Evochron Legends
 Evochron Legends' logo | |
| Developer(s) | StarWraith 3D Games |
|---|---|
| Publisher(s) | StarWraith 3D Games |
| Designer(s) | Shawn Bower |
| Series | Evochron |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows |
| Release date(s) | 5 February 2009 |
| Genre(s) | Space simulation |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, Multiplayer |
Evochron Legends is a mercenary space simulation online game from the Starwraith 3D Games' Evochron series.[1]
Similarities to earlier Evochron installments
The gameplay of the game is comparable to Evochron Renegades, in which the player takes the role of a mercenary pilot in the fictional Evochron sector of space. The gameplay is a freeform sandbox approach, and allows the player to seamlessly switch from any of the available roles without menu-interfaces. Traditional roles include, among others, mining, trading, pirating, exploring, bounty hunting, and military flight. Similarly to earlier Evochron titles, the gameplay is fully seamless (including travel, planet descents, and ship control) with the exception of the shipyard, in which the player customizes their ship.
Like in Evochron Renegades, all environments are interactive. This means none of the environments besides the background are simply there for 'looks'. All nebulae can be flown through, with some of the clouds actively disabling or hindering player and AI ship systems. Planets can be descended upon in real-time and used to trade upon, a feature often praised in the now classic Frontier: Elite II. Atmospheric flight differs significantly from space flight, although the controls remain identical. Asteroid fields allow the player to mine and use them as temporary cover, in combat, from missile and gunfire. Larger asteroids sometimes include tunnel systems that can be explored and used for combat advantages. Objects like planets, stars, and black holes all exert a gravitational pull on the ship.[2]
Flight in Evochron Legends is a hybrid between heavy- and low-inertia flight. By using a ship-system called the inertial dampening system (IDS) the player can choose to let the ship automatically adapt the course to the cockpit orientation or to let the ship keep its current heading and speed to turn the ship freely during flight due to the lack of friction in space.
New features and improvements
New features include military combat ships ranging from light scouts to heavy interceptors that can be purchased and flown by players, and new capital ships such as Cruisers, Battleships, Command Ships, and Destroyers that can engage in war zone battles.[3] In addition, the game makes a huge jump forward in graphical aspects[4] - where Evochron Renegades' graphics were considered 'functional' rather than 'flashy', Evochron Legends has more highly detailed textures and new effects such as stellar accretion discs and more planetary ring types.[5] New roles have been added, including passenger transport, energy transport, crafting, and capital ship escorting.
- War Zones
Currently, three systems feature war zones, in which the player engages the Vonari along with the military. Through dockable carriers available in the war zones, players can buy themselves military crafts if wished for. By engaging in military missions, the player gains a military rank that allows buying more powerful military crafts.
- Crafting
A new feature is called crafting, in which players use raw commodities to create second-level commodities or usable items. This is done at special constructor stations, which allows the player to create items and more valuable commodities. An amount of platinum can be converted into a long-range probe, and amounts of metal can be crafted into armor plating. Some items can only be crafted by combining multiple commodities together.
- Commodities
New commodities include oxygen, water, gold, and silver. Some of these (oxygen, water) can be gathered from planetary atmospheres and surface. Gold and silver are rare commodities that are both valuable and crucial to create some of the crafted items.
- Environments
While most of the environments from Evochron Renegades return, including planets, cities, stars, stations, nebulae, asteroid fields, and caves, the nebula class that disturbed weaponry has been replaced by a high-energy nebula that jams the jump-drive of the player. For the multiplayer mode, it is being presented as a good place for a hard and honest fight between clans. Also, dockable carriers and constructor stations are new environments.
- Difficulty
The difficulty of the game has been tweaked, giving the game a slightly more balanced learning curve. The learning curve is still considered steep, especially during the first combat situations. The training mode has received a full makeover, allowing the player to choose for either a full training or only focussing on certain aspects.[6]
Story quest
The story revolves around one person chasing the Phantom class battle carrier from Arvoch Conflict and Evochron Renegades. The story seems to be as optional as possible, although completing the quest will yield beneficial advantages.
The story quest will let the player go on a hunt after beacons that are scattered throughout the universe. Unlike earlier games, the player will need to fulfill certain requirements for the beacon to activate, making the story more 'red line'--like for players new to the series. Although the story builds further on the earlier Starwraith 3D Games lore, it is self-explanatory and does not require earlier knowledge of the story.
Multiplayer
Multiplayer in the Evochron series has offered the seamless profile system since its very beginning. In this system, a pilot profile made will always be available on any game server that is not purely set to multiplayer profiles. In this way, players are free to work on their spacecraft in single player.
Capture the flag-like objects have been added, allowing players and clans to set up a CTF match seamlessly. Notable locations for such a match include within a high-energy nebula and the interior of a large asteroid.
Any person can host a (dedicated) game server for a predetermined number of players. Other players are required to use a compatible version of the client to connect to the server, and to have identical universe files. The host of the game sets any rules, although rules are only controlled through players and not enforced by the game itself. In this way, the freeform spirit of the game is retained.
See also
External links
References
- ↑ "Blue's News Publication". Retrieved 2008-12-11.
- ↑ "Official Press Release". Retrieved 2008-02-05.
- ↑ "Evochron Legends - GamersGate".
- ↑ "Interview: StarWraith on Evochron Legends - Rock, Paper, Shotgun".
- ↑ "Evochron Legends website". Retrieved 2008-12-11.
- ↑ "Evochron Legends Review on Diehard Gamefan". Retrieved 2009-03-10.