My Review of DW

[swatter555]

Bottom Line- Games with this much depth and polish on release are very rare. Certainly, DW needs a few fixes and tweaks, but I am very impressed with the its breadth and scope.

Gameplay-

I realized when I just started up the game and was creating my first galaxy, this game would be different. The amount of customization is enormous. You can create huge galaxies (up to 1400 star SYSTEMS), customize player starting parameters (size,tech,govt), AI starting parameters, and victory conditions. The galaxy creation really sets the stage for a very immersive game.

One thing that I think is pretty neat, but took some time to get used to was private industry. You have private ships coming and going doing various things around your empire (you have no control over them) and these ships face the perils of the universe with and without your aid. It took some getting used to, but it really brings the universe to life.

Another great thing for me is platform design. You just don't design ships, you design any space-going vehicle or base (including designs that private manufactures use). The system is incredibly versatile, you can design many different platforms that can serve a wide variety of different purposes. For example- Do you hate pirates attacking your mining operations? Well, just give your mining bases strong shields and weapons and they will be able to defend themselves.

The space combat is pretty decent, though ships do display a herd mentality and often cluster together. I haven't experienced enough on this part of the game to come to a definative conclusion, though I have found the wars I have ended up in very fun. Ill get more into that in the AI section.

I like the diplomatic options; they are complete enough and the AI opponents seem to act within sane parameters. And there is still much more to the game, dont let this short review mislead you.


Graphics/Interface-

The graphics and effects are pretty darn good for a indy title, I was impressed. Sometimes with more niche games like this, you have to bear the graphics in order to enjoy the deeper parts of the game. That is not a choice you have to make here. I do have a quible though- whoever is responsible for the artwork relating to starships has a serious phallic obsession. I showed my brother this game and we exchanged some low-brow jokes.


AI-

I think the AI is pretty darn good, especially considering the scope of the game. I have unending respect for an indy developer that can create a competent AI in a game of this scope and complication.

Whenever an AI power is trying to provoke you, they start doing little things. At first they will occasionally attack private shipping related to your empire, just to poke at you. After awhile, they will escalate their attacks, attacking mining bases for instance. All of this without a declaration of war; sometimes as a prelude or to pressure you into declaring war on them. No other game I have played made me engage in non-war military action against an AI power. That to me is truly impressive.

And when a war did break out and they attempted to invade my homeworld, they send in sufficient force to take care of the space port and then sent their transports in at different angles to make them harder to pick off. From my experience, the AI has acted intelligent enough to put up a good fight and even beat you.

[Erik Rutins]

Thanks for the great review!

[lordxorn]

Great Review, I think it is fair, however to be unbiased do you have any thing you would improve on the game? Or cons?

[swatter555]

-Understanding what is going on behind the scenes (or my lack thereof) economy-wise would be a con.
-Large fleet organization and refuelling is a challenge (though I made a good suggestion on how to handle this in the Master suggestion thread), that is a con.

The game can get complicated when you control everything manually, but the AI can handle most things, so I can't call that a con. As I said the original post, I would like to see less phallic ship graphics [;)], but I would bet modders could take care of that. I also noticed a few minor bugs and the economy on your homeworld still can crash without you knowing why. The economy crash thing is a pretty big deal actually, I hope they figure out what is truly going on there. They have tried to address it, but it is still occuring for me. If it is working as intended, then that is more of a design flaw or a flaw in the eco model.

One last thing, the manual leaves much to be desired.