Independence War 2: Edge of Chaos - a game that has aged well

SiD the Turtle · 21 Aug 2006 at 12:43

I recently downloaded the demo of Darkstar One and while its okay I found myself continually comparing it to the superior Edge of Chaos. So I installed that as well

Firstly I was plesantly surprised that it allowed to me to play in widescreen at the res of my HDTV in the correct proportions with no stretching (bar the FMVs). Which is more than I can say for the brand new Darkstar One. The 'proper' handling of the ships as opposed to planes in space is both nice and very challenging. The storyline is nothing original but it is told well. And the graphics hold up nicely for a five year old (I think) game.

Shame that there are not many space sims out there today compared to other genres. And no one mention Eve, as I could never get into that

Mr Flibble · 21 Aug 2006 at 13:36

I recently tried I-War 2 again too - found it a bit too hardcore last time I played, but got on with it more this time. Darkstar One was enjoyable, but samey, and I thought it poor the way the baddies levelled with you.

I've got X3 installed too, but I don't fancy setting up a trade empire, and I got fed up with the tiny array of combat missions. Anyone know of any good mods to add combat stuff to X3 by the way?

I thought about going back to Freelancer, but then remembered how long I spent hunting aimlessly in nebulae looking for special weapons, and now I can't be bothered to fire it up again...

What I really want is more Privateer 2: The Darkening and more X-Wing vs TIE fighter

BlizzardX · 21 Aug 2006 at 13:36

yup I installed that about a month ago when I was running Windows Vista... It ran flawlessly, no installation issues, no gameplay issues, no graphic issues amazing for a game that was released in 2001. Shame the textures, which where good at the time, wheren't that great.

SiD the Turtle · 21 Aug 2006 at 13:41

BlizzardX said:
yup I installed that about a month ago when I was running Windows Vista... It ran flawlessly, no installation issues, no gameplay issues, no graphic issues amazing for a game that was released in 2001. Shame the textures, which where good at the time, wheren't that great.

True they're a bit low res compared to today.

However amusingly someone has a website where they've taken those low res textures, the 3D models and produced instructions on how to build your own fleet of I war ships out of cardboard

BlizzardX · 21 Aug 2006 at 13:47

but even so, the game is still great to play and i just love sitting by gates attacking pirates and then just running away at full pelt!

SiD the Turtle · 21 Aug 2006 at 13:51

BlizzardX said:
but even so, the game is still great to play and i just love sitting by gates attacking pirates and then just running away at full pelt!

Yeah love that. Best bits are when the pirates decide to attack a corporate convoy, leaving both the convoy fighters and pirates shooting at each other, and the transports dumping their cargo for me to pick up

Or when two mega-freighters jump into a system and one crashes into the other. LOADS of free cargo.

BlizzardX · 21 Aug 2006 at 14:20

SiD the Turtle said:
Yeah love that. Best bits are when the pirates decide to attack a corporate convoy, leaving both the convoy fighters and pirates shooting at each other, and the transports dumping their cargo for me to pick up

Or when two mega-freighters jump into a system and one crashes into the other. LOADS of free cargo.

oh yes, the 2 mega freighter crash always had me laughing. Like 2 old people trying to reverse park

Gotta say the flight system is the best I've come across, apart from Elite 2.

Shamrock · 21 Aug 2006 at 14:33

Nobody's mentioned Freespace 1 & 2!

SiD the Turtle · 21 Aug 2006 at 14:41

Shamrock said:
Nobody's mentioned Freespace 1 & 2!

Never played it tbh. Shocking I know.

Wasn't it more fighting rather than open universe trading?

Oh that reminds me: Starlancer, the one before Freelancer! It had better graphics but was more like Wing Commander, but with evil Communists instead of giant cats.

Mr Flibble · 21 Aug 2006 at 14:50

Shamrock said:
Nobody's mentioned Freespace 1 & 2!

THE BEAM WEAPONS

HangTime · 25 Aug 2006 at 23:21

Freespace 2 is well worth a look as you haven't played it already. I played through it in January (using a lot of modern mods), and it is excellent for a game from the last millenium. Yes, it is more combat than trading but it has a good storyline and the controls are very intuitive. It's not one of those spacesims where you need to memorise 5000 keys just to leave the dock. Yet equally it isn't dumbed-down too much and can be fairly complex should you so wish.