Space Rangers 2: The Rise of the Dominators
Posted July 18, 2006
My experience with text based RPG adventures is limited, but I can see a likeness to the early Mechwarrior games when playing Space Rangers 2: Rise of the Dominators by Elemental Games. The game is a mish-mosh of gameplay styles which include a variety of universe exploration aspects, RTS elements, and several different types of mini-games. I can see the aged appeal of text based adventures, but it's still a far cry from the cinematic advances that the current batch of new PC titles exhibit. 
The story for SP2 is based around a roving band of evil androids, aptly called the Dominators, who want to conquer every planet in the known universe. Oddly reminiscent of Battlestar Galactica, the storyline flows well and allows the player to branch off as much as the heart desires. As the protagonist of the story, your ship and its captain join a group of galactic defenders known as the Space Rangers. As you develop new skills and higher quality weaponry, the story will gradually unfold for you.
Gameplay:
New players will be overwhelmed with the seemingly infinite possibilities after being tossed into the universe for the first time. Starting with a flying bucket of bolts that has some weak mining lasers attached, you begin at the bottom of the Space Rangers pecking order ready to work your way up the food chain. The method that you take to this end is left completely up to you. Pirating, running a merchant vessel, scavenging, commanding a fleet of brave fighters, or murdering your way to the dominators is all completely acceptable. Similar to GTA style games, the main story line can be avoided as long as your space ranging heart desires. In many respects, I found exploration of planets to be much more rewarding than hunting down dominators.
Each of the hundred galaxies usually consists of an average of four to six planets. Most planets will have a variety of side missions available, some more creative than others. These side missions range from transport tasks to hired hits or a rival race. Each planet is controlled by one of the five races within the game. As you progress, you are bound to anger one race and gain the favor of their enemy. This will cause a fluctuation in trading prices as well as a complete cut of communication from the people of the race hurt by your actions. Bribes as well as action against their rival will increase your standing in their society again. It's an intriguing balance of intergalactic politics which has to be maintained at all times to expect safe passage through all systems.
Space travel though the various systems is simple to perform, but can eat up a chunk of you time in the early stages of the game. After various ship upgrades such as speed, combat capabilities, travel distance, and cargo capacity, you will enjoy further trips into the outreach of space without having to dock at a nearby planet. Your ship is simply controlled by the mouse, using the left click to move in a particular direction and the right click to switch between ship functions.
Combat can seem confusing at first, but once the turn based system is understood, destroying a rogue dominator becomes much easier. After clicking to attack, your ship will automatically follow the target ship around blasting away. The combat stats are shown in the top left corner, which helps greatly when checking out your hull integrity. I recommend upgrading the weaponry almost immediately at the outset as the starting configuration is woefully underpowered.
Destroying the A.I. is overly simple and woefully monotonous. Space and land battles are usually finished quickly due to superior tactics. The A.I. doesn't use advanced techniques to flank your craft, yet attacks constantly and directly. A minutia of intelligence and a high powered, offensive machine will annihilate any opposing enemies in your wake. Additionally, space battles become highly annoying when the current enemy turns tail and runs to another solar system.
Graphics:
Space Rangers 2 will perform fairly well on older systems and should fly along brilliantly on a mid to high range rig. The majority of backgrounds on various planets consist of pre-rendered artwork that's highly colorful and mostly unique. During space flight, the barren outreach of the galaxy is appropriately blackened with highlights of various stars, suns, and oddly shaped planets. Also, I found the menu screens and background artwork during any text portion to be highly detailed and beautiful which matches the rest of the visual material.
Everything isn't perfect in the land of the Dominators though. As for the framerate, the game glides seamlessly along until massive battles ensue. A land based battle of monolith proportions will cut the framerate considerably, but it still remains playable.
Audio:
The sound effects aren't particularly impressive, nor do they use any type of surround capabilities. That may be attributed to the overhead view, though. Explosions, guns blasting, and blasts of roving spaceships all sound average at best. The music is mostly unforgettable and slightly irritating. In fact, it's worth silencing the midi-enhanced techno rock before starting your first game.
Conclusion:
Space Rangers 2 isn't a disappointing game by any means. In fact, it's quite entertaining when the story starts to pick up in the latter stages of the game. Unfortunately, the lack of direction at the outset of a campaign and the arduous learning curve turns away many players not willing to invest time in the title. I didn't enjoy the story of Space Rangers 2 more than a cinematic title such as Freelancer, but the game elements between the story increased the fun factor exponentially. Many times, I found the mini-games more enjoyable in a diversionary fashion when yearning to escape from hunting dominators.
Space Rangers 2 should be purchased by lovers of the old school text-based style, RTS fans, or folks looking for a decent space adventure tale. Players should expect to spend a vast number of hours in the Space Ranger universe attempting to sample the plethora of gameplay.
The story for SP2 is based around a roving band of evil androids, aptly called the Dominators, who want to conquer every planet in the known universe. Oddly reminiscent of Battlestar Galactica, the storyline flows well and allows the player to branch off as much as the heart desires. As the protagonist of the story, your ship and its captain join a group of galactic defenders known as the Space Rangers. As you develop new skills and higher quality weaponry, the story will gradually unfold for you.
Gameplay:
New players will be overwhelmed with the seemingly infinite possibilities after being tossed into the universe for the first time. Starting with a flying bucket of bolts that has some weak mining lasers attached, you begin at the bottom of the Space Rangers pecking order ready to work your way up the food chain. The method that you take to this end is left completely up to you. Pirating, running a merchant vessel, scavenging, commanding a fleet of brave fighters, or murdering your way to the dominators is all completely acceptable. Similar to GTA style games, the main story line can be avoided as long as your space ranging heart desires. In many respects, I found exploration of planets to be much more rewarding than hunting down dominators.
Each of the hundred galaxies usually consists of an average of four to six planets. Most planets will have a variety of side missions available, some more creative than others. These side missions range from transport tasks to hired hits or a rival race. Each planet is controlled by one of the five races within the game. As you progress, you are bound to anger one race and gain the favor of their enemy. This will cause a fluctuation in trading prices as well as a complete cut of communication from the people of the race hurt by your actions. Bribes as well as action against their rival will increase your standing in their society again. It's an intriguing balance of intergalactic politics which has to be maintained at all times to expect safe passage through all systems.
Space travel though the various systems is simple to perform, but can eat up a chunk of you time in the early stages of the game. After various ship upgrades such as speed, combat capabilities, travel distance, and cargo capacity, you will enjoy further trips into the outreach of space without having to dock at a nearby planet. Your ship is simply controlled by the mouse, using the left click to move in a particular direction and the right click to switch between ship functions.
Combat can seem confusing at first, but once the turn based system is understood, destroying a rogue dominator becomes much easier. After clicking to attack, your ship will automatically follow the target ship around blasting away. The combat stats are shown in the top left corner, which helps greatly when checking out your hull integrity. I recommend upgrading the weaponry almost immediately at the outset as the starting configuration is woefully underpowered.
Destroying the A.I. is overly simple and woefully monotonous. Space and land battles are usually finished quickly due to superior tactics. The A.I. doesn't use advanced techniques to flank your craft, yet attacks constantly and directly. A minutia of intelligence and a high powered, offensive machine will annihilate any opposing enemies in your wake. Additionally, space battles become highly annoying when the current enemy turns tail and runs to another solar system.
Graphics:
Space Rangers 2 will perform fairly well on older systems and should fly along brilliantly on a mid to high range rig. The majority of backgrounds on various planets consist of pre-rendered artwork that's highly colorful and mostly unique. During space flight, the barren outreach of the galaxy is appropriately blackened with highlights of various stars, suns, and oddly shaped planets. Also, I found the menu screens and background artwork during any text portion to be highly detailed and beautiful which matches the rest of the visual material.
Everything isn't perfect in the land of the Dominators though. As for the framerate, the game glides seamlessly along until massive battles ensue. A land based battle of monolith proportions will cut the framerate considerably, but it still remains playable.
Audio:
The sound effects aren't particularly impressive, nor do they use any type of surround capabilities. That may be attributed to the overhead view, though. Explosions, guns blasting, and blasts of roving spaceships all sound average at best. The music is mostly unforgettable and slightly irritating. In fact, it's worth silencing the midi-enhanced techno rock before starting your first game.
Conclusion:
Space Rangers 2 isn't a disappointing game by any means. In fact, it's quite entertaining when the story starts to pick up in the latter stages of the game. Unfortunately, the lack of direction at the outset of a campaign and the arduous learning curve turns away many players not willing to invest time in the title. I didn't enjoy the story of Space Rangers 2 more than a cinematic title such as Freelancer, but the game elements between the story increased the fun factor exponentially. Many times, I found the mini-games more enjoyable in a diversionary fashion when yearning to escape from hunting dominators.
Space Rangers 2 should be purchased by lovers of the old school text-based style, RTS fans, or folks looking for a decent space adventure tale. Players should expect to spend a vast number of hours in the Space Ranger universe attempting to sample the plethora of gameplay.