Elite / Frontier What other space games are there?

stargazer69

S
While I wait for the next version of Elite (please let it be sooner rather than later), can someone suggest some good pc based space games, similar to elite.

I've tried Eve Online & Vendetta. Didn't like Eve as you have little control of the spaceship, especially when it comes to combat.
 

Sir.Tj

The Moderator who shall not be Blamed....
Volunteer Moderator
Sir.Tj
What are peoples opinion on the X series of games?

Did try to get into X3 a while back but after waiting forever to get throught the intro seq and having a little look around it seemed to be all flashy graphics and no substance, maybe I should have percivered a bit more but... I don't know if its just me but I tend to start of with any space sim comparing it to Elite/FE/FFE. and so far have always been dissapointed.

Now it there were some geniuses who could add a few more Hand coded missione to FFE :D:D.
 

Michael Brookes

Game Director
I quite enjoyed X2, but I found X3 to be a UI nightmare, as well as a system hog. It's apparently been patched quite a bit since then so it might be more playable now.

Michael
 

Sir.Tj

The Moderator who shall not be Blamed....
Volunteer Moderator
Sir.Tj
I may have to see if game or game station has a 2nd hand copy of x2 and give it a try.

Is it open ended or is there a end to the game?
 

Steve O B Have

Steve O B Have
I played X3 a little but found it to be a bit too shallow for my liking. To be fair to the game I didn't not give it the time to grow on me because like Michael I found the UI to be a massive barrier to the gameplay. Visually it is brilliant but from a playability standpoint it's pretty cumbersome.

I think you have hit the nail on the head T.J. with many users experiences with X3 - and a pretty good reason why it now gathers dust next to all the other space games I have bought and been dissappointed by.
 

Steve O B Have

Steve O B Have
turwhitt said:
I enjoyed both Freelancer and Darkstar One. Both are shallow in comparison to Elite but they are good fun.
Click to expand...

Darkstar One started off interesting but had awful voice acting and very dull and repetitive game play. The other thing that ticked me off was the naff space graphics, there just wasn't enough variation going on to get me really hooked.
 

Spacegamer

Spacegamer
Hi just a few elite type games here:

x1/x2/x3 http://www.egosoft.com/games/x3/info_en.php

Darkstar one http://www.darkstar-one.com/

Space force http://www.spaceforce2.com/news2.aspx

Parkan2 http://www.parkan.ru/p2en/

Freelancer

Independence war 2

Space ranger 2

Apart from parkan2 you should be able too find all the above in the shops or e-bay,heres a few free ones.

Oolite http://oolite.aegidian.org/

Ad-astra http://www.a-astra.com/ This is the most frontier like game I ever seen and its free.

Space merchants conquerors http://www.dataweb.sk/projektsm/index.htm can't get it to work on vista

Vegastrike http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/

Privateer gemini gold http://priv.solsector.net/

Couple of indie games.

evochron rengades http://starwraith3dgames.home.att.net/go.htm

Flatspace http://www.lostinflatspace.com/

Apology if the links don't work just copy and paste or google the name.
 

Sir.Tj

The Moderator who shall not be Blamed....
Volunteer Moderator
Sir.Tj
I get the feeling that we've all been spoilt with Elite FE/FFE etc.. Any space trading game which comes along will always been compared and so far inevitably fall short of the high expectations we have after seeing what can be done. flashy graphics can only take any game so far there has to be the substance behind the graphice.

For instance, in the early days of computing as we all know, graphice were .... simple:rolleyes: so the game developers had to make the gameplay fun. I still look back fondly on the Elite series as well as the likes of Jetset-*****, Jetpac, any game by Ultimate. (you can tell I had a Spectrum can't you) the list goes on and on.

How many have the same affection for games made at a later date. there are always a few exceptions but, ever since the graphics improved on games I feel the gameplay has suffered.

Mild rant over now.
 

Sir.Tj

The Moderator who shall not be Blamed....
Volunteer Moderator
Sir.Tj
What??? you don't remeber jetset Willy??? I can't believe that!

how about ***** or ******? and the one and only ******,********,*********!

Now they were great games :p

Naughty word filters :rolleyes:
 
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turwhitt

turwhitt
Steve O B Have said:
Darkstar One started off interesting but had awful voice acting and very dull and repetitive game play. The other thing that ticked me off was the naff space graphics, there just wasn't enough variation going on to get me really hooked.
Click to expand...


Perhaps you gave up too soon.

One thing DS1 has over Freelancer is that trading is actually rewarding.

Also, the final set of quests feature some interesting variations - flying through valleys (a bit like the second part of the original sit-in Star Wars console) and exploring the interior of a massive space station in your ship.

The graphics were fine IMO. The only problem i had was that the second flak mission actually was impossible (this is well documented) and so i had to cheat past this mission.

Good game though. If a little too short.
 

Steve O B Have

Steve O B Have
turwhitt said:
Perhaps you gave up too soon.
Click to expand...

Nah, I stuck at it for a fairly long time. It's just such a repetitive game. The novelty of doing the same missions and killing the same bad guys in bits of space that looked exactly the same and docking in space stations that looked exactly the same wore off after about 2 weeks.

The spaceships looked naff, space looked naff and the gameplay was naff. Not to mention that it was riddled with bugs. I personally though that it was a really poor offering trying to be an Elite but without the smart people behind it to lend it any depth.
 

vorlon31

V
Jumpgate and Jumpgate Evolution

Hi all. Just to add to the list of space sim games in this thread I can personally recommend;

Jumpgate (http://www.jossh.com) (now known as Jumpgate Classic (2001))
It is a true twitch based space combat game like no other and has been running since 2001. While its graphics show their age in comparison to other, newer games, it certainly has the largest portion of that old Elite magic of any space sim game I have played and its gameplay is tremendous.

For the pure adrenaline rush of space combat nothing beats it as it is you at the controls flying on your own skills and using your knowledge in a near Newtonian universe. And there is no point and click, sit back and watch gameplay. Its you and your wits vs the universe. Seriously, if your an Elite fan this game is worth checking out.

One of the hardest things for new pilots to do in Jumpgate, is dock - sound familiar? But once learned you'll soon forget all the times you splash on the stations surface.

Heres a vid link of some ingame movies including one of me and some of my squadmates on a tour of space, nothing fancy but you can get the look of the game.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7_ZWeEeHfvo
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=hBX8cq0BCdE

Next

I would HIGHLY recommend Jumpgate Evolution (http://www.jumpgateevolution.com) as THE game to watch. Created by Netdevil and to be published by Codemasters it will be going beta this year and is THE game for hands on pilots. Just check out the vid on the frontpage of the official site.

Incidentally the Jumpgate Evolution (JGE) devs are in the UK march 14th and 15th in Birmingham for the Connect08 event Codemasters are running and there will be a first look/play opportunity there with guaranteed beta keys.

No list of space games is complete without mention of Netdevil's Jumpgate.
 

porl

porl
Hey Vorlon, Jumpgate was the best multiplayer game with actual pilot based flying skill (no point and click) which was why i was such a bad pilot :eek: .
JG EVO will be the next best (i hope) see ya back in space, "All hail the Empire" - ForkingL
 
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