Hello, everyone. Like many of you, I was pretty excited to see the Genre restructuring project when it was announced here on RFG. Once I got a look, I was a little worried. The Genre that contains many of my favorite games, the Space Sim genre, was absent. Suggestions and points proved fruitless and I was rebuffed. It seemed that the Vehicular Combat genre was destined to hold my beloved Space Sim games, no matter how strongly I felt about it. Once stopped and thought about the situation a bit more, I realized I may have been too hasty. Why don't you sit down for a moment. Pull up a chair, and I'll explain where I stand: Why the Space Sim doesn't work well as a genre, and why I think there should be a bit more clarity.
From this point on I could blab on about early Star Trek games and even Space Wars, but instead I'd like to focus on the two roots of the Space Sim genre, which are Star Raiders and Elite.
[img width=300 height=394]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c3/Star-raiders-game-manual-cover.jpg[/img]
Star Raiders was originally released for the Atari 8-bit in 1979. You piloted a ship, the Atarian fighter, as you attempt to destroy the Zylon fleets before they destroy your space stations. The ship is controlled from the first-person for combat and hyperspace jumps, and you can switch to a grid map to help navigate between different points. All you have to do is hyperspace jump from sector to sector, destroying Zylon ships as you go. The game is fun and very straightforward, and is still very playable (even on the original Atari 8-bit).
While the influence can be felt more on the NES title, Star Voyager, than any other game, the influence can be seen in the LucasArts space combat games (X Wing, Tie Fighter), the main Wing Commander series, and Starlancer. The focus of such games have always action-oriented, though story elements and character development began creeping in during the early nineties, even as the original "exploration" elements were taken out. Was this the right decision? Probably not, in my opinion, but it certainly helped refine the genre.
So while these games are still generically referred to as Space Sim games (sometimes as a Space Combat Sim), they would fit quite neatly in the Vehicular Combat genre (maybe under a Space genre, given that so many of them take place in outer space).
[img width=480 height=598]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2e/Elite_org_cover.jpg[/img]
Elite, considered by some to be the first real example of a modern space sim, was released for the BBC Micro and Electron in 1984. While the game had plenty of stuff to blow up, you could also trade items (the manual often refers to your ship as a trading vessel) and engage in illegal activities, such as piracy. There are a total of 8 galaxies, 256 planets located in each galaxy to travel to, each with their own space station (and each randomly generated). While there is a main story (which in some cases requires you to literally go looking for it), there are also many other side missions and things to do. You can even skim fuel from the surface of a star!
From there things branched off. Unlike the games that where influenced by Star Raiders, there are many games in this genre that are not played from the first-person, but rather from a top-down view. Games such as Sundog, Starflight, and Star Control II, follow this trend. There are also hybrid games such as Space Rogue. Later titles include Wing Commander: Privateer, the Freelancer series, the X series, the Evochron series, and many more. Games such as the Battlecruiser series, Universal Combat, and Dark Star One share some trading elements from Elite, but tend to be more combat related that the others.
Games from this branch also tend to be referred to as Space Sim games, but are usually tagged with something like Trade, or Exploration. Me, I think the Sandbox is a little bit more accurate, given that freedom of movement and actions are a big part of what you can do (similar to the GTA and Elder Scrolls games).
Now, for those that are willing to endure it, I would like to share my personal journey through the Space Sim genre. The games included are only games that I have played, and following each synopsis I include what subgenre of Vehicular Combat I think it belongs in: Vehicular Combat (Space) or Vehicular Combat (Sandbox).
Game: Star Voyager
Platform: NES
Year Played: 1990
Star Voyager was the first game I rented, and my first experience with a non-Nintendo created game on the NES. To those taking notes you'll notice this game bears a very strong resemblance Star Raider (featured above), though certain functions had to be simplified for the NES controller (for the better, in my opinion). Regardless of that, the game, without a manual, is pretty much impenetrable, and even with guidance it can seem a little too abstract. You fly around through space, doing hyperspace jumps from area to area, fighting enemies while you search for upgrades to your shields and weapons. Not much, but still fun. On a personal level, this was the game that got me into space sim games. (Thanks for the vid, Crab)
Game: Star Trek
Platform: Arcade
Year Played: 1990
This was the first title I sought out after my experience with Star Voyager (at a local arcade called Red Baron). Oddly enough it was very similar to Star Voyager, though it was very limited in scope (though it takes nothing from the game itself). The vector graphics are great, however, though it certainly helped that I was a big Star Trek fan. The game? You fly around in space, blowing up Klingons with vector phasers. Good stuff.
Final Verdict: Vehicular Combat (Space)
Game: Star Control II
Platform: DOS
Year Played: 1992
While this game does have a versus combat mode, the main mode is very much a sandbox title. You follow a human survivor as he gathers up allies to battle the hated Ur-Quan Empire, explore a massive starmap filled to the brim with planets, converse with strange aliens, mine and sell materials, land on planets, and do a bit of ship combat as you progress. That part is particularly fun, as there are more than ten ships to fly (each representing a particular race), with each ship having a primary and secondary attack option. What sucked is that my friend who owned Star Control II would never let me play the sandbox mode unless I could beat him in the versus mode (extremely rare). Nonetheless, this only fueled my fire to go further down the rabbit hole. Great game. (Skip to 3:13 for the gameplay)
Final Verdict: Vehicular Combat (Sandbox)
Game: Wing Commander
Platform: SNES
Year Played: 1993
In the past this game was called a space sim, though later reclassified as a space combat sim. It follows the exploit of a group of combat pilots aboard the space carrier Tiger's Claw during the Kilrathi Wars. While the focus of the game is on space combat, there is quite a bit of story in between missions, allowing you to talk with many your fellow pilots as well as take a few turns on the combat sim machine. While some compain that the SNES version is dumbed down from the original PC title, I found the simplification of the controls refreshing and much more playable.
Final Verdict: Vehicular Combat (Space) (though can be quite sim-my)
Game: Starflight
Platform: Genesis
Year Played: 1994
A heavily enhanced port of a DOS game released in 1986, Starflight is arguably the most influential game for the Space sim genre outside of Elite. You hire and train a crew, take control of a derelict space ship from the future, and are tasked with saving the galaxy. Ahead of you thousands of planets and hundreds of thousands of planets, most of which can be landed on. From that point the choice is yours: Do you want to pursue the ends to the story? There are clues. Mine for precious minerals to upgrade your ship and lander? They are out there for the taking. My last time playing it I mined, upgraded my ship, loaded up with fuel and went off to explore the farthest reaches of the galaxy.
A ton of fun (and the reason I bought a Genesis!). A game that I still like to play every year or so and still manage to get a ton of play out of.
Final Verdict: Vehicular Combat (Sandbox)
Game: Universal Combat
Platform: PC
Year Played: 2004
Starflight managed to tide me over for almost a decade, but at some point I was hungry for more. Not just any sim would do, I needed something where I could explore, mine, trade, and fight (if necessary). A bit of research and I was pointed to a sale at Gamestop for two games promising the deliver.
Focusing on the advertisement, you will find the game promises multiple careers, stories, ships, and a large galaxy with over 1000 points of interest. Explore, mine, trade, and shoot at stuff. You can even land on a planet, set your mining vehicle on auto, and just run around like a goof and shoot at stuff. You can also pilot a massive battlecruiser and attack space stations. Sounds great, right? There is one tiny problem. The game is almost impenetrable from a gamer standpoint. The foldout Quick Reference chart, which contains a massive amount of information, must be memorized if you are even to fly from planet to planet. The HUD contains a massive amount of information, requires a military-level mindset to even begin to tackle. Don't know what the PEP is or why the light is flashing red instead of orange? You'll have to know to play the damn game. But that isn't even the games greatest sin, in my eyes. While options exist to explore, mine, and trade, there simply is no reason to do so, as all there is to do is to fly around, land on stuff, look at stuff, and then piss off an attacking ship and die. I hate this game.
Final Verdict: Vehicular Combat (Space) (it has sandbox elements, but the focus is on combat alone)
Game: X Series (X2, X3, Terran Conflict, Albion Prelude)
Platform: PC
Year Played: 2005-Current
This series is the reason I am writing this article. I stumbled across X2 on by accident on a Target clearance rack, and the rest was history. At first glance this title series might be mistaken for a combat sim with story elements (similar to Wing Commander), but once you start playing (and understanding the game) you start to see different. While there is a story (and in some cases more than one), the real meat-and-potatoes of this game is in the freedom. Want to trade? There is a massive economy and scores of different items to trade with, from wheat and energy cells to illegal items (drugs and slaves). Explore? There are over two hundred sectors, connected by jumpgates, some with hidden ships out in the fringes. Be a police officer? Get a police license (each of the five races has one) and patrol sectors, earning reward money for blowing up pirates and exposing smugglers. You can make money just transporting people across sectors (with the right ship setup). Later on you can assemble entire fleets of ships, organize and hire pilots to do trading runs automatically for you (my main games has nine traders, all doing runs simultaneously), buy and run space stations, and in later games build your own home base and complexes. This is one of the few series that I will buy on day one of release, confident that I will be satisfied.
Final Verdict: Vehicular Combat (Sandbox)
Currently I am immersing myself in PC games, from the old to the more modern. Among them are a ton of great looking space sim games, many of which would fall into the "Sandbox" subgenre that I am polling for. Games such as Sundog, Space Rouge, Wing Commander: Privateer, and Evochron Mercenary are intriguing sandbox-style space games, while DarkStar One and FreeSpace are great Vehicular Combat games.
Shortly after my last Summer Game Challenge I had a decision to make. Which game next? The most logical choice was to finally mop up X3: Terran Conflict. After all, I had well over two-hundred hours on it before I transferred it to Steam, spending most of my time accumulating money and ships with only minimal storyline progression. With the three M6 Corvette class ships I had at my disposal it really wasn't that difficult finishing the main storyline. Now now, I know this game isn't in my list, but after reading Pauly3433's forum post regarding the 10 year game of Civ II, I thought it might be time to bite the bullet and finished it.
The next game I chose was also fairly easy to pick, as Crabmaster2000 had expressed interest in it. I had also learned at some point that it was likely a PC-style dungeon crawl (someone let slip about a requirement for graphing paper), so it just seemed natural. With no reservations (and a pad of graphing paper) I started Swords and Serpents.
About twenty hours later I can safely say that this is a good game. Not a great game, mind you, but really and truly not bad at all. It is in fact a PC-style first-person view dungeon crawl but with a Japanese slant that simultaneously makes it feel unique and keeps it from becoming a great game.
The first thing you notice after starting the game (most people just use the pre-rolled party initially) is the automap that appears on the upper-right part of the screen, much like the NES version of Bard's Tale, though unlike that game the random encounters do not kick you to a separate screen for the battle, which I must say is very nice considering the amount of grinding in this game (more on that later). Also the pictures used for enemies are quite large and very detailed (especially the zombie variants). Battles run super quick: You just the B button until the end, though when you start the second level you will need to think more strategically. The menu system is a freaking mess, though, and the password system makes me want to cry (a password for the game and four more for each party member). Yikes.
The game plays as thus: You move around the level, fighting random battles and occasionally meeting NPCs (whom are tied to a specific spot on the map), buying and selling equipment, and that is about it. There is a story, which is progressed using NPCs spread throughout any given level, but it really doesn't seem important, partially due to the static nature of the NPCs (who will only appear after entering a spot then disappear after leaving), but also because it seems king of silly. If you are going to find any kind of enjoyment here it will be in the grind. And boy does it have a grind. Sixteen level, that is what you have to face, and despite the ease of the first level the enemy strength ramps up quite a bit around the middle of level two. Despite this the game isn't overly hard, not once you learn that age RPG tactic (level, level, level; don't forget to run) applies here as well.
I like this game. While there are much better choices available, it's still a great title. It hits a lot of enjoyable spots, and while there are a few annoying features (super grindy, annoying menu structure) I know that I will be revisiting this again in the future, just maybe not for the whole sixteen levels. That and I'll emulate it and take advantage of save states (five passwords be damned!).
Now, for those of you wanting to attempt the dark dungeons of SaS, I have a few pointers (this will be especially useful to those without instruction booklets):
1) Make your own party! While the structure of the pre-rolled party is fine, they start off weak and need better stats (basic attributes do not increase with level!). Rolling your own will keep you from starting over from the beginning (I had to do this).
2) Pressing the directional pad during combat will allow you to aim your attacks. Some enemies are more vulnerable to certain directions.
3) If you have a good head for directions I doubt you'll need a map, though one will doubtless help with remembering landmarks. The first thing you mark on your new maps? The location of the temple. There are only three in the entire game!
4) While I do not condone playing emulated games over physical ones (missing that tactile experience and all) you might want to do it for this game. Having to write down five passwords to save a game gets annoying quickly (and in an RPG, too), especially if you are a pick-up-and-set-down player like I am. If you are able to just leave the NES running that will work too, one of my kids managed to bump my idle NES twice during this playthrough.
5) Don't forget to run!
I think I'll try one of the more action oriented titles on my list now. While I am playing Ultimate Stuntman (and really liking it), I crave something more traditional (maybe Conquest or Ironsword).
For this entry
Conquest of the Crystal Palace
Ironsword
Dr. Chaos
Total Recall
Ultimate Stuntman
Tombs and Treasures
Swords and Serpents
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
Driver: San Francisco
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