Best Space Games

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Elite is probably "the space game". It was designed by David Braben and Ian Bell in 1984. Originally the game came out to the "great" Zx Spectrum from Sinclair and then latter started to hit the few PC´s on the market. This game was a revolution in game style, gameplay and originally. It was the first space game, that was a simulator, putting the player inside the ship. The concept changed the gaming industry that at the time, the few space games that existed were nothing more then shooters, were many could be played in the old video game saloons.

The concept beside the combat, was to trade items from different solar systems, each one with different needs, politics and industries. There were thousands, if not, millions of solar systems to explore. The game had a small story line that added a new twist to the genre. Trading, piracy, bounty hunter, everything could serve as an excuse to make money and upgrade your ship.

The Elite series, came out with several games after the huge success the first Elite hit. The last one of it´s series was Frontier: First Encounters, using still the old MS-DOS. On First Encounters, the producers went more far by incorporating a actual universe that follow the laws of physics by Newton.The only exception was the use of the Hyperdrive to jump to different solar systems.

It has been more then 10 years the fans are waiting for a new Elite. Elite 4 might came out soon but no one knows when. It is hard to know if the game will ever came out since there are a huge competition out there for games and brands already well established. Elite is a "offline" game, design for a solo player, and even if there are many good games today on the same concept, be that offline or online (MMORPG), there is no doubt the vision of David Braben and Ian Bell had a huge impact in the gaming industry.

X Beyond the Frontier, was the start of a series of games that would create this amazing universe of graphical beauty, innovation, gameplay and a great story with a plot that would keep the player hooked from the beginning. The X series was and still is one of the best successors of Elite series games.

Been this one the first of the series, it came out in 2000, and even then it introduced amazing graphics. It had some glitches but the many patches and updates from Egosoft brought more stability to the game. The game motto, and all of the series, is "Trade, Fight. Build, Think".

All the solar systems are connected with jump gates and even if landing on planets is not a feature, there is so much to do that you wont miss them. Every solar systems have different kind of stations that need dedicated raw materials to produce some products. You can take advantage of the supply / demand for trading and build your empire.

A good feature was always the possibility of the player building his own stations and this way making several stations work for him. At this stage the first game was a bit weak compared with the actual game that is today, but this one was a great introduction for what would be the future of the X series games.

From the start since X-Beyond the Frontier, the plot tell us the story of humanity trying to leave our solar system. A great invention was available, the Jump Gates that would connect several solar systems and allow to jump from each other in a split second. The problem was traveling to those solar systems and build the Jump Gates. Humans made advanced intergalactic ships controlled by a powerful I.A. that would be sent to the far reaches of the Galaxy to find suitable planets to terraform for humans.

After many hundreds of years the human race finally started to move to other planets using the gate system to travel, until something went wrong. The initial terraforming ships I.A. started to give problems and think for their own. They turn out to humanity raging a war that ultimately end up on our solar system. A heroic pilot managed at the last second trick the enemy on follow him to the Earth Jump Gate after that the Earth Jump Gate was destroyed severing the connection between our solar system and the other universe.

The plot of the game start with a experimental ship, where humanity become advanced enough that developed the hyperdrive technology. While in test, the ship have some problems while jumping into hyperspace and makes the pilot jump to an unknown universe with strange alien races. The pilot (the player) start then a journey of finding his way back to Earth in a violent and huge galaxy with no friends to help him.

X3 Reunion is one of my favorites from the series. The improvements made to the 3D engine are amazing. Again, Egosoft, allowed the community to use many improvements made to the game. The script editor is also present and allow to many of us to explore our creativity.

On the first game, X-Beyond the Frontier, the player was stuck with the same ship all over the game. That changed with the second game, X2 The Threat, where besides to be able to build huge fleets, for trading with cargo vessels, smaller ships for dogfighting and also the massive capital ships.

On X3 Reunion, the same applies but in a larger scale. The 3D engine was improved, making beyond this a demanding game in graphics power. The end result? A very well developed game, with amazing graphics, new plot (but still continues the X series plot tradition) and the ability of connecting several stations to produce a lot of different items, so creating hubs for manufacturing adding more financial power to the player.

If I was always amazed by the quality of X3 Reunion, the new X3 Terran Conflict, made all previous versions small. X3 Terran Conflict again make us feel inside of a universe, with amazing graphics, gameplay and many new features that make more rich the X universe.

The SOL system is finally connected to the X universe allowing the player to travel on sectors between Sol and X universe sectors. Interacting with the Terrans brought new ships, new weapons, new story and a must welcoming improvement, several random missions in many different assignments. There is assassination missions, mining missions, courier missions, build missions and many others.

On the previous games were already possible capturing enemy ships, sometimes the bad guys would bail out from the ship and surrender, allowing the player to take control of the ship and then use it or sell it for profit. The developers were a bit more far, and now it is possible to capture huge capital ships with the use marine troops. Those troops are trained and then used to send on suicidal missions on the intend ship. Just keep those shields down!

The Universe is now much bigger and will make hours and hours, if not weeks, of gameplay. The player, can start in a sandbox system with no story or plot doing what he pleases more, or following the main plot with many different startup characters.
If you never played the X series, starting with Terran Conflict, it will be hard for you. The X series games is not the typical game to sit down, shot some bad guys and thats it. There is a big learning curve and the player will discover many things the more he plays.

The X series games, is not just a game to play, is a game to experience and feel the total immersion in a beautiful, dangerous and addicted universe.

If you are the kind of player that just want to shot the bad guys, then the X series games are not for you. In the X universe you need to want to feel inside the universe because all you do will change that same universe. In fact some actions may make things much more difficult to the player. On the other hand, if you enjoy building massive fleets, trading to buy those ships, explore a total new environment and see the labor of your "hard work" over time, the X series will give you that. It is not an easy game, but when you let yourself get in, the experience is very rewarding.

Freelancer is one of those games that brought a very nice fresh style to the space simulator games. The plot is more or less fun and makes the player keep playing to discover a huge conspiracy that will make him travel for over 30 solar systems. Freelancer, is still today a game that many people play, it is no longer supported by Microsoft, but the many fans made this game last with so many mods (modifications) and there is a fan base server called "Freelancer Discover".

The different approach of traveling between the stars using space lanes to travel to the several points in a solar system, was a nice introduction to the genre and at the end of it, the jump gates to other solar systems. For me, the most well done feature was the travel process that would not "break" with loading sequences between each each solar system. Everything is done with a good smooth transition were the player will not even notice.

Apart of the great combat action, the possibility of flying different ships, there is also trading between different solar systems. Land on planets and stations, explore asteroid belts, find out different enemies that will change your acceptance in the different factions and governments.

The multiplayer option is also well made, and the community support with the "Discover" server, makes this a fun game to play and "kill" other people for any reason you want.
There is also the option of making a server for a LAN game where you can have several friends playing with you.

If you want a fun game to play, and even today, with acceptable graphics (the game was released in 2003), a great fast action combat situations with many weapons, missiles and ships at your disposal, then Freelancer is a game that will give you many hours of fun even if you play solo or in a multiplayer game.

To everyone that knows Spore, some might ask, why it is on a page related with space games? Spore is a hard game to classify. Is it a simulator? A strategy game? A Space game? A action game???

What if I told you, it was all of the above?
Spore is one of those games that can amaze anyone and be addicted in a way that we might even forget to sleep! One must admire the originality of Will Wright, the creator of Maxis, the company that brought games like The Sims, SimCity, SimEarth and almost any "SimSomething" that you might think of.

With all the experience of the previous games, Will Wright packed all his knowledge and pack it together to bring to us Spore. So why do I refer to Spore as a space game?

The game have many stages, where the space stage is the last one in the game. If the first 4 stages of the game (Cell, Creature, Tribe and Civilization) can be complete in about an hour, the space stage will take you many hours if not days to complete.
It is at the space stage, that Spore makes a reality check on us that though we were playing a easy game full of funny creatures that look more a educational game to a 6 year old.

The game is funny, comic, serious, and can even be played by younger people. One of the most wonderful things, is the way the developers decided to make the game. The language of the game is adapted to the country where you live. They cover many languages of many countries. This is something really amazing, since many publishers dont even take the time to translate the game to many languages except 2 or 3 of the major ones.

If you want to try your creativity, be "God" himself, and let your evil (or good) side take part of your game, Spore will give you that. Still, I will have to mention again the space stage. The original concept is so well done, that even if you are not inside on a space ship, you will have a blast conquering other planets, trade with other races, terraform other planets or even destroy them.

The customization options for every aspect of the game are well implemented and almost grants that no one creates the same creature, vehicle or space ship exactly the same.

EVE Online is massive! Period! To make a short resume on this article about this huge game, is a complicated task. The game brought to the players something that everyone aspired since the earlier games like ELITE. A trading gaming in space with over 50.000 players always online!

EVE Online had won many awards over the years, saw the implementation of many new things since it came out. For years the developers at CCP, got better and better, and many things were made to improve the game to today's standards.
This is not a game for the common mortals! Well... maybe not. Still, the EVE is not a easy game to learn. There are so many things that even players that are around for 1 year, sometimes get surprised with something new they never saw or knew.

EVE Online is MMO with a PvP component very well implemented. The game gives the player the ability to construct every space ship on the game, all the weapons, equipment, ammo, etc... In fact over 90% of the items that exist in the game are crafted by the players, making EVE economy a very real one and very dynamic. In fact, know economists, studied the economics inside the game and concluded that overpass most countries. Of course we are talking about a "fake" economy using the currency of the game.

The graphics are not like in many space games, they are very detailed where everything from space stations, ships, planets, etc, are with such detail and design that makes many other space games look bad.
There are thousands of solar systems to explore, trade, missions to do and of course the PvP is a constant. Still, is in this part that EVE online becomes a giant. In many MMO's the PvP is always unbalanced, and players can be killed everywhere, anything. In EVE that also might happen but the game give us a sense of "false" security. Solar systems are classified by security status, ranging from 1.0 the highest security to 0.0. From 1.0 to 0.5, the players are relative secure, since those system have laws and are controlled by the Concord, a kind of military police to impose the law. From 0.4 to 0.0 there are no Concord, and the player is on his own.

Still, just because a player is on high security system, that does not mean he cannot be attacked. If the player have in his cargo hold something very valuable that compensate the risk for the "gankers" to attack and lose their ships, they will attack.

Because it is a online game, EVE Online is a subscription game, where you must pay around 15 Euro per month (approx: $20Usd).
One of the great features in game, is the ability players have to make enough money to play the game for free. There are resellers of game time cards, and the player can buy or sell those game time cards to add money into the game or to buy game time. People inside the game will trade this items for the currency of the game, so for example you can buy a 60 days game time card for around 700 millions ISK (ISK is the currency of the game "Interstellar Kredits") so just by using your hard work inside the game, you can get 2 months of game time free.
But do not think this is a farming thing, you can do it, but this is a community game, a player that ventures solo here, will have a hard time to survive and understand the game. Many people give up because the game is so massive in learning and complex, that if you do not join a good corporation (clan) you will never progress enough on your own.

You can make a trial account for 14 days just to check out the game and if you decide to stay you need to pay the monthly subscription. I play EVE online for over 5 years now, and I can tell you right now, in the start, things are much more easy now then when I started. The tutorial got better and the player is almost "forced" to do it, even to get his first free ship.

Open a free trial account, download the game and give it a try. If you are like me, and enjoy a good space game, with a lot of interaction, exploration, combat, trading (and in this case the game is massive), EVE online will deliver, but if you just wanna shot the bad guys for a couple hours, then this is not for you. EVE Online is more then a "normal" space simulator, more then a space trading game. This is a MMO and like much MMO's the game "forces" you to be part of a community, and that is a a good thing!

Read the full review at:

EVE Online Gameplay Review
EVE Online is massive! In this review of EVE Online gameplay, you can find reasons to play or not, this amazing game. EVE is already with us for some years n...

EVE Online Gameplay Review
EVE Online is massive! In this review of EVE Online gameplay, you can find reasons to play or not, this amazing game. EVE is already with us for some years n...

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