Elite / Frontier What other space games are there?

Vlodec

Banned
Vlodec
Disappointment

Like others I have tried many other Elite simulators, and likewise have been disappointed.

The two closest pretenders have been Jumpgate and EVE Online. Both MMORPGs. Each has its virtues and defects. Unfortunately they share one defect intrinsic to their core concept: the other players.

My experience is that while the majority of co-players make for an entertaining game, there will always be that 5% or so that can really ruin your day, because that's what they set out to do. And some of them will devote themselves obsessively to that end.

For all who wait for the next Elite which may never come, I strongly recommend the aforementioned. You may find what you've been looking for. But be prepared for disappointment.

;)

P.S

On a more practical level. EVE Online has a huge galaxy and highly complex gameplay, but controls are Point & Click - dull. Jumpgate has a much smaller galaxy and simpler gameplay but allows the much desired joystick controls.
 

Steve O B Have

Steve O B Have
Oh yeah! Mass Effect arrived on my office desk this morning - you know I think I feel a pretty bad cold coming on :D Cereal tho, I'm very much looking forward to chucking this one into my PC - I'll be stretching this one out as long as possible until the next gem comes along, or The Outsider, whichever comes first.
 

Steve O B Have

Steve O B Have
Steve O B Have said:
Oh yeah! Mass Effect arrived on my office desk this morning - you know I think I feel a pretty bad cold coming on :D Cereal tho, I'm very much looking forward to chucking this one into my PC - I'll be stretching this one out as long as possible until the next gem comes along, or The Outsider, whichever comes first.
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Been playing this all weekend - what a game! Awesome storyline and fantastic game play. There are a couple of things that get on my wick a little. One is the inventory system - it's quite annoying having to sit there and individually click 3 times to remove a single item rather than being able to multi-select items. The other is the game engine used (I think it's the UT3 engine) which does not allow for Anti-aliasing to be turned on in game. You can turn it on out of game but it slams your GPU because the engine is not optimised to deal with it.

Graphically it's stunning if a little repetitive when doing side missions but there is enough variation in storyline and what you have to do to complete the side missions to keep you entertained.

Combat is nicely challenging and gritty but at times frustrating. Success is very much about relying on your teams various skills and utilising both yours and theirs at the same time.

Overall I love it, and with keeping up on the side missions whilst doing the odd bit of the main storyline, it should keep me entertained for at least a few months if not more. I hate to say it but for me it pushes the bar up quite a bit higher than I initially had it set for the out of ship experience in E4. The Citadel is a brilliant environment and much like what I had envisioned the inside of a large space station to be like. Walking out onto a gangway to check out your ship is awesome and walking around inside your own ship is also extremely cool. I'd be intrigued if something like that could be done with E4.

Highlight - Landing on the moon and looking back over the lunar hills at the earth - very cool indeed.

EDIT: Oh and I forgot to mention - Lance Henriksen does one of the character voices as does Keith David from Pitch Black and the Chronicles of Riddick.
 
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Steve O B Have

Steve O B Have
Just finished Mass Effect - what a story - If any of you lot are even remotely interested in Scifi and RPG you have to play this game especially since it's just the start of the story!!!! Utterly exceptional except for a couple of bugs that are entirely able to be worked around. I can't wait for the next one! Not so sure about replay value unless you want to play the story again as a different character class but if that's your thing cool - if not - play it and wait for the extra content to come out.

Frontier, you guys and gals really have your work cut out for you on the story writing side of things, ME really sets the bar high!
 

turwhitt

turwhitt
I had a couple of sessions on ME last weekend.

It really reminds me of KOTOR, but with a FPS bias.

Looks great and yes, the story is shaping up to be a good one..
 

Steve O B Have

Steve O B Have
I guess it makes sense that it follows KOTOR being from the same guys and all. I've started playing it through again as you can start with all your old stats and weapons. I think I might play it through like this and then pick it up with a different class of character, maybe a bio specialist. How cool is the Normandy?!? Very cool ship that one.
 

turwhitt

turwhitt
Yeah the ship's pretty cool, but i am a bit daunted by the space station place.

I love the moon buggy, it's great fun blatting about on that, blasting stuff.
 

Steve O B Have

Steve O B Have
turwhitt said:
Yeah the ship's pretty cool, but i am a bit daunted by the space station place.

I love the moon buggy, it's great fun blatting about on that, blasting stuff.
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The first time around in the Citadel is pretty daunting but once you explore and area you can access them quickly through the Citadel Rapid Transit terminals. There is one side mission that will get you exploring every nook and cranny - that being the 'Scan the Keepers' mission. I really like the environment, it has a decent feeling of size without being ridiculous or overly convoluted. The only thing I think I would appreciate a bit more would be being able to change the map zoom a little.

A suggestion - if you want to make some more EXP points - get out of the Mako and shoot the enemy from a distance - you basically get double the EXP from it.
 

The Space Pirate

The Space Pirate
Does anyone know of any mods for X-3 that introduce our solar system and some of our nearest systems? Being able to do the milk-run from Sol to Barnard's star in X-3 should keep us going until Elite IV....

If you have any links, it'd be great if you could post them. I searched the X forums, but no luck.
 
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mostlyharmless

M
Not a game, but a stunning space simulator that lets you fly around our solar system.

If they'd made it multi-system, we could've written a plug-in or two...

http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/gallery.html

Plus, you can hop around in the Tardis, or Thunderbird 2
http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3379
http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=1921

Fun, if you're into the space flight side of things. Very realistic (they say - I haven't had the opportunity to compare).

Still not Elite IV, though :(
 

vorlon31

V
Netdevil and codemasters have launched a new look web site for Jumpgate Evolution one linked to codemasters own account system and forums.

It's got the same addy of http://www.jumpgateevolution.com

But... you will need to re-apply for Beta using a codemasters codeM account.

KK, you know what to do.. sign up!
 

The Space Pirate

The Space Pirate
The Space Pirate said:
Does anyone know of any mods for X-3 that introduce our solar system and some of our nearest systems? Being able to do the milk-run from Sol to Barnard's star in X-3 should keep us going until Elite IV....

If you have any links, it'd be great if you could post them. I searched the X forums, but no luck.
Click to expand...

No such thing, huh? Shame, it'd make a perfect stop-gap.
 
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