Graphics

The Inevitable

With the apparent demise of Wing Commander, there are only two major space action genres left, and it's inevitable that they'll be compared. Much like UT and Q3A get put up toe to toe, Starlancer finds itself poised against FreeSpace 2. In the graphical department, there is no comparison.

I'm blind!

A Nanny Ship?

FreeSpace 2 is gorgeous. It does a lot of things, and does them very well. However, it can't stack up to Starlancer's polish. The extra time has definitely made a difference. Starlancer might not have effects like beam weapons, but that's about all that it is missing. The capital ships have a more primitive, smaller look to them, but feel more refined. The texturing is simple, yet there is a clear luster and... believable quality to them. The simplistic designs fit. Your ship, the Reliant, for example, looks like the most primitive cargo carrying box out there. However, newer designs are obviously better looking - the Yamato, for example, is a more modern carrier than yours, with the looks and firepower to prove it.

There's the Reliant

The Sun's Very Orange this far out

Fighters are much more detailed in general - compared to both capital ships and their FS2 counterparts. It might be just the light reflections, but they do look a whole lot better.

The Worlds

One of the cooler things you'll get to see is the planets. Flying around the solar system, you'll run into several of them. Early on, you'll have Neptune accompanying you way off in the distance, shining its calm, blue, in desperate need of FSAA glory at you. You'll see a few of the other planets as you go on, but the one I could not forget myself was Venus. You end up very close to it, and it's just an awesome sight, filling up all of your view at times.

Jumping Out

That ship looks a 'bit' better than the Reliant

As you can see from the screenshots, the planets aren't always fully visible. Depending on your angle on a planet and the sun's direction, you might see all of it or only a crescent. This is just one of those many little atmosphere effects you'll probably never get the time to get tired of. Why? Those explosions will draw you away. Oh man, Starlancer has the best explosions we've ever seen. The fighters blow in the typical expanding ring, but capital ships have this cool cascade explosion effect. The explosion doesn't build up like it does in FS2 - there are no electric shocks arcing the hull and smaller blasts. The ships simply disintegrate, blasted to bits, section by section. Imagine playing dominoes with nitro-glycerin!

There was, however, one problem with the graphics (in fact, the only thing that might be construed as a bug in the entire game). Sometimes they got very choppy - unreasonably so given the current detail level. The adjustment of 3D sound and graphical resolution was no help. It was as bad at 640x480 as at 1024x768. This seems particularly odd in light of the fact that the beta appeared to run smooth on a Celeron 466. It just might be system specific.