 |
| Overview |
| Cost |
S$59.95 |
| Brand |
Nexon |
| URL |
Official
Site |
| Reviewed |
27/10/2001 |
| Reviewer |
Troff |
|
| Summary |
| Pros |
| Extremely addictive online massive warfare. |
| Cons |
| Expansive for a game that requires monthly subscription. |
|
| Pictures |
|
|
|
|
| Shattered Galaxy |
| StarCraft in a "Mass" |
Shattered Galaxy has been around for a while and is in fact the US version of Nexon's enormously popular Korean game. Offering something a bit different to other online games out there, once you look past the obvious flaws and start to play for a few games you'll find in it a solid, appealing, and unique new game.
For those looking for a deeply enriched background and engaging story to entrench themselves my advice is this… just play the game as the background is too hilarious to be taken seriously. Therein lies one of SG’s faults as it does not really have a connecting history or theme to latch onto, but this is really only a small letdown.
You start the game by creating a hero and allocating points to attributes. Note that this hero can’t be killed or damaged and is only for the purpose of controlling the units you led into battle (so the Diablo element is not here). Then after choosing a faction and starting off on a planet you begin.
One of the most well-balanced and thought out features of SG which I truly appreciate are your character stats. These four stats, called Tactics, Clout, Education, and Mechanical Aptitude.
There is an enormous variety in how your units can advance. There are four types of units, infantry, mobile, air, and alien organic units. Each unit in turn can be individually equipped with various tradeoffs in weight and weapon performance.
Actual combat is quite exciting. When you finally reach an area of combat by walking your hero there, you choose which units to bring with you. One thing to note is that you play a small part in the battlefield so teamwork is very important. To describe it the best way I can, I want you to imagine that a game of ‘Starcraft’ is going on with many groups of fighters, infantry, tanks, machines and so on fighting it out. Now imagine YOU controlling just ONE of those squads…
The aim of each battle is not to simply kill the other side but to hold areas called Points of Contention (PoCs) on each map, usually ranging from three to five, which, if you're the attacker, you need to capture, and if you're defending, you need to protect. Think of them as flags areas (as in Team Fortress). To capture a PoC, you simply need to move a ground-based unit over one and hold the position for 30 seconds while it lights up and it displays your faction symbol. For the attackers, all must be captured to win, and for the defenders, the opposition must be totally obliterated or they have to maintain at least half the PoCs for the duration of the 20 minute time limit each conflict is set to. While the battle is going on, other people may also start to join in.
Let’s touch on the graphics and sound. To be frank the graphics are not impressive and the sound is nothing to brag about. The menus and backgrounds are nothing compared to other games on the market. The sound does its job, and there does exist a soundtrack which you either love or hate. However this brings me to an important point in that until I was asked to write this review, I never really thought about the graphics at all. This means that the gameplay was good enough and only when I started to stare at the screenshots did I see how mediocre the visuals are.
SUMMARY
I only got around to playing SG after listening to a friend in a pub talk about it for five straight hours. Needless to say I was curious and decided to try it out. In all I regret for every day I do spend some time thinking about which attribute to boost, what weapons to buy and whose units I might upgrade. All the features I mentioned above make SG an extremely addictive game. |
|
0
1
