Other space sim games

jadefriendly · Jan 5, 2015

What other space sim games have you played, and how do they stand up against E-D?

I've played:

Elite II - Frontier
was probably, along with Civilization, the defining game of my childhood.

Frontier II - First Encounters
too buggy, didn't get the same hours that FEII did

Wing Commander
can't remember which one, had like 5 CDs and Malcom Macdowell doing the voice. My brother liked it more than me, thought it was too linear and just dogfight / dogfight / dogfight.

Star Wars vs TIE Fighter
this got interesting once you could make custom missions. me & my mates used to make missions for each other...great fun

X - Beyond the Frontier, X-Tension, X-2, X-3 series (up to Albion Prelude)
I loved these, but the lack of planets / sector based gameplay always disappointed me - and I thought the race names & tradable items were cheesy as hell. Like REALLY cheesy. Owning space stations and commanding ships & fleets was great though, but I wasn't a fan of when it got all stock-markety and you could literally get millions just by buying shares in companies. The last one I played was Albion Prelude, heavily modded. Probably the best other space sim besides the Elite series for me.

Hardwar
Incredible soundtrack, awesome concept, though limited gameplay. Hugely overlooked game IMO

Tachyon - The Fringe
Random game that never got the love it deserved, mission based but playable from both sides.

Freelancer
Had a modded Boba Fett Slave II ship which was great. Loved the way youn would enter a bar to chat with people about missions, but overall it was a bit clunky & limited.

Dark Star
Got bored after a couple hours. Justs didn't grab me somehow.

Colony Wars
also bored me.

never got WC: Privateer working (tried loads of times) and never got round to trying FreeSpace / Beyond the Red Line
also looked into but never tried oolite / evochron etc.
Always avoided EVE as I've been a solo offline gamer all my life, not interested in MMOG's

maxcorwyn · Jan 5, 2015

I stumbled across this game not long ago and now I'm looking forward to it

Limit Theory
It's like ELITE going RTS...hard to describe. Watch yourself:

[video=youtube;0tPdbLe3zx0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tPdbLe3zx0[/video]

John Xenir · Jan 5, 2015

I used to spend countless hours in Freelancer: Discovery mod, RP-ing on their online server.
These were good times, despite limitations of the all-too-old engine. Discovery's crew still puts a lot of effort to evolve their vision of online RP so if you don't find yourself pushed aside by old graphics, you should try it. It really is a fantastic experience!

Chevy66 · Jan 5, 2015

Freespace 2 had the best explosions

Coyote · Jan 5, 2015

Elite II - grinding, grinding, grinding and seeing the gaqlaxy
First Encounters/Frontier II - see Elite II. Has a storyline that was difficult to get into and even more difficult to stay in.
Wing Commander 1, 2 - best space game ever, highly immersive
X-Wing: way too difficult for me
Tie-Fighter: like X-Wing
Wing Commander Academy: meh
Wing Commander whatever (this strategy thing): the first multi-player Wing Commander. Still meh.
Wing Commander 3 ff. - just played those through, but never liked them. I wanted the old space games back, I didn't care about watching movies. Besides, Hobbes a double-traitor and Tolwyn a right-wing nut... sure.
X ff.: played them. I think I finished X. Just grinding, grinding grinding and explore the galaxy. Pretty much like Elite, but it's easier to get rich. Elite's trading is somewhat stuck in the 19th century, technology-wise. In X, even the autopilots can earn money easily.
Tachyon: barely remember that, but it was fun.
Dark Start One: like Tachyon
Privateer: awesome
Privateer 2: don't know why it was called Privateer. Had nothing to do with it and wasn't all that great.
Starlancer: can't remember
Freelancer: pretty cool, but too difficult and packed in the end for me. I preferred Privateer. But I loved the "space routes".
IW2: Edge of Chaos: like Freelancer
Tarr Chronicles: pretty cool, actually, but I just don't grasp the storyline
Freespace 2: moste awesome capital ship action ever... don't get caught up between two dreadnoughts exchanging broadsides.
----
I hope I didn't forget anything... I still play Wing Commander 1/2 and Privateer sometimes.

JonnyC0mbat · Jan 5, 2015

Don't forget the very good stand alone mod/game/thingy Diaspora. It uses the Freespace 2 engine, and you play the role of a viper pilot in a battlestar. Very good for a freebie.
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There is also a remake of one of the wing commander games using the freespace 2 engine which is also quite good. To be honest, when I'm not playing elite dangerous or elite frontier, I go back to play Tie Fighter. Still one of the best games of all time in my opinion.

Derath · Jan 5, 2015

Freelancer, Wing commander 2&3, Elite II, Dark Star One, Several Star Wars dumpsters, and X3 my favourite of all. Mainly because I felt I could do really well in almost every role, I started off as a dirty pirate in a corner system and I robbed poor traders until 300 hours later I had just capped a Xenon I With marine boarding fired from a missile frigate (how unbelievably cool is that), capital ships everywhere, my own carriers filled with pirate fighters... oh my I'm getting hot just thinking about it.

FoxTwo · Jan 5, 2015

In many ways, Evochron Mercenary (http://www.starwraith.com) was "modern Elite" to me until ED.

In fact in some ways, EM has already implemented stuff FD is planning on doing in DLCs - such as multi-crew ships, planet-fall and FPS (sorta) mode.

But, as a single-man indie work, many areas are lacking of course. MP mode is popular, as is open-world PvP. However the community there is pretty dang unique (ED community has a long way to go) - they all look after new guys in MP mode. Anybody complains about getting killed for no reason, veterans will swarm the aggressor in no time. Makes people think really hard about trying to grief another player.

And yes, it has SP Offline mode too.

I play mostly in SP Offline mode.

Ian Phillips · Jan 5, 2015

Moved to the 'other games' forum.

KillaALF · Jan 5, 2015

Too many to list, so I'll just pick my favorites:

X-Wing/Tie-Fighter: great missions, great complexity, hard. Throw in the Star Wars bonus and you have a winner. Would dearly like to see something in that vein again. Not much hope, though.
X3/TC/AP: in terms of hours spent, no other space sim can hold a candle to Egosoft's creation. From rags to riches to superpower in space, I wallowed in it for years.
Freelancer: this does not really belong here, because I thought that as a space-sim it was mediocre at best (very, very, mildly put). Great big fun in coop, though, and an ok action game.

So far Elite: Dangerous is on the right track in my book, it certainly needs fleshing out, but I like what is there very much indeed.

deMangler · Jan 5, 2015

I have played most of those mentioned here. Vega Strike deserves a mention, as does Pioneer.
Also I really liked the other dangerous game http://whoisdangerous.com/ You can play it on the PC and phone/tablet and it syncs the commander on-line. Takes a while to get into but it is much better than you think it is going to be.

Herik · Jan 5, 2015

maxcorwyn said:
I stumbled across this game not long ago and now I'm looking forward to it

Limit Theory
It's like ELITE going RTS...hard to describe. Watch yourself:

[video=youtube;0tPdbLe3zx0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tPdbLe3zx0[/video]

Yes quite interesting; The main interesting factor for me is the modding ability. Due to the engine design; Yup, if you don't like 'Gates or highways' between star systems, just change it...

Vasea Azure · Jan 5, 2015

I played oryginal elite, one very old X-Wing game and I`m still on EVE. I like variety so I also can add Kerbal space Program and Orbiter.

jadefriendly · Jan 5, 2015

Ian Phillips said:
Moved to the 'other games' forum.

oops sorry, didn't even know there was this subforum!

Arubeto · Jan 6, 2015

There is a really cool old-school space-sim dogfighting game in the works by a small team of 3(?) people called "Wings of Saint Nazaire". It's not finished yet, but the Alpha is already playable in Unity-enabled browsers. I really liked the charm of the colorful graphics and the dynamic gameplay. Kudos to such a small team for pulling of something so polished!

Some totally different genre, but still a "space sim" in a sense, is "Out there", which has been released on Android and iOS devices so far but will get a PC/Mac release with the updated Omega Edition in Q1 2015. Some people described it as "poor man's FTL" but it is quite a different beast (no real time action, more about decisions, story and atmosphere than about strategic gameplay) and I enjoyed it very much. (and I am looking forward to the Omega Edition, whose updated graphics look very nice so far!)

Another one that hasn't been released yet is "Enemy Starfighter", which is in development right now, too. Simplified, but very nice graphic style, and seems to have very engaging gameplay. Definitely looking forward to that one.

And another as of yet unreleased game: "Rebel Galaxy", which seems to have the one thing ED is sorely missing: Characters with faces that you can have conversations with! Real "Han-solo" feeling there!