Gameplay

Dead on course

Despite heralding itself as a free-form game, Independence War 2 really doesn't pull that aspect off very well. As we mentioned before, to get anywhere in the game - from access to other solar systems than the one you start in, to better ships and weapons - you need to follow the campaign you are presented with.

Capsule Drive

Mighty purrty

Starmap

This campaign consists of a series of missions ranging from scouting through combat to vandalism. The writing that gives you the backgrounds to the missions, and the missions themselves vary in quality immensely. Some actions and justifications fail to make sense, while others are meticulously planned.

On the whole, however, we are disappointed with the details of the general story. The setting is rich and deep, promising a great deal of intrigue and mystery, but the developers failed to exploit it. This, coupled with the linear and near-compulsory campaign, left us with a bitter taste in our mouths. No, I-War 2 never promised to be another Privateer game, but when one thinks 'free-form space combat and trading game', Privateer is the first title to come to mind.

Jafs, you pig

Take that, and that and that!

The nose of your ship is actually a ship itself

A pirate's life for me! Argh...

One of the best design ideas implemented in the game is having your own home base. In this base you can receive communications, make trades, check your inventory, upgrade your ship(s) and browse through the encyclopedia. However, on other bases there is simply no point in docking unless that is part of a scripted mission. There is no in-base display, no trade screen, no reason to dock at all.

Trade means barter. You exchange one good or set of goods for another item. You cannot sell your goods and buy new ones instead with cash. You cannot buy equipment or ships, you cannot dock to a space station and buy their goods to haul to another station - and forget about landing on any planets, since it's not possible. Heck, we're confused why there are other stations around at all. The same goes for factions - your rating with the different factions remains unchanged no matter what you do, unless the action is plot-oriented.