t's 2160, and human civilization has stretched to the neighboring planets in the solar system. Ships equipped with jump drives are able to travel quickly through space. Mars is terraformed.
Old habits die hard, however, and ingrained in human nature is the capacity for self-destruction. Humanity has split into two factions: the Western Alliance, made up of the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany and others; and the Eastern Coalition, made up of Russia and the former Soviet bloc and some Middle Eastern countries. Peace looks to have arrived, though, as the Eastern Coalition and the Western Alliance meet in space to sign a treaty. This is where Starlancer, a space-combat simulator from Digital Anvil and Microsoft, begins.
What's a combat space sim, a game where players pilot a spaceship, without conflict? In the game's opening cinematics, a sinister Coalition admiral orders his fighters to de-cloak. They slaughter the Western Alliance diplomats gathered to sign the peace treaty.
The Alliance puts out a frantic call for volunteers with flight experience. That's when players enter the game as part of the 45th Volunteers--rocket jockeys strapped to mean war machines, screaming through the silent vastness of space in search of those Coalition dogs.
Starlancer consists of 25 missions. Players pick a ship, including weapons. Simple escort or search-and-destroy missions change during execution as HQ radios new instructions that advance the war story. Brief, pre-rendered graphic sequences show, for example, an enemy carrier drop out of warp drive and launch a squadron of fliers. There's also a quick-action mode that sends waves of fighters at the player.
Gaming goodness but not greatness
The story itself is pedestrian, although full of science fiction atmosphere. It's in the graphics that Starlancer really shines. The ships have superb textures, perhaps the best yet in a game of this type. Damaged fighters look especially cool as they trail black smoke and flames. Weapons feel solid, including the rat-a-tat of the machinegun-like lasers. Starlancer feels like a gritty WW II carrier movie, with an atmosphere similar to that of the Wing Commander film.
And there's a good reason for the similarity. Digital Anvil's founders include Chris and Erin Roberts, the creators of the Wing Commander games. Apparently unable to strike a deal with Origin, owners of the WC license, to make new WC games, they did the next best thing and recreated the look and feel with Starlancer. But while they achieve the feel of a WW II movie, the drama is lacking. The game is paced more like a non-stop action flick than a tension-building movie or novel.
Although the game is inventive in advancing its story while players fly missions, it still mainly consists of flying to point A and killing everything, or flying to point B and protecting something. Aside from some stealth missions, most missions have a sense of sameness about them. It's fun, but it's not the dramatic experience provided by earlier Roberts games like Wing Commander 3.
