I would have preferred a better reviewing system that would allow me to moderate my point, but this will have to do. If I had to give an honest opinion of whether or not you should get the game, I would say that it depends of what you're looking for, as well as how patient you are. This game actually came pretty close to a good recommendation for me : you're relatively free to do what you want, you can customize your ship on several aspects, you have multiplayer, if you're into that stuff... It doesn't look half bad either, the menus are clear and precise, the gameplay is pretty good, and the combat in particular is quite involving.

The game does suffer from a few flaws, though, one of them being fatal in my eyes. The first one is that even though you can customize you ship, the different modules you get are nothing more than upgraded versions of what you already have. What I mean is that you don't have the choice between a shield that's very strong and one that's less strong, but recharges quickly, that sort of thing. You just have "small shield that's not great but will fit on small frames", and it gets bigger from that.

Another flaw, this one more important : ennemies aren't all that smart, and seem to have access to an unlimited supply of missiles, or at least that's the impression I get. Combat isn't bad in itself, but make one mistake and you're likely to get blown up, so it encourages a sort of "jousting" pattern that can get repetitive. Your fights will be pretty much the same every time.

Last problem I have with this game, and this one is what made me give it a negative recommendation : the reputation system is absolute garbage. So, you have several factions in this game, and doing contracts for them or destroying their ships will impact it. Okay. But your reputation in a sector won't carry over to another, it's just for THAT sector. That means that you can (WILL, if you're following the plot) stumble on sectors where the Navy don't like you. At all. They don't know you, they don't know where you're from, or what you want, but boy do they know they want you dead. And we're not talking about pirates, we're talking about the NAVY. So pretty much every ship you'll come across here are hostiles. You'll want to bribe them, but they won't answer your trade requests. And here comes the REALLY dumb part : you'll want to do a few contracts for them, but for that, you'll have to dock in the station while everyone is trying to kill you, then pay a fee to even be able to bring up the contracts menu, then leave the station without getting shot down on the way out, then reach the mission waypoint. And do you think they'll stop shooting you just because you accepted to do their work ? ♥♥♥♥ no, don't be insane. Good luck trying to do your mission while having to fend off unlimited waves of hostiles and their flood of missiles. And good luck trying to get a good rep with those guys if you have to blow their ships up while doing THEIR job that THEY gave you. Not that you really CAN, since you won't last long against 15 bad guys and their unlimited reinforcements...

I really wanted to like that game, it had so much potential... But as you can see, despite the apparent choice you have to decide what you'll want to be, you'll get shoehorned into investing in weapons and strong shields to even have a chance. That, or ignore the sectors where everyone and their mother will try to kill you for no reason, but that's just really, really dumb...

I would have preferred a better reviewing system that would allow me to moderate my point, but this will have to do. If I had to give an honest opinion of whether or not you should get the game, I would say that it depends of what you're looking for, as well as how patient you are. This game actually came pretty close to a good recommendation for me : you're relatively free to do what you want, you can customize your ship on several aspects, you have multiplayer, if you're into that stuff... It doesn't look half bad either, the menus are clear and precise, the gameplay is pretty good, and the combat in particular is quite involving. The game does suffer from a few flaws, though, one of them being fatal in my eyes. The first one is that even though you can customize you ship, the different modules you get are nothing more than upgraded versions of what you already have. What I mean is that you don't have the choice between a shield that's very strong and one that's less strong, but recharges quickly, that sort of thing. You just have "small shield that's not great but will fit on small frames", and it gets bigger from that. Another flaw, this one more important : ennemies aren't all that smart, and seem to have access to an unlimited supply of missiles, or at least that's the impression I get. Combat isn't bad in itself, but make one mistake and you're likely to get blown up, so it encourages a sort of "jousting" pattern that can get repetitive. Your fights will be pretty much the same every time. Last problem I have with this game, and this one is what made me give it a negative recommendation : the reputation system is absolute garbage. So, you have several factions in this game, and doing contracts for them or destroying their ships will impact it. Okay. But your reputation in a sector won't carry over to another, it's just for THAT sector. That means that you can (WILL, if you're following the plot) stumble on sectors where the Navy don't like you. At all. They don't know you, they don't know where you're from, or what you want, but boy do they know they want you dead. And we're not talking about pirates, we're talking about the NAVY. So pretty much every ship you'll come across here are hostiles. You'll want to bribe them, but they won't answer your trade requests. And here comes the REALLY dumb part : you'll want to do a few contracts for them, but for that, you'll have to dock in the station while everyone is trying to kill you, then pay a fee to even be able to bring up the contracts menu, then leave the station without getting shot down on the way out, then reach the mission waypoint. And do you think they'll stop shooting you just because you accepted to do their work ? Fuck no, don't be insane. Good luck trying to do your mission while having to fend off unlimited waves of hostiles and their flood of missiles. And good luck trying to get a good rep with those guys if you have to blow their ships up while doing THEIR job that THEY gave you. Not that you really CAN, since you won't last long against 15 bad guys and their unlimited reinforcements... I really wanted to like that game, it had so much potential... But as you can see, despite the apparent choice you have to decide what you'll want to be, you'll get shoehorned into investing in weapons and strong shields to even have a chance. That, or ignore the sectors where everyone and their mother will try to kill you for no reason, but that's just really, really dumb...