More Overview

Hero of the Day

The Eastern Coalition has the Western Alliance on its heels and is pushing hard. Desperately trying to recover their losses, the WA engages in a heavy recruiting program that results in many volunteers signing up, you being one. After your initial training period (not covered in the game), you're thrown in with the ragtag 45th Volunteers, on an outdated carrier that was due for the scrapyard. Sound familiar? Half of that is from Wing Commander III - the part about the scrap carrier.

Warping In

Bad Way to Die

Your squadron starts off tame. The 45th has to be the least respected bunch in the fleet when you start. The first missions will have you fighting to earn your reputation, but to be honest, it feels very artificial. It's like they designed the missions, then thought "wow, ok, who in their right mind would let a bunch of rookies do this?" So they throw in some character dialogue about you being rookies, but your squadron never acts it. Sure the missions might seem a bit inane compared to what you face later, but in a war situation they'd be critical. The odds you face and the numbers of your kills are just plain amazing. Much of this, of course, can be forgiven since this is a space action game. But even as a hardened Wing Commander and FreeSpace buff, I have to say that it's pushing the limits hard. Starlancer seems like an extremely confused game at times, especially the beginning. Here they are, trying to pass you off as a barely trained, slapdash military unit, but all the while you're doing combat missions of vital importance. There's just no believability there - the game doesn't manage to flow smoothly into a good pace. It starts fast and hard, managing to hurt its atmosphere quite a bit.

That's so Gloomy and Pretty

Heads On

However...

The plot isn't all that disappointing. It's got its share of cliches and poor design calls, most simply a lack of originality (Spoiler Wing Commander 3 fans, one word: Behemoth.) However, it does manage to piece itself together very well and form a good overall storyline. The feeling that a war is going on out there sticks with you to the end.

Eye Candy For a Baby

Hey, What's behind him?

The minor plot points are a lot better than the general plot. You'll see people die, defections and all sorts of war movie style plot movements. Sure it's got more of a Hollywood than historical flavor, but you're here for entertainment right? Starlancer definitely delivers on the last.