Title: Star Wolves

Date: 03.05.2006

Genre: 3D Space RPG

Platform: PC

Developer: X-Bow Software

Publisher: Excalibur Publishing

According to the publisher:
"Star Wolves, a 3-D space RPG developed by Russian developer X-Bow Software, thrusts you into the future where danger lurks behind every asteroid and rogue comet. The Star Wolves are a renegade breed of freelance bounty hunters who join forces to survive and prosper in a time when space has never been more dangerous. The 22nd century is a time of war and political upheaval throughout a galaxy where three gigantic corporations control the entire solar system. Corruption is rife and the only place a man can feel slightly safer is in the skies where the crippling fists of the corporations' oppression can be challenged."

Basically, it's an RPG set in space. These are the same guys who published Space Rangers; you may have immediately recognized the logo. The games are totally different, though. Where Space Rangers was about a lone ranger going about the business of saving the galaxy at his own pace, in Star Wolves you control the fate of a group of pilots following a strictly linear (so far) series of missions.

The intro movie deposits you with your friend Ace, and you start with a simple patrol mission. From there, you embark on new missions as they become available. Often you will have access to several, and the order of completing them is up to you, but you have to go through all of them to continue. You start with two pilots and their fighters (your and Ace), as well as a mothership which serves as a mobile base for your team.

GAMEPLAY
Missions are carried out on self-contained maps, after which you're back to the debriefing screen, where you allocate skill points earned, buy / sell equipment, then read the news and pick which next mission to go, repeat. Each mission map is developed by several sub-quests, which are available to you as you progress along that map. Often a base or NPC will initiate dialog with you, giving you a (somewhat limited) choice whether to help or not, which can reveal additional sub-quests. The maps are nonlinear in the sense that you don't get all the sub-quests in them from the start. As you fly around talking to NPCs or bases they will be revealed to you. Of course, most of the time you already come in with a goal in mind and the sub-quests are all already predefined - there are no random ones.

The story itself is somewhat nonlinear - choosing different teammates will make different missions available, although it isn't very apparent. You still have to pick all the available missions in order to get new ones, although it's possible to exit a map in the middle of a mission (via returning through a portal) but there's really no reason for that.

There doesn't seem to be optional side missions, which is bad. Tech trees and fixed mission counts do NOT go well together. People will fly through, get an exp tally, and then plot a graph: "at the end of mission one, you will have 52 exp, so invest in skill A and skill B, then mission 2 invest in skill C, don't hire the new guy ABC because he won't open the cool mission XYZ..." and so on. If they had made random mission maps available, the exp count wouldn't be fixed, thus giving the player more leeway to customize his team. It also kills a lot of the replay value. Who'd want to explore the lesser used skills if the exp count makes it so that those skills aren't able to be fully developed?

Eight possible hirelings in a team of 6? You start with yourself and Ace, so that's 2 down. Out of the remaining 6 you get to choose 4, so they say. I did turn down one guy, and picked up 2 more, so I guess this part at least is true. Then again, you don't REALLY get to evaluate the new people - it's more like, in the middle of the mission and a dialog with some NPC, BLAM, out of the blue they ask to join or not. So far, I think I'd prefer it if they interrupted you with a cut-scene during the intermission (where you buy / sell equipment) instead of in the middle of a mission. As it is, the "drama" of their joining you isn't played up much.

The game is more or less strictly tactical - there are no hands-on flight controls. You can pause the action when it gets too frantic, though. Most of the time you just sit back watching your team deal with the situation, interrupting only to change wing members, standing orders (attack, missile defense, repair, etc), that kind of thing.

GRAPHICS / SOUND
This thing looks like Homeworld. I was kind of impressed, but space seems slightly empty. The background highlights aren't too bad, but not really up to Freelancer's standards, I suppose. The fact that it's an RPG gives the looks an added bonus. I mean, you expect most RPGs to look like crap.

Sound isn't too bad. The soundtrack changes several times, with combat themes playing whenever enemies are detected. They're pretty nice to listen to; too bad you can't easily listen to them outside of the game (all data is packed in one huge .dat archive). Combat effects are slightly generic, more like RTS-style sounds, and the characters' voice actors & actresses have a distinct Russian accent (well, the devs ARE Russian). Overall, the game looks and sounds pretty decent.

PLAY TIME / REPLAYABILITY
You may spend a few games trying out different skill paths for the hero (you get to choose between 4 at character creation), and a combination of different teammates to see what different missions you get, but that's about it. Without a random mission generator, the exp count kind of limits your choices.

FLAWS
So far I'm quite happy with the game. Most of the game itself is pretty good - intuitive controls, no apparent bugs (except for this one map (around mission 12 or so) where you can't complete it), an okay soundtrack and effects. The story could use some polishing - it seems pretty slow even a quarter ways through it but other than that, it's a pretty enjoyable game.

FINAL RECOMMENDATION
I'd recommend this to space sim/RPG fans in a heartbeat. I don't think the team thing has been done in space sims before - Freelancer was just a newer Privateer - and they seemed to have pulled it off here, barring further incidents as I explore the game more. I'd recommend this title, yeah.

Game Score

8.4

Reviewed By: Celine Aensland