I didn’t quite know what to expect from DarkStar One when it arrived, mostly because I thought this wasn’t my type of game at all. But since I’ve been slowly getting into games that aren’t my type at all, DarkStar One knocking at my door wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
The game tells the story of Kayron Jarvis, a young space pilot who has just inherited his father’s ship, the DarkStar One. Kayron is mostly motivated by the mystery surrounding his father’s murder, wanting to discover what caused this unfortunate death.
The ship will be your sole companion until you eventually get a crew member, so getting acquainted with it is a must. The game does this well by offering you a series of tutorials to get you started in navigation, income and combat.
The DarkStar One isn’t just your regular ship though. It’s built with some strange alien technology that allows you to upgrade and customize it, provided you find the ancient artifacts hidden all over the galaxy. With these artifacts you can upgrade your engines, hull and wings to make your ship faster, more agile and stronger. It’s a bit like leveling a character in an RPG.
You can also purchase new equipment for your ship, and that doesn’t really come cheap. So how do you earn money in this game? By doing any missions you want.
Aside from the main storyline missions, there are several side quests that appear randomly all over the universe. There is also a computer terminal where you can pick and accept a number of different tasks. These missions range from scanning satellites, taking photos, picking up cargo containers, escorting a ship to another system or shooting down some pesky pirates.
Then there’s the added bonus of transporting some cargo while moving from system to system, so you can earn extra income on the way. Buy goods here at a lower price, sell them over there where people pay more for them. You can engage in Black Market trading as well, but watch out for the space police as they will randomly scan you for illegal goods.
Completing certain missions is also how you receive keys. The keys are used to activate the hyperspace gates, so you can hyperjump to other locations. Your hyperjump range is fairly limited at first, but it will increase as you upgrade your ship.
So as you can see, DarkStar One is a space trading and combat game that allows a great freedom of choice as far as gameplay goes. You can be a mercenary, a pirate, a smuggler, a merchant, an assassin, your reputation depends solely on your actions.
I was surprised at how easy it was to get into this game. The ship controls are fairly easy: you turn with the mouse, strafe with A and D, change speed with the mouse wheel and use the thrusters with W and S. I am pretty bad at docking though, since I am always trying not to bang my ship around, and take forever to get to the station. There is a time limit spanning from when you request authorization to land until you enter the dock, so most times I will have to try at least twice before actually getting in.
Combat is fairly intuitive and everything happens so fast. And since most of the time you aren’t fighting just a single ship, you need to learn how to move and turn quickly, shooting at all times and use your shields strategically. I love the combat situations, they’re really fun and the enemy AI is very good, since they will work as a team to take you down.
The visuals in DarkStar One are quite attractive. The different systems have quite a bit of activity and you will see ships congregating around the space stations, some docking, some leaving and sometimes colliding with you in the process. There are also asteroid fields that look very interesting and realistic. Not that I’ve ever actually seen an asteroid for real, but you know what I mean. It’s probably the way they move, very slowly but threatening to change course and hit you at any second.
The particle effects are very well done in the explosions, there is a good variety of ship models, and the colors and lighting effects are really good. I especially liked the hyperjump sequences and the cut-scenes that happen when you reach a new system. Plus, the story-based cut-scenes have excellent animation.
The music is great and it’s very peaceful when you’re just cruising around, but it conveys a sense of urgency during combat. It really sets the right mood, but you can basically predict what is about to happen by paying attention to the changes in the soundtrack. The voice acting and sound efffects aren’t that impressive but they’re not bad either.
For those who love to customize their games, DarkStar One offers some mod tools that can be downloaded at the official site. This package allows you to modify any existing element such as weapons, ships, solar systems, and it goes as far as letting you add your own voice acting and custom-made missions.
Overall, DarkStar One is a fun game that offers something for everyone. You can explore the vast universe, dedicate your life to buying low and selling high, or you can just concentrate on space combat and spend every bit of money upgrading your ship and weapons. And with so much to see and do, the replay value is quite large.
If you like variety and freedom of choice in the games you play, then DarkStar One is definitely for you.
Special thanks to Ted Brockwood and CDV for providing a copy of this game.