DarkStar One (PC)

Universe

It doesn’t quite feel as alive as it should, there are numerous space ships that move around and do their own thing, but there is something that’s lacking – the voice banter from the various NPC vessels can be amusing to listen to and the stations borrow a lot from the X series of games when it comes down to internal comms. The actual physical design of the various clusters is nice, with planets and so on looking good and well modelled, asteroids are excellently done and they roll through space in a menacing manner as they tumble towards your ship.

AI

Every race seems to have its own AI for battles and tactics, these are varied and they actually try to work together as a team. The police are also likewise effective and will often blast you into space dust if you step over the wrong side of the law, being a pirate or criminal in the game is fairly hard and I think some people might find it too hard.

There are some AI problems and now and then you’ll find a trader that smacks into you as you’re trying to land, on your landing pattern, these guys must not have learned how to fly properly or they’re drunk at the joystick.

Sound

It’s a mixed bag of sound for the game, nothing really stands out here and there are some really awful effects for weapon fire as well as shield damage/ship damage. I have to mark this down for the worst shield-hit effect in a game ever, let’s hope the developers actually change that sound because it’s jarring and very annoying.

The nice swoosh of engines is fairly good along with the thunder of the afterburners, but again nothing really stands out above the rest.

Music

I rather like the soundtrack to the game some of the pieces of music have a very ‘Trek’ feel to them, it’s quite restful in places and upbeat in combat – the musical cues in the game do however lead you to recognise when danger’s lurking nearby or pirates are on the hunt. Kayron must have a psychic orchestra in the back of the ship, that’s all I can say.

Voice and Dialogue

The voice actors in the game are a mixed bag; there are some good ones and some terrible ones. The dialogue suffers from the same problem as a number of games have in recent times, there are some really jarring lines that totally break up the flow of the game and have you laughing hysterically for a while.

I was particularly amused by the conversation in the first cut-scene between the pirates, there’s something about firing boosters and knocking socks off that just tickles me pink. It doesn’t help that being an author; I pick up on things like this myself. But still the dialogue isn’t mind-jarringly bad.

I don’t quite like some of the voice talent that CDV/Ascaron have used here, their delivery at times is awfully flat and it’s like they are just reading out the lines to get paid for them, lets see some emotion here people!