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| Goddamn, the honeymoon's over and this might be my favorite Elite-esque! by Mischief Maker 12/11/2012, 7:57pm PST | ||||
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| I was expecting to win 1 or 2 systems then put this game away, like Soldak's previous titles, but instead I'm finding myself playing Drox Operative compulsively.
Ditching the Diablo-style point and click controls for a more action-y mouse WASD is definitely a big help. Not only is combat more interesting than trading bonks with an orc, but every time I upgrade a piece of equipment there's a perceptible improvement in the handling of my ship. But it's even more than that. The disappointing thing about other "living world" Elite-esques like Flatspace or Space Rangers 2 is that space is entirely explored already, it's just a question of what amenities are available in this particular system. In Drox Operative, exploring the unknown is a major part of gameplay. You're goddamn boldly going where no one has gone before, scrambling through hostile space-monster-infested systems seeking to explore planets before any of the races do so you can use knowledge of these planets for trade fodder. Sometimes I'll be clearing away fog of war at the outer edges of the frontier when suddenly my comm will ring and I've encountered a whole new race to fuck around with. Also, ICJ, as for your aesthetic concern, you should know that you're free to travel outside the edges of solar systems, and you'll even find items and anomalies to mess with if so inclined. And what a breath of fresh air after Space Ranger 2's planetary info search and X's space corporations, here's an Elite-esque that says "fuck economics!" No commodity trading, no Asteroid mining, no menial tasks during my freetime escapism. Blow up monsters, explore spatial anomalies, and discover pocket dimensions for fabulous cash and prizes! Finally, the fact that you're a playing a string-pulling Bene Gesserit spy is just so delicious in practice. I travel to the periphery and provoke several space monsters, then turn tail and run to the atmosphere of a nearby colony. Once the monsters are in range I shoot them down and the colony hails me, "Thank you, Mischief Maker, you saved us from a savage attack by space monsters! I suppose now we owe it to you to break that treaty with the insectoids like you asked before." |
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Here's one for your 4X gamer site: Drox Operative by 12/02/2012, 9:44am PST  Vaguely reminds me of Space Rangers, except less clunky. I'll give this a shot. NT by 12/02/2012, 3:04pm PST Can we reprint this on 4xgamer? Credit will be given by 12/06/2012, 9:35am PST Go for it. NT by 12/06/2012, 6:57pm PST Thank you! You hate us, but you're bringing the best content to the site lately NT by 12/06/2012, 8:52pm PST Goddamn, the honeymoon's over and this might be my favorite Elite-esque! by 12/11/2012, 7:57pm PST New expansion by 11/29/2013, 6:38pm PST |
