Darkstar One

[786ARS]

Now DSOne is out demo englishm but the german version has been out for some time. As someone who has studied German for 4 years and just completed a GCSE, i decided i would take a leap into the unknown and buy the german version of the game instead of waiting for its August release. (note: you can get the whole game english version through a subscription service called METABOLI which is £12.00 per month and if you cancel your subscription, it locks usage of the games you have downloaded).

Now for the game. The game is big, with a myriad of systems to visit. Unfortuanately the only major differnces are the species and what goods are illegal(for smuggellers).

You dont get out of the ship Darkstar One, which the main quest is based around, and so there is not much charecter development, but there is a backstory linking the ship and the main charecter.

The game is pretty non-linear with several side options available so you can build a reputation as a bounty hunter, merc, smuggler and etc. The main quest can take around 12 hrs, but there is about 30-40 extra hours of gaming aswell.

For freelancer fans, you only have the one ship, but it can be customized through upgrades and organic artifacts which are dotted around and allow you to enhance the ship by making the hull or wings or engines bigger and stronger and better. There is a plasma weapon which increaces in ability which each new artifact. This does things like reduce weapon recharge times, remove enemy shields etc.

The voice acting is OK, but sounds better in german then it does in the english demo. My regrets about the game is that you go everywhere in your ship, and you dont leave it, and also 95% of your time is spent in space, and planet visits are very very infrequent.

So verdict: - If you enjoyed freelancer or X series, you would enjoy this, but its not too great, more like a game you will enjoy for the couple few weeks, then tire of. So 7.5/10 (german version)

[spartan015]

I have the german one. You can play the first part in english but after you reach Sol... english dissappears and so does any equipment you want to buy.

You can get basic chatter and certain things in english (request landing, escort etc) simply from the demo files. Which i think were the audio files and the... umm... well if I remember I'll post that.