I was a bit bored last night and decided i needed a new game , i remembered reading in Pc gamer that this game was good , so i noticed you could buy and download it , so being impatient for a new game i went ahead .
1) downloading it - This was hassle free and very quick , clear easy to follow instructions , within 25 minutes off deciding to buy it it was downloaded and installed and ready to play , i was pleasantly surprised.
2) tutorials - was very impressed with them , i didnt have a manual so i was relying on them . They were easy to follow and i felt helped me play my first game fairly competently .
3) interface - personally i love the interface , i thought as it was a small company (to my knowledge) it would be all very amatuerish , but i was again pleasantly surprised , everything seemed fairly easy to use.
4) graphics - These were much better than i expected , very polished with alot off nice little touches , i really wasnt caring to much about the graphics as long as the game was good , but it's nice to have both
, so far it's all ran very smoothly , which was my main priority.
5) gameplay - Been enjoying it alot , i usually prefer turn based for strategy games , as i like to have a think and not be rushed , but i think this game got it spot on with the speed it progresses , and i love the fact you can pause it and have a think and issue orders , thats something i couldn't do without , at least while learning. I like as well how the game world is 2D , makes things easier to keeep tack off. Another thing that stands out is how everything is almost automatic i.e ships fight on there own , builders build etc . And being able to do alot of things just by clicking on the planet itself is great .
6) Things i don't like - not much to be honest at the moment . The fact battles are very static is a bit dissapionting , would be nice to see ships zipping around and everything being a bit more lively . Diplomacy as well could be more detailed , i'm a big fan of having detailed diplomacy in a game , maybe this game isn't suited to it , but i would like alot more diplomacy options. From initial impressions it also doesnt look like there will be much diffrence playing as each race , and with only 3 to choose maybe it wont be a game i play for months on end.
I'm new to the game and all my comments are based on having only played it for around 7 hours , bought it around 8pm last night , and kept playing till 4am when i was falling asleep at the keyboard with exhaustion
. So far a big thumbs up , really enjoying it . Not sure how deep the game is to hold my long term intrest , don't think it will last as long as say civ4 or MTW2 , as i dont see alot of replayability compared to those games , but who knows i haven't played enough yet to say. Time to stop typing and get back to ruling the galaxy .