View All (6)

What if you could enter the universe of your favorite strategy game, playing against a background that you know and love?

This is the exciting premise behind the forthcoming Space Empires: Starfury, which we had a chance to preview in an early beta version.

Starfury is shaping up to be an interesting game. Players assume the role of a Terran ship captain undertaking progressively harder missions for a number of Terran agencies.

They are also free to ignore their briefings, and simply explore the galaxy. There, they will encounter the alien races and cultures of the Space Empires series.

It’s always hard to judge a game by its beta versions. Although all the basics are in place, the overall effect certainly isn’t as polished as the extremely similar Freelancer.

The interface is clunky (navigation within a system is nightmarish), and the graphics are extremely basic. Trading seems to be restricted to hauling cargo, rather than speculative buying and selling of goods.

Movement is fixed to a 2D grid, negating much of the appeal of flight or space sims. If Freelancer’s planetside graphics were minimal, Starfury’s are currently non-existent.

We’ll certainly give you a full review when we see a copy of the finished product. At the moment, it shows promise but needs a lot more work if it’s to compete with Freelancer (now available at reduced prices at many online stores).


Preview by Marc Read.