Evochron: Mercenary. Multiplayer Space-Sim? Hell yes.

[Kilgengoor]

So! I must admit I knew very little about Impulse, and after reading the latest news about GameStop buying it and especially after reading its creator say that "it's going to beat Steam on sales" I decided to take a look on what it may offer that's made it so attention-worthy. I went to the main webpage and first thing I noticed, there were three spaceship games on the index page. This is as good a time as any to say that I'm completely gay for space simulators. Or bisexual, for those who have recently played Dragon Age II. Or Heterosexual. Anyway, I like Space Simulators, that's what I mean.

I have played a fair deal of space sims in my time, most notably IW2, X2, X3, EVE and Freelancer. But they all missed something: X2 had pretty awful graphics (I'm not a graphics whore, but god the EVA suit model was insulting), X3 was boring as hell, both Xs didn't have multiplayer, Freelancer had to be played with a mouse wether you liked it or not, although having an AMAZING Multiplayer content and plenty of heavy-duty modding (now pretty abandoned, sadly) and EVE was a point-and-click kinda tedious game with the best online community I've seen yet. Evochron apparently integrates everything each game got right into a delicious ball of space awesomeness.

From what I've read on the internet so far, the game has customizable and complex controls, it's actually pretty playable no matter what controller you use, you can actually SEE THE COCKPIT (Looking at you, Egosoft), it's got some nice Newtonian physics, customizable spaceship (yeah, SHIP. Singular), multitude of professions as well as plenty of engaging and cerebral combat and what made me switch my browser tab and buy the game right after finishing the paragraph: seamless space-to-planet transitions. And what seems more interesting, it's got a drop-in multiplayer similar (I think) to Freelancer's, in which several players can coexist, cooperate or fight each other.

I'm still waiting for Impulse's e-mail with my game code, but I'm wondering: does any of you play the game or know some active multiplayer community dedicated to online? I hope this game is as awesome as it sounds, because I literally can think of little more to ask of a space simulator.

Feel free to say whatever you think about the game if you've played it yourself, too.

 

[Tanis]

I've never used Impulse...and I loath using Steam.

But, if GameStop does some kind of deal, like another article on the site mentioned, where 'real world' purchases lead to Impulse deals..........I could see myself buying a few things.

 

[Kilgengoor]

I could see myself buying a few things.

Maybe I should mention that before being able to play the game, you need to give payment information and their staff will check your CC details before actually letting you download the game. This has been a really nasty surprise, but I hope this game will absolutely worth it.

Oh, and by the way, here's some gameplay.

 

[drakythe]

I have played a fair deal of space sims in my time, most notably IW2, X2, X3, EVE and Freelancer.

Why is this list devoid of Freespace 2? If its because you haven't played it, go get it from Good Old Games. Like right now.

And if its because the game is "old" then go find the Hard Light Project and download the FS2 Open installer. Also do this now.

(I'm also a space sim nut)

 

[Chaza]

Maybe I should mention that before being able to play the game, you need to give payment information and their staff will check your CC details before actually letting you download the game. This has been a really nasty surprise, but I hope this game will absolutely worth it.

Oh, and by the way, here's some gameplay.

The gameplay kind of reminds me of the space parts of star wars galaxies where you spent ages flying to an objective.
Not sure about it yet.

 

[Elijin]

I have an Impulse account for Sins of a Solar Empire...


This looks interesting. Tell us how it goes, I might buy it.

 

[Kilgengoor]

This looks interesting. Tell us how it goes, I might buy it.

It's been 12 hours since I bought it, my Paypal account says payment is pending and I'm getting a little frustrated, frankly. I'm starting to suspect they're not going to hang around the office until Monday, which sucks because I should be pretty busy next week.

Why is this list devoid of Freespace 2? If its because you haven't played it, go get it from Good Old Games. Like right now.

Ah yes, Freespace 2 and Frontier: Elite. I must say my first space sim (other than a Fury 3 demo I had floating around my bedroom) was Starlancer, which absolutely sated my every need for this kind of games for a long, long time. When I regained any interest in the genre X2 was the most logical choice since it looked much better.

Still, seems like I've got a bunch of hours, so might as well give FS2 a spin.

 

[SevenForce]

Red Screen.... SO REAL

Apart from that, this looks amazing.

 

[Tyran107]

Or you could you know...get it from the actual developers website http://www.starwraith.com/evochronmercenary/index.htm bought it and received my game key in....about 5 seconds. Fail on Impulse's part.

 

[Kilgengoor]

Or you could you know...get it from the actual developers website http://www.starwraith.com/evochronmercenary/index.htm bought it and received my game key in....about 5 seconds. Fail on Impulse's part.

I was just about to post a quick update on this for anyone who could be interested. I just received an e-mail from Impulse telling me they didn't have any purchase registered to my e-mail address, and then I realized my Paypal account is on my "serious" mail address (the one I keep for things like resumés, school and stuff like that). I sent them my Paypal transaction ID, and hopefully this will be resolved in a day's notice since I'm in the opposite freaking side of the globe. Still, I've learned a couple of lessons from Impulse: They only work on weekdays, you need them to be at the office to validate your purchase, there are frequent mixups, and even if you buy something, if you don't have an Impulse account linked to that e-mail address, you'll still have to file a ticket asking what the hell is happening (for which you'll have to create a sepparate account.)

I honestly didn't know any of this, just assumed it'd work more or less like Steam, and they told me I'd have to wait for a day or two just after I entered my Paypal information (on a purchase confirmation that didn't get sent to my e-mail, by the way. Only have the Paypal transaction details to prove my purchase). I don't really know how they plan to get on top of Steam using this sort of scheme, but this has certainly been a letdown. Not planning on buying anything else from Impulse in a while, that's for sure.

Anyway, I downloaded the Demo from the website (which has a 90-minute demo and the option of buying the game directly from them with less trouble, as Tyran up here just wrote). Tinkered with it for a while, but I'm waiting for the full version to roll in sooner or later so I can start playing for good.

Alright, so from what I've gathered by playing the tutorial, I've got to say things are looking mighty good. The game uses a Newtonian physics engine, meaning there is no actual friction on the way of maneuvering if you don't want to. It's not a pure simulation, that's for sure, but you can actually do some darn cool stuff. Big objects have gravity, meaning flying close to a big ship/station/asteroid/planet will actually difficult your maneuvering, There is a "drift" mode which you can activate to maintain your direction and speed (I'm using that a lot to travel long distances by first accelerating with my afterburners to ridiculous speeds and then drifting), atmosphere actually impede your maneuvering on planets, which is really cool since you can burn down your ship on reentry if you're not careful about speed and entry angle), you can dock on both cities and stations (which you can pretty much do at full speed and not paying too much attention, I'm afraid), you can jump to any point in space and be careful when plotting courses if you don't want to end up in the middle of a white dwarf or as part of a station's outer wall, and I think combat will be pretty darn interesting, too, since free jump plotting, drifting, gravity and asteroids/nebulas/planets have a lot of tactical potential. Oh! and there's fuel, which I think adds yet another layer of managing deliciousness. And speaking of managing, you supposedly can build stations and fleets and stuff pretty much like in X2/3.

The interface isn't terribly complicated while still retaining the usual space sim staples like energy management, shield redirection and such, there's a primary weapon and a secondary one, and everything feels quite well-balanced overall.

Graphics are alright, if a little outdated. I couldn't find a graphics customization tool though, to the point that I don't really know which resolution I'm using in the game. It still looks right though, and the HUD is pretty customizable, readable and easy to manage. Apparently there's an enormous degree of customization, although you only can use one single ship for the whole game, if upgrading it (think of Darkstar One), so I really think it's worth the while of any self-respecting space-sim aficionado. More on it when I can finally download the damn game.

Oh, and about that, the whole game's only 750mb when installed. I don't think the universe is extremely large, but I have still to check out its community. These things can always be fixed with a mod or two.

On the other side of the spectrum, you've got the tomorrow war [http://www.impulsedriven.com/tomorrowwar], which seems to have a LOT of playable ships, complex controls à la Flight Simulator and a story-heavy campaign, but on the other hand it seems to utterly fail to deliver anything outside of the pre-scripted story events and the dubbing is miserable from what I've read. Which is a shame, actually.

 

[Kilgengoor]

Seems a bit...slow?

The gameplay kind of reminds me of the space parts of star wars galaxies where you spent ages flying to an objective.

Forgot to say I think that there is something similar to the SETA time compression in the X games, plus the possibility of accelerating to preposterous speeds and then drift away through the space, not to mention the free-plotting jumpdrives. Entry angles in planets are usually plotted, and the only "slow" moments I've experienced is when leaving a planet's atmosphere where you can't accelerate too much lest you want to burn your ship to a crisp due to friction, and I'm not too sure about if having to dock on cities is really mandatory. Other than that, everything can be done pretty swiftly.

 

[Revenile]

I bought this game on a whim. In the last 12 months alone (about) I've purchased X3 gold (that's X3 Reunion and X3 Terran Conflict in one package) for 12 bucks, Freelancer for 10 bucks, and then Evochron Mercenary for $30, best 30 bucks I've spent on a space game. Seriously my main complaint with X3 is it's so complex, you need like 30 eyes and a photographic memory to really enjoy the game, EM does it in a more simple, but effective fashion. It has literally everything on my "list of 9 things in my dream space game" list. Once you get used to the fact that it's a bit slower paced (IE it doesn't revolve entirely around combat), I cannot see myself going back to any other space sim out there. Even the combat is more dynamic, you have to think on your toes about how to take care of the threat, or just try and run, plus it doesn't do X3's bullcrap "Can only save on a station" limitation (the only restriction to saving in this game is you can't be on a mission when you save).

This is the best space game I have ever played in the last 15 years.