Star Wolves

That was my first impression after installing Star Wolves. I grabbed it in a market for a buck or two and forgot about it for a time. When i finally found time to play the game I couldn't stop! Doesn't mean it's so good. Oh no. It has some flaws. First one which comes to my mind is infantile plot and bad voice acting. What else... Graphics, It's not awful, but not very good either. And music is a bit annoying. However, the game itself is suprisingly addictive. You fly around with your mothership, which you can upgrade by installing new modules - weapons and systems like shields, engines, radar and antimissile systems. Your mothership is also your base. It serves as a carrier for up to six fighters. But to launch these fighters you have to have pilots to man them. Pilots, meaning the characters, you can recruit when you play through the story, You simply meet new people to join your crew. But it's not a given that they will join you. Or stay with you forever. It depends on how you talk with them and what you do when you meet them. They may become your friends or fly away. It's that simple. When you start a new game you decide what specialization your pilot will posess. There are three - piloting, gunnery and systems operator(meaning your character is better than others at handling antimissile/radar/repair systems thus becoming a very valuable wingman). This choice determins how a character's developement skill tree will look like. There are no "levels" however. In Star Wolves you simply gain skill points for defeating enemies and spend those points on desired skills. It's exactly the same with the characters that join you. Each one has his or her specialization from among the three I mentioned above. There are many fighters to chose from, grouped in three tiers. Each tier has three distinct classes of fighters. Light ones, being able to mount light guns. They usually posess some pylons to mount rockets. Heavy fighters can mount big guns - gatlings, lasers, plasma cannons. All those packing a punch. Heavy fighters have more hitpoins and better shields than other crafts but lack in mobility. And finally there are missile fighters, having up to four pylons to mount missiles/unguided or guided rockets and using few light weapons to fend off attackers. As is the case with mothership, fighers are fully customizable - you mount desired weapons and systems on them(again the choice is shield upgrades, radars, antimissile, repair systems). To get new fighters you have to find a shop(meaning a space station)and simply buy them. So you have to earn cash. That is done by completing story missions and sidequests. Additionaly you can just buy goods in one star system and sell it elsewhere. Or hunt pirates for bounty. This game has great potential, and if you weren't discouraged by my long review and cons I described at the beginning, you should give it a try.

I bought this game on a sale with 0 expectations at all and I was pleasantly surprised. Some would say its a different IP remake of homeworld which isn't a criticism at all. That game was great. The game's graphics are great (don't let the screenshots fool you) and the dev team transformed this game from a Homeworld RTS to a Homeworld RPG. Awesome. The game encompasses (the now standard) "ethics" aspect with the player given the choice between good and evil (or neutral). The musical score is reminiscent of the 90's gaming era which could be either good or bad depending on how you translate that for yourself. The downside to this game are the clumsily felt controls at times which affects your mood sometimes but once you're used to it, the game has much more to offer.