Whatever happened to space sims?

RolandIRL · 18-08-2011 1:22am #1

No, not the Sims in space now :P

just a while ago, i decided to dig out my copy of I-War 2: Edge of Chaos and gave it a go. Never really got into it before cos the controls were too gimicky for me. was surprised at how fun it was. been looking on Steam and can't find any obvious space sims apart from the X series and Darkstar One.

I played Freelancer as well but it was really a poor imitation of a space sim. One with a mouse? just didn't feel right. The trading and piracy wasn't done as good as in EoC
only other games i can think of were X-Wing Alliance and Freespace 2 that i have (still have to get around to FS2 after buying it on gog)

Whatever happened to the genre? Is it completely dead now, with the rise of FPS games?

johnny_ultimate · 18-08-2011 1:25am

They merged with marine diving sims to become space marine sims

Chris Hansen · 18-08-2011 1:26am

Roland Deschain wrote: »

No, not the Sims in space now :P

just a while ago, i decided to dig out my copy of I-War 2: Edge of Chaos and gave it a go. Never really got into it before cos the controls were too gimicky for me. was surprised at how fun it was. been looking on Steam and can't find any obvious space sims apart from the X series and Darkstar One.

I played Freelancer as well but it was really a poor imitation of a space sim. One with a mouse? just didn't feel right. The trading and piracy wasn't done as good as in EoC
only other games i can think of were X-Wing Alliance and Freespace 2 that i have (still have to get around to FS2 after buying it on gog)

Whatever happened to the genre? Is it completely dead now, with the rise of FPS games?

They came back down to earth so to speak

what was the name of the one you could float around the whole universe in your ship? it was a PC game from late 90s or early 2000s

johnny_ultimate · 18-08-2011 1:32am

EVE Online? Be careful: you could start playing and next thing you know it's 2016!

RolandIRL · 18-08-2011 1:45am

But what happened to the diving part of the sims? :eek:

Would it be a genre that could take off again? god knows there's enough FPS to last a lifetime out now. would there even be any interest in people going for it or has the joystick kinda died out?
What i loved about I-War though were the mechanics (followed Newton's Laws). I'm not sure whether there could be many updates to that kind of engine now.

Jazzy · 18-08-2011 2:32am

id kill for freespace 3

Overheal · 18-08-2011 3:00am

EVE was crap. X is ... I don't want to offend people by calling it crap, but good luck getting into it.

Freespace reboot would be wonderful. And there are still the old, dusted rumours that THQ might be quietly working on the Homeworld IP again. They have the rights to it, and they have expressed a strong interest in it.

Kiith · 18-08-2011 8:42am

I'm not sure how they could top Freespace 2 tbh. It's pretty much the perfect space sim. Epic battles, ships the size of small moons, great story, and fantastic gameplay. In a way i hope they never do another Freespace, as i don't think they'd do it right.

Also, everyone should play Freespace 2 with the graphical mods. Definitely one of the best modding projects on the pc.

18-08-2011 9:22am

Kiith wrote: »

Also, everyone should play Freespace 2 with the graphical mods. Definitely one of the best modding projects on the pc.

Completed campaign on insane mode checking in. I'll have to travel back to my parents house to dig out my old 4 cd jewel case, give details on mod please.

Kiith · 18-08-2011 9:27am

You'll get links to all the mods at the link below. There are loads of them, including unofficial prequels and sequels to the campaign, as well as completely new campaigns and total conversions (Battlestar, Star Wars, Babylon 5 etc...). Some of the are fantastic as well.

http://scp.indiegames.us/

Here's the guide to install Freespace 2 Open, which is just the collection of graphical mod. Makes the game looks great, and updates pretty much all the models/textures.

http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Installing_fs2_open

GarH · 18-08-2011 11:21am

I tried getting back into I-War 2. Didn't want to work properly with my newer machine. Spent many hours days months playing this game.

Don't forget 'Tachyon - the Fringe' starring everyones favourite chin, Bruce Campbell. Simple, fun game.

EDIT: Also thanks for those links. I now have a reason to play Freespace 2 again

Shiminay · 18-08-2011 11:41am

Why don't they make new ones? They won't work well on game pads and not making a game for console these days is suicide unless you're Blizzard who've already got a ridiculously large PC fanbase that will guarantee enough sales.

Anyone tried to play that Star Trek Legacy game? It was very poor. I borrowed it from a friend on XBox. Tried it for about 20 mins and said "this is broken" and never looked at it again.

Retr0gamer · 18-08-2011 11:52am

Last one I played was Project Sylpheed on the 360. It was ok but way to arcady and had a story that would embarass the writers of coronation street. It certainly won't give Tie Fighter a run for it's money.

It's a shame the genre just completely vanished. Perhaps there'll be a revival like with point and click adventures.

Maximilian · 18-08-2011 12:50pm

I think it is to LucasArt's eternal shame that they have never made another X-wing/Tie Fighter game.

You could try X3: Terran Conflict - great game plus the developers really support it with new missions etc. New X game in development too, which I'm really looking forward to.

Sarky · 18-08-2011 2:08pm

X3 isn't bad at all, although the previous games I thought had a lousy interface.

What I want to know is when will someone revive the old K240/Fragile Allegiance franchise? There was some quality space colony building, asteroid mining, trade warring, fleet battling, covert agenting, missile firing epic funtiems.

Shiminay · 18-08-2011 2:48pm

All this reminds me, I really should get stuck into Sins of a Solar Empire properly...

Whatever happened to space sims?

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