was much better.
an aass creep game is better than something else. a day to remember.
 

Makabb

Arcane
Shitposter Bethestard
Joined
Sep 19, 2014
Messages
11,753
The combat is horrible. The game is clearly made in mind for consoles. The controls just reek of this.
 

Eyeball

Arcane
Joined
Sep 3, 2010
Messages
2,541
This is one of my sleeper hits of 2015 - the combat is fine for what it is, it looks very nice, the soundtrack is badass and the voice acting is good and frequently hilarious - one of the alien contacts you meet clearly speaks a form of garbled Swedish, which sounds weird enough to pass off as Alienese.

Only real complaints I have is that it seems to be impossible to get around a not insignificant amount of grinding missions for cash in order to succeed in the main storyline and that there's a limited number of different weapons and pieces of kit for your ship, making it less customisable than I'd have liked. I've definitely gotten my 18 dollars worth outta this, though, and will get any expansion should they get around to making one that doesn't just add moar gunz and grind.
 

Metro

Arcane
Beg Auditor
Joined
Aug 27, 2009
Messages
27,792
The voice acting was done by Travis and his family/friends.
 

Metro

Arcane
Beg Auditor
Joined
Aug 27, 2009
Messages
27,792
This game is the definition of "wide as an ocean deep as a puddle"
Very true. Still for $20 it's not bad. What surprises me is the number of people raving about it. As if they've never played anything like Freelancer before.
 

praetor

Arcane
Joined
Apr 27, 2009
Messages
3,069
Location
Vhoorl
Very true. Still for $20 it's not bad. What surprises me is the number of people raving about it. As if they've never played anything like Freelancer before.

i recently introduced the gf to spasims through Freelancer, and now this. and RG is way better than FL. but yeah, in principle it's the same thing (i.e. a very simple open world spasim that you can play with half your brain turned off and the other half concentrated on watching a movie, reading a book or doing whatever...)

the 2D limitation is weird and kinda dumb, but the combat feels weirdly fun once you get the hang of it, and can be relatively challenging, the "bulletin board" missions are the usual bullshit like in pretty much every open world spasim ever made, the factions are way too underdeveloped, systems feel better/bigger/more "natural" than FL thanks to their size, more sensible use of colours, and the use of warp instead of those stupid lanes, but goddamn are the small planets stupid (just like in FL), the ships are different enough (mostly because of the turret/broadsides dichotomy and how it affects the combat depending on that configuration, plus the usual stuff like cargo, speed etc) that getting a new one is nice, and they have done one thing that's about several orders of magnitude better than pretty much any other spasim ever made: events. they're varied enough, have tangible influence on the system economy that you can exploit and you can manipulate them as they happen (i.e. intercepting a ship carrying diplomats to resolve a civil war and kill them just so you can continue profiting off of selling stuff to both sides and stuff like that). they make the galaxy feel much more alive than any other spasim, and make the economy feel much more dynamic than any other bar EvE. i'd be really curious to see what they'd pull off with more staff and a bigger budget (wish these guys were in charge of the Elite Dangerous economy, systems, game world, because the current leads are colossal fucktards when it comes to that)

considering it's done by literally 2 guys plus art and music contractors, and it's 18-20$ it's a solid buy, and at a 50% (or more) is imo a must buy if you want a casual space game that's a bit different but the same.
 

Metro

Arcane
Beg Auditor
Joined
Aug 27, 2009
Messages
27,792
Certainly it improves on Freelancer although Freelancer came out a while ago. I'm guessing most of the buyers today were too young/didn't play it so and are too 'casual' to pick up stuff like EVE or Elite so this is the first time they've experienced this type of game.

I've never played but wonder how Evochron Mercenary compares. That was done by just one guy and released a few years ago. Never really got the massive hype/following Rebel Galaxy seems to have picked up on.
 

praetor

Arcane
Joined
Apr 27, 2009
Messages
3,069
Location
Vhoorl
Evochron is an unfair comparison, imo, as it's a much more complex game, with a "proper" spasim flight model. a more fair comparison, other than FL, would be Starpoint Gemini (which i haven't played). and it's perfectly okay for this to be a "gateway" game for spasims... there's also those 2 "team deathmatch with capital ships" games coming out in the near future that could serve the same purpose. that's what i was getting at, basically... it's good for what it is :) (and i cannot repeat enough how good of an idea those events are. i'd really like those in a "proper" spasim with some more variety. seems like a rather "easy" way to add tons of life to the galaxy and make the economy much more dynamic and interesting so it's not just the usual ABABABA trade routes like in pretty much every other spasim ever)
 

Lone Wolf

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Apr 17, 2014
Messages
3,703
There's something to be said for jumping into a pitched battle between the militia and the bandits, pew-pews blazing, as explosions light up the universe around you. RG has an intensity to its combat that most of the competition simply does not.

That said, it is not a deep experience. It's merely satisfying. For some, that's plenty.
 

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