Review Staryfury gets a mix from PC Gameworld

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: Malfador Machinations; Space Empires: Starfury

There's a <A href="http://www.pcgameworld.com/review.php/id/432/">fairly positive review</A> of <A href="http://www.malfador.com/starfury/">Space Empires: Starfury</a> over at <A href="http://www.pcgameworld.com/">PC Gameworld</a> for those curious about the tactical space trading CRPG made by <A href="http://www.malfador.com/">Malfador</a>. They rated the game a <B>80%</b>, saying it's enjoyable, but doesn't really push any envelopes. Here's a clip:
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<blockquote>Sometimes I just want to play a game and I have no time to tinker around. This feature to customize your ship will undoubtedly please many players! Once you tinker under the hood of your ship, you can either follow the campaign storyline or you can choose one of the many missions. It may be a while before you can fight as a pirate or mercenary, because you have to pay a large fee to enter those types of guilds.
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Once you accept certain missions, a few problems arise. Let?s say your mission is to find a certain ship to destroy within a certain time limit (most search and destroy missions have a time limit). You have to scour the systems methodically; there are no waypoints, aids, or markers of any kind to assist you. It?s like searching for a needle in a haystack, as your sensors are very limited to say the least. These missions often end in failure. </blockquote>
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I can see why that is, because the systems in the game are very, very, very large.
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Spotted this at <A href="Http://www.bluesnews.com">Blue's News</a>.

 

[Jed]

Is anyone playing this? I was pretty excited that this might be what I was hoping Freelancer would be, but I haven't heard a thing from anyone here since it came out...

 

[Greenskin13]

I tried it, but Starfury didn't seem to like my graphics card very much. I had to play it in windowed mode, which wouldn't be so bad if it didn't cut off a centimeter of the bottom, blocking my view of my rear shield status. First thing I noticed was that they didn't start you off with the crappiest ship possible. You're armed with some pretty nice weapons and competent shields, which is a huge step up from EVN's shuttle.

The controlls and combat are simple, point and click with the occasional button pushing. The combat is much less action oriented than EVN, which I liked. If anyone's played Starfleet Commander, the combat is similar to that. It's all about weakening one part of the ship until the shield is down and then letting loose the weapon banks. I also liked how damaging the hull also damages ship systems. Instead of just exploding, the engines may fail, the weapons will misfunction, etc etc.

Of course, the heart of Starfury really comes into its ship customability. You can mix and match just about anything in the game. The parts are also not too expensive, so you can start purchasing fairly early into the game. This, I must say, is where the most amount of fun is to be had.

Sadly, there are a few annoying things about the game. The missions are pretty bland, and are all timed. Usually, the amount of time given will just barely get you to the system. But being waylayed by pirates is almost a mark for a failed mission. As far as I know, there's no way to surrender to pirates of plunder their loot. Perhaps I missed something, though. No crew interaction either, something I missed from the old days of Protostar.

My opinion, Starfury has some strong points, and some weak points. It's really a rainy day game for me, but maybe someone else will enjoy the simple mix. Still, I can't say that I got into it. Fun for a while, but it couldn't grasp my interest. Space Empires, however, is a totally different story.

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

I'm forbidden to visit the site by my server apparently.

 

[Seven]

The game doesn't like my graphics card either. I got fed up and just loaned it to my buddy, he hasn't said much about it.