Act: AB: Arena [by Jaibo]

Alien Battlecraft: Arena, a new space action offering from Jaibo Software is obviously inspired by the Star Control series. Don’t get me wrong; this is definitely not a problem. As any old school gamer can tell you, the Star Control games provided fun and addictive space fighting combat. It is to Battlecraft: Arena’s credit that it is able to capture the core of these classic games and not only update them for today’s modern systems but also inject new life into the formula.

The game offers a tutorial mode (covering all the different game types, as well as the basics), a single battle mode, and a campaign mode. The tutorial mode offers good direction and introduces the player to the game very well, all done through tutorial messages at the top of the screen that the player advances using the keyboard. Even without the tutorials the game is very easy to pick up; the mouse controls movement (thrust via the RMB and direction) with the LMB firing the ships main guns and only 2 other buttons on the keyboard used for gameplay (secondary and tertiary fire modes). The movement relies on momentum a la asteroids, with the player trying to carefully push forward and ‘slide’ around for position.

The highest praise I have for this game is its interface: flawless. On every screen the information needed by the player is laid out in a very intuitive manner. On the main battle screen for example, the player can easily see the complete status of his ship, his weapons, his target, and the game score without having to really take his eyes away from the action, which can get fast and furious. Also this game has 8 different difficulties that allow the player to customize his difficulty to a fine degree (though average is INSANELY easy, its only number 2 after all.)

For those of you unfamiliar with the star control gameplay, the player controls a ship that can move along a top-down 2d arena style map while collecting power-ups and shooting at the enemy with a variety of weapons. This is the basic formula of the game, with the player deciding how scoring will be handled (by damage done/taken, kills, or elimination gameplay) and whether to involve teams or just play free for all. The player is allowed to choose his race (out of 2) as well as his ships 4 basic components: his chassis, his wings, his rear armor, and his front armor. The must balance his maneuverability with his armor and his weapons with his energy. The choice of chassis affects all of these factors, while wings affect weapons and armor/maneuver ability. Armor is just a choice between the armor and maneuver values.

The campaign mode isn’t the most in depth, it contains a grid of battlefields with different variations of enemies and game styles and the player attempts to conquer them all in a seemingly random order, this mode is not the strength of the game, but can serve as a good way to vary the gameplay.

All ships get 3 different weapons the type of which depends upon his choice of components. All ships have a forward and rear firing weapon and his ‘wing’ weapons, which depending on component type can shoot in every direction. With all of these weapons firing in every possible direction the action becomes very furious at times, as the players make their way around obstacles such as planets asteroids and suns, collecting health and energy (which increases fire rates) and attempting to out maneuver his opponent.

The sound in the game is good overall, with some haunting music in the background, which provides a good atmosphere. The sound effects are what you would expect, lasers going –bew- and bombs going –boom-, but they serve their purpose.

The games Achilles heel is its lack of multiplayer, in any form. Now I usually don’t like it when every reviewer docks a game for the lack of MP support, but this is a game that cries for it, at least hotseat. The game has no such support though, which does limit its appeal somewhat. The only other point I have against it however is that there is no reverse or brake button, which is admittedly a minor quibble.

Overall this is a fun and solid game that executes quick action in a well designed, well controlled and extremely varied manner. Recommended for anyone looking for a momentary diversion whenever they have 15 minutes to spare.

Added: January 8th 2004
Reviewer: Joe Macias
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