Tachyon

Rating:
Summary: Best Space Game In Years
Review: Ever since the release of the original Wing Commander, space combat games have all been basically rehashes of that formula: You're a hotshot pilot in a futuristic military, taking orders from someone else. The only exceptions to the rule have been trading games like Elite, which have no story to speak of, and slightly more structured games, like Privateer, which let you act as your own boss, but are still linear enough to tell a story. Tachyon falls firmly into the latter category, and it's the best example of this style of game since Privateer itself. The sounds and visuals are all cutting edge, but the game's sensibilities are old-school: provide challenging combat, tell a good story, and keep the player intrigued to the end. This game's never boring. And once you've made your way through the game from both sides of its deep story line, there's still multi-player to enjoy. Try a game of Base Wars online; it supports 120 players per game, it's more fun than Microsoft's Allegiance -- and it's free. Can't beat that with a stick. Bottom line: If you like space games and you've been itching for something new and different, go for Tachyon.

Rating:
Summary: AN EXCELLENT SPACE SIMULATION
Review: First of all, this review is ASSUMING THAT THE GAME WORKS ON YOUR COMPUTER. I read some of the other reviews below and heard about how this game isn't compatible with some graphics cards or whatever. If that were the case, I'd haved to give this game one star. But since this game did run perfectly well on my machine, here's what I have to say about it. The only space sim that I've played other than Tachyon is X-Wing--an old VGA game--but in many ways X-Wing was the turning point in space sims. The graphics in Tachyon are really good, if somewhat redundant. What I mean is that sometimes I see the same patterns and textures on space stations. Speaking of space stations, I was MOST IMPRESSED by their SIZE. The people at Novalogic really did an outstanding job at scaling things correctly. But what really got me to buy this game was the fact that you could buy different ships and decide what armament and upgrades you want to put on it. Certain ships have a certain amount of slots, and the possible combinations are nearly endless. Another nice feature is that you can own multiple ships at once, or sell individual ships or parts for money. You can hire wingmen to assist you on missions. Since there is no in-flight camera, it's hard to tell if your wingmen did anything to help you, but at least they don't die easily--even the poorer pilots. There are several external view, but I didn't find them very helpful. They should have put a gunsight on the external view so that you could fly through the mission, accomplish it, and enjoy the scenery at the same time. The game is sorta nonlinear. You get to choose which level mission you want to undertake, but ultimately you will end up doing the others. The missions are fairly simple and varied, which is nice. I remember that X-Wing was downright frustrating at times. By the way, there are cheats for this game, so if you get stuck, look 'em up. The levels with the fog are interesting, although they can be a strain on the eyes and disorientating at times. But that's not until the end. There are some cut-scenes, but nothing truly original or amazing--they're still the in-game graphics. This game could have been better, but overall I'd say it's worth its price. But I'd check to make sure it can run on your machine, first.

Rating:
Summary: An ameteur review of Tachyon: The Fringe
Review: From what I have played of the Tachyon demo the game seems to be almost perfect in every way. Graphics are terrific and sound and voice is crystal clear. Multiplayer is easy and fast to set up, and easier to play. All in all, I'd say great job, Novalogic.

Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: Good game, however I do have a problem. If you have a Vodoo sound card you might get a whole lot of echo in your speakers.

Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: Good game, however I do have a problem. If you have a Vodoo sound card you might get a whole lot of echo in your speakers.

Rating:
Summary: Great Game
Review: I am really enjoying this game. It has been quite easy to learn the controls and develop decent combat skills. I love computer games but am not a "hardcore" gamer. Sometimes I get frustrated if a game's controls or challenge is too much. I get part way through and hit a wall and can't get past it. With this game, I really feel that the training opportunities develop your skills and I have gotten quite far into it.

The storyline is also very engaging. And Bruce Cambell is a blast. He reminds me of Duke Nukem with his wise guy comments.

Others have noted the long load times between missions. This is true. I would also like to be able to skip all the docking and jumping cut scenes. Some you can, some you can't. It gets old watching them over and over when I am itching to blast something.

Rating:
Summary: Great graphics! Great game!
Review: I got this game some time ago as a gift and even though I was never a fan of this type of game - I loved it. The graphics are great, gameplay is challenging but not impossible and there are several tutorials that take you through the basics of the game. Another big plus is the game doesn't take itself too seriously. Using Bruce Campbell for voiceovers was a brilliant idea and brought a spark of life (and humor) to the game.

They also created a backstory for the game - a consistant well thought out one. It's nice to be able to choose your missions and who you want to fight for. One of my biggest beef with these types of games is the lack of choices, you just jump through the hoops. There's still a little of that in this game but not enough to detract from the positives.

Rating:
Summary: Great graphics! Great game!
Review: I got this game some time ago as a gift and even though I was never a fan of this type of game - I loved it. The graphics are great, gameplay is challenging but not impossible and there are several tutorials that take you through the basics of the game. Another big plus is the game doesn't take itself too seriously. Using Bruce Campbell for voiceovers was a brilliant idea and brought a spark of life (and humor) to the game.

They also created a backstory for the game - a consistant well thought out one. It's nice to be able to choose your missions and who you want to fight for. One of my biggest beef with these types of games is the lack of choices, you just jump through the hoops. There's still a little of that in this game but not enough to detract from the positives.

Rating:
Summary: Captivating
Review: I have enjoyed this game immensely. The graphics are superb as is the sound. I have had no trouble loading or playing this game. Perhaps the best features of it are: Bruce Campbell's voice, The storyline, The expansive environments of the different space systems, Colorful characters, and a degree od custom play (weapon, mission, and wingman choices) and great fighters to fly! If you liked X-wing or Tie Fighter, Freespace 2 or the Wing Commander series, you might like this one. Definate buy!

Rating:
Summary: Tachyon is Tacky
Review: I have had to remove my Voodoo 3 card in order to get the game to even run. And when it did run I couldn't read the text and the game was choppy. In my opinion it isn't worth the money. Besides it takes to long to load. And it is fraut with problems. I would buy it, if I were you.