![]() The system, like many others in the game, is cribbed directly from Master of Orion, but it remains rousing and balanced. StarDrive 2 offers the selection of a space-faring race-always a good time, unless you pick Human-and, if you want, a complete overhauling of its prepackaged traits. Planets are key to out-producing the enemy, but they can be arduous to develop and defend.īut 4X games always begin full of promise, at least. And yet, when it's time to take stock, StarDrive 2 finds itself firmly in the middle. ![]() And if the same goes for the crowded, largely homogenous genre they belong to, where does that leave an entry like StarDrive 2? For the most part, the game seems to be a proper execution of its developer's vision it's worked its way up its chosen tech trees, so to speak, arriving as a sci-fi empire builder in the grand tradition. ![]() They're "games" in the same way that the game of thrones is a game: you win or you die, and the middle ground is really just another burial tract. The thing is, 4X games don't have much patience for an also-ran. It's only when I come out of my daze a few scaled eras later that I often find myself long surpassed by opposing empires, the graphs telling a story of steady mediocrity since, oh, sometime in the Middle Ages when production took a brief turn towards the slightly sub-optimal. Mistakes amount to small hang-ups in the otherwise effortless forward momentum of upgrades and technological developments, lost in the spaces between ascending data points on one of the genre's ubiquitous end-of-game line graphs. When that contented sort of complacency sets in, I'm more easily coaxed into "just one more turn." These empire-building games make it easier still because they tend to defer the consequences of poor moves. Plus, you have to admire DiCicco for taking that “What if?” game and making it real.ĭiCicco plans to release StarDrive 2 early this year for $30.A good 4X strategy game is a bit like a slow-burning fire-something to be stoked every now and again with a click of the mouse and watched through half-lidded eyes into the late hours. But I went into StarDrive 2 expecting to be completely run over by its complexity, and instead I found it accessible, if a bit frustrating for new players. I haven't had my hands on StarDrive 2's preview build for very long, so whether or not the experience holds up or gets easier over multiple playthroughs is still to be seen. The lack of multiplayer is disappointing, but there is so much in it already that it’s hard to really be upset by the omission. The sheer number of things you can do in StarDrive 2 is phenomenal, especially considering DiCicco is creating it practically on his own. Battle Arena feels completely separate from the 4X conquest of StarDrive 2’s main mode, and will hopefully be expanded upon in some of developer Zer0sum Games’ post-launch updates. You are given a budget to spend on buying and customizing your ships at the start, and the money, experience, and losses you incur along the way carry over to the next mission. Battle Arena is a series of fights tied together with a story through dialogues before each mission. Outside of the main single-player mode-which creator Dan DiCicco tells me should take roughly 6-10 hours-StarDrive 2 has no multiplayer, but does feature an alternate mode called Battle Arena. The combat requires a ton of strategy, and I get the feeling the computer knows it better than I do.
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