Darkstar One

I've been playing Darkstar One (DSO) recently and I'd like to say a few words about it.

First off, I do like it. It has it's problems (which I'm about to detail) but overall, it's fun and has had me going back to it despite the obvious flaws.

DSO is essentially a space action/adventure game along the lines of Elite and Freelancer.
The main character is a young pilot called Kayron. As the game begins, Kayron is given a ship called the Darkstar One by Robert, Kayron's boss. Robert was also a friend of Kayron's father, who died some years ago in a dogfight.
Robert tells Kayron that his fathers ship was sabotaged and the story begins.

Sounds a little corny, no? Well it is. It's another journey of revenge and enlightenment with a few twists along the way. So if you're expecting a killer storyline with A-grade voice acting, you're SOL unfortunately.

However, there are aspects of DSO that pull it above the amateur dramatic society rubbish that is the plot. The combat is engaging and at times just challenging enough while not irritating the life out of you. Switching weapons in and out of your ship's limited hardpoints is a little kludgy, but overall the dogfights are great fun. My better half nearly had a heart attack when I yelled "Aft sheilds are down!" at the screen during a particularly tense rumble with a pirate gang.

The graphics quiality is high and, when it runs correctly, the animation is particularly slick. There are some neat particle effects and bumpmapped models, great looking starscapes and well built characters. Don't get me wrong, it's not a graphical phenominon by any means, but it's certainly above par and, to be honest, a little more than I expected.

The missions are easy to grasp but this is mostly because there are about 5 mission formulae repeated in different locations with different ships. While this does make the persuit of funds via commission a little boring, there are other ways to make money. Like DSO's predecessors, trading takes a part in the quest for cash. You can buy goods at any of the space stations, hyperspace to another system and sell them at a profit (if you bought the right wares that is) which you can then use to buy more goods, equipment such as a docking computer or a better cargo scanner, or weaponry.

Darkstar One also introduces a system whereby you collect hidden artifacts in order to upgrade your ship. The ship starts with a certain number of weapon mounting points, a certain amount of hull damage that it can take and a particular level of agility. By finding artifacts and applying upgrades to the wings, engine, or hull, you can increase it's attributes allowing you to pull tighter turns, pack more firepower, or take more of a beating before you end up as spacedust. The alterations that upgrades make to the actual model of the ship start off pretty subtle, but 3 or 4 wing upgrades later I spotted a distinct difference in the construction of the Darkstar One, which added to the feeling of achievement.

At first glance then, and while it's working properly, it seems like a solid title.

There are a few problems though. Not long after booting DSO, I noticed that the framerate was absolutely atrocious. After checking the game's forums, I found out that the copy protection that the game uses is constantly checking the game disc! The suggestion was that I boot the game, then remove the DVD in order to achieve a playable framerate. This fix actually did work and things ran smoothly for a while. About an hour later, my lasers started to act a little strange. They were constantly aimed half a screen to the right! "Ack!", said I, "How am I supposed to hit anything now?"

After a little practice I got used to the offset of my guns and played some more. Next time I booted up, the lasers were fine and I carried on, all the while thinking, "Uh oh. I've bought a buggy heap of poop..."

Then I got stuck.
I couldn't hyperspace out of the first cluster. I had the range, but the button was ghosted out. It took me a day or two to find the answer to this and it was more than a little frustrating. The answer was that you can't hyperspace outside the starting cluster unless the DVD is in the drive! Add this to the problem of constant disc access and you have a disc shuffling nightmare on your hands.

I was ready to can the game altogether but I persevered, and to be honest, I'm glad I did. Once you get used to DSO's little quirks, which takes some doing but it is possible, it's still great fun.

Considering the bugs though, untill a patch comes out to fix them I wouldn't give it any more than a 6/10.