Universal Combat: A World Apart (PC)

Not content with just offering you a Singleplayer sandbox and campaigns, 3000AD has put a robust MP element into the game and proven it can be done. You can either take on your friends/enemies on the servers or you can opt to run a coop ROAM style scenario and join your friends in exploring and fending off various threats.

So to sum it up, here’s a checklist of the things that you can do in UC: AWA.

* Control any number of ships.
* Do your own thing.
* Play with friends.
* Run around planets/explore.
* Exit your ship in space and explore.
* Manage every element of running a giant warship.
* Control large scale battles.
* Singleplayer campaigns.
* Freeroaming campaigns.
* Play the game how you want to.

You can’t go for a wander around your ship, or stations and so on (But knowing 3000AD it won’t be long before that happens) and the various management screens are in 2d, but that doesn’t hurt the game – at least the option to actually manage these systems is included. Everything that 3000AD set out to do and promised has been implemented and in this day and age, of hype and tripe – there are games out there with bigger budgets and flashier graphics that have given us eye-candy and very little else.

There are even a few tools that allow you to make your own missions, edit things included with the game – this is how committed 3000AD are to making the game your own.

Graphics

These are not show-stopping, ground-breaking, all-singing and all-dancing graphics. They’re not the latest and greatest in a long line of technological breakthroughs and dazzling eye-candy special effects.

They are good looking though and robust, they work to create the world that 3000AD wants you to have fun in. There are some nice space effects, the planets look pretty good and the textures on the ships and stations are fairly well detailed. The nice thing about it is that you don’t have to have a computer souped up to the nines, to enjoy it.

There are some nice special effects overall and in the case of this game it is actually the gameplay that’s King (Which should be the case for all games). You can get some pretty cool atmospheric external views as you’re exploring deep space and other planets.

For more screens: check out our screenshot page.

Animations

UC: AWA is well animated, it shows a progression of talents from the developer and has some very good animations overall. There’s nothing more I can say about that, the extra level of animation brings things alive and certainly helps to immerse you in the Universe.