Review: Space Empires: Starfury - VGLN.com PC reviews

Part Freelancer, and part Starfleet Command, Star Fury is a solid title that space action-philes should probably not miss.

About a month ago, Shrapnel Games released their demo of Space Empires: Starfury onto the net. Naturally, I downloaded it, and found the demo to be fairly engaging. Besides, it had the Space Empires tag on it. If you've been into PC gaming long enough, then you've probably encountered the Space Empires series by Aaron Hall. I won't even try to imagine the amount of hours I've sacrificed to Space Empires IV, but I'm positive it would amount to a couple of days.

Space Empires: Starfury is a different game than Space Empires IV however. While Space Empires IV was a turn based strategy game similar to Master of Orion, Starfury is a real-time action/rpg type game in the same vain as Freelancer, mixed with Star Trek: Starfleet Command. If you haven't played those titles, the basic premise is; you own a ship, the galaxy is free, make your money and fame. Of course, Starfury does include some preset campaigns that you can try out. It is a mission based game after all. However, even in these campaigns, you can skip the main missions and just do the large amount of mercenary, merchant, or pirate missions included with the game. The game gives the player a vast degree of freedom in choosing what path to take, while still offering a structured campaign-like game if the player chooses.

The missions themselves are fairly engaging but involve a somewhat annoying quirk that is inherent to the gameplay by design (I'll get to that later). The main campaign missions are usually comprised of more involving missions like destroy the starbase, or scan the enemy research center for information without getting destroyed. Of course, it's always good to have a secondary source of income, especially if you want to power up your ship with new parts and weapons. So you might take a mercenary mission, which obviously includes kicking ass in some way. Merchant missions involve moving cargo from one planet to the next in a specific amount of time. Pirate missions (requires an entrance fee) involve both mercenary and cargo type missions of somewhat greater risk, but greater payout. So as you can see, there's a lot to do in this game.

The best part of the game though lies in the fact that you own your own capital ship. Unlike Privateer or Freelancer where you are basically the owner of a fighter, Starfury actually gives you your own capital ship (Cruisers, Frigate, Battleship, etc). Combat in a capital ship is a lot less hectic than combat in a fighter. Big ships stalk each other, trying to disable certain systems like life support or weapons, battles are not decided by one shot, but by a great strategy. It should be noted that those who have played Star Trek: Starfleet Command III will feel right at home with the combat in this game. It's more or less the same system, combat on a 2D plane, in a 3D engine. Movement is determined by the mouse, and clicking to the left or right causes your ship to turn to port or starboard. Speed is determined by a "speed bar" that you can manipulate in fourths or smaller increments. Even the dynamics of the battles are similar to Starfleet Command, as you'll find yourself trying to pierce through the weakest shields of other ships and try desperately to rotate your ship so your strongest shields faces your enemy. The one thing that separates Starfury from Starfleet Command is the enormous of amount of customization for your ship.

While Starfleet Command does offer customization, it's not nearly on the scale that Starfury is. Starfury offers perhaps the greatest customization in components of any space game I've ever seen. Not only can you change your class of ship, you can change what weapons, systems, and other components to your hearts desire. From Toxic Injectors, to automated repair bays, as long as your ship has the space, you can add the parts. There are over a hundred parts (including larger and smaller types) to choose from. I personally took great pride in turning my little cruiser into a torpedo boat, which could decimate larger ships by outranging them (hint hint). With time you can have a very powerful ship.

	Gameplay: [8.7] Freelancer/Starfleet Command like gameplay in the Space Empires universe. Although some bugs, and somewhat monotonous travelling somewhat hurt the pacing of the game, Star Fury features enticing gameplay that few PC fans will be able to resist.
	Graphics: [8.0] 3D graphics engine is great, but nothing spectacular. The game is step below many of its contemporaries.
	Sound: [8.2] Mellow, ambient music is not too grating, a good thing. Weapon effects are very well done.
	Presentation: [6.0] Starfury doesn't have the production values of Freelancer or Starfleet Command, and it shows.
	Replay Value: [9.0] The initial content is fairly good, but the real treat is in the huge modding community behind Malfador Machinations. Taken in those terms, the new content for this game is limitless.
	Global Score: [8.5] Starfury is a fresh, and welcome look at the space action/rpg genre. Although not as fancy as titles from larger publishers, Star Fury is rich in content, and that's all that counts.

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