Reviews / previews
Say *realtime space
combat simulation* to
most gamers, and the
kneejerk response is
"Privateer" or "Wing
Commander." In several
ways, these products
defined the genre. But
although Ares Rising
was devised by some of
the original Privateer
team, this latest RSCS
puts its own distinctive
stamp on the model--
with excellent results.
Let's begin with
spaceships. Privateer's
are diversified into
several basic models
with a spectrum of
armaments, but they
tend towards a
dogfighting ideal. By
way of contrast, you
can customize your
Lynx craft in Ares
Rising over time into
almost any kind of
vessel you want. There
are dozens of weapons
available, and
equipment bays that
can hold different types
of armor, circuitry,
generators, ECMs,
decoys, repair units,
etc. Do you prefer
frenetic action involving
beam weapons and
highly maneuverable
crafts, or distant spy
ships that employ
cloaks and probes, firing anti-radiation missiles with sensitive energy
detectors?
You start with one ship in Ares Rising, but the gradual addition of multiple
wingmen lets you build a fleet. These are pilot mercenaries that mix skill and
personality, disobeying your orders on occasion to follow their personal
preferences. However, you have a far greater range of orders than in Privateer
or Wing Commander, including several dozen weaponry choices, flight
formations, and attack modes. (My favorite is the Layered Attack, which
involves pilots with long-range weapons using missiles on a distant target,
while beam weapon vehicles destroy the shield, and mass cannon ships slice
off the armor and hull.)
Like similar simulations, Ares Rising has a flat learning curve-- vertically.
You've got multiple systems, views, and three- dimensional movement to
learn. Fortunately, the manual, reference card and in-game tutorial are
excellent. Still stymied? You can always toggle Invulnerability from the
Options Menu. The game won't let you win a mission that way, but you can
check out everything in God Mode before switching back to regular play.
My reactions to the graphics are more mixed. The game has few
noninteractive movies, and that's all to the good. The actual space
travel/combat part of Ares Rising is attractive in software-rendered 3D, and a
knockout utilizing hardware (Direct3D) acceleration. On the other hand, your
character's base of operations and its Series 9000 OS computer, where you
access records about political groups, individuals and equipment purchases,
is underwhelming. The contents are skimpy, and you're given static, 2D,
poorly colored pictures. Finally, you can't dock your ships at any other
spaceport. All of this reinforces the impression of a blandly uniform universe.
The hokey script in Ares Rising
doesn't help. (Does anybody know
why every hero we play in
computer games has to talk like
some cheesy imitation of 1930's
movie detectives?) However, the
plot is well-handled, and you can
win by eventually allying with any
of three main factions in the game,
each with a distinct agenda and
advantages. The multiplayer game
lacks the plotline, but allows you and your pals (up to eight, on a TCP/IP
account, null modem or network) to cooperate against the crafty computer AI
or go head-to-head.
As you can tell from the above, Ares Rising is really no Privateer clone,
regardless of its development team's pedigree. It boldly stakes out a portion of
the strategy/action gaming universe-- and makes good that claim.-- Barry Brenesal / GamePro
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