M.Indie by Joseph Lieberman

M.Indie IN SPAAAAACCE  (April 26, 2005)

Welcome back to M.Indie, the only column dedicated to Multiplayer Indie Games. Today we’re gonna strap a rocket to our hull and go for a joy ride in the outer-rim with two of the more recent space-based games. I don’t know what it is about the space genre that I find so appealing, I don’t know why ships make explosion sounds (there is no sound in space), I don’t know why humanity is always the good guy… but I do know I love space games! So sit back, strap in, and get ready for M.Indie to boldly take you where no man has gone before!

First up on our space odyssey is Game Tunnel’s Multiplayer Game of the Year. Yes, it stands to nobody’s amazement that the Game Tunnel multiplayer column would tackle this year’s winner. Void War, by Rampant Games, takes space combat to a whole new level of intensity, and if you can find enough people to get a game going, it is the most fun you’ll have this side of the Milky Way.

Void War is a 3D action-pounding first person shooter. You take your ship and blast your way through whatever enemies they throw at you. In Multiplayer mode you can fight on teams or in a death-match, the winner is whoever gets to the point-limit (set by the host) first. By making use of the variety of ships, each with its own special ability and different attributes such as Armor, Speed, Thrust, Weapon Strength and a few more, you’ll be placed in dog-fighting action in no time. The game keeps combat to an “arena” setting by making electric barriers around the outside of the combat zone. The electric barriers don’t hurt you if you fly into them, nor do they jar you back into the arena. Instead they act like a gigantic rubber band, you can push them out pretty far, but at a certain point they’ll overpower your thrusters and send you back the way you came.

Multiplayer mode in Void War is downright fun for everyone involved. Because of the arena sizes and general chaos going on you’ll almost never live for very long, the best trick is try to get at least 1 kill before you go down in a blaze of glory. It is absolute non-stop action and you’ll be amazed at how fast your heart-rate will get when you manage to bring down an enemy while barrel-rolling towards a space station to dodge two missiles that have you pinned down harder than Nixon’s Watergate Scandal. Void War, in the multiplayer department, suffers only from one flaw, but it is a big one. There’s hardly ever anyone online to play against! Here’s my tip: The demo is free, go find a friend (or 7 friends) that enjoys these types of games and both of you download the demo and try this game in online mode. You’ll be glad you did!

Next up is Star Sonata. This is a massive multiplayer space game, a somewhat rare item in today’s fantasy obsessed multiplayer world. Star Sonata is as much a game as it is a social experiment with few controls, but that isn’t to say it’s not fun. In Star Sonata you take the role of a captain of a small ship who has dreams of making it big. The game is entirely open-ended, there’s no “class” to select, no linear path to follow.

You can be a fighter pilot one minute, a freighter the next. So long as you have the cash and equipment you can do it all. There are a few good things that this game introduces to help you decide what you should be working on. First, you’ll spend a lot of time early on transporting goods to scrape out a living. This is sometimes a little boring, but once you gain enough skill points and money you can create slave ships to run your transports. Then all you have to do is find a way to protect them from the many pirates (players and non-players alike). As you reach the higher levels you also gain a variety of special abilities, some of which are mutually exclusive, which help define your role in the world. Me, I was a fighter pilot. Other people focus on space station management, freight transport, and a few other special functions.

That leads us to the social experimental side of Star Sonata. There’s no solid policing factor, no government to speak of. Players form teams for mutual protection and vie against other teams to become emperor of the galaxy. Once you reach a high enough level you can begin building bases and working with your team to gain awesome resources. Because there are no set jobs, some people find employment being humble freight runners, station managers, equipment hunters, or even pirates. This leads to a great deal of conflict as people try to form governing bodies over groups that don’t want to be governed. Sometimes it can badly affect new players, as they are not strong enough to fight back. There seems to be a 50/50 split, some people in the game are very kind to newcomers, others are either indifferent or actually negative to newcomers. I was fortunate enough to run into a female player named Comet Chaser who helped me a great deal in understanding the recent changes to the game.

Star Sonata has a lot going for it. The developers are increasing the already massive content, so it can take a new player months to explore the game before finding everything (let alone making USE of what they found). They have recently added missions as an alternative to fighting for experience and money. If they could get the social side of the game under control without forcing players to bend to their will, the game would be much better off. If you are a fan of linear plots and no high tension conflict (and possible loss of hard earned money and equipment in PvP) then Star Sonata isn’t your next home. But if you enjoy exploring, conflict, and building a name for yourself, Star Sonata is just what sickbay ordered.

So, whether you enjoy the action-packed style of Void War, or the true exploration and development of building your own society found in Star Sonata, space has something for everyone. In our next show M.Indie is going to show you how to find the MMOG of your dreams! By using our not-patented methods you too can be leveling, killing, exploring, and building your way to the future. Tune in next time for M.Indie’s Sociological Rampage!