Rating: 
Summary: I-War 2: EoC / For the Space Sim Fan
Review: A decent storyline, upgradeable and customisable ships and a realistic physics engine. If you like I-War, you'll want this.The learning curve on this game is a bit steep, especially on multiplayer but well worth the effort IMHO.
Rating: 
Summary: Amazing Game
Review: Based on my first 20 hours playing I-War 2, I can safely state that this game is great. I liked the first Independence War game alot, this sequel is a big improvement over the original. In "Edge of Chaos", you play the role of a privateer who becomes involved in a power struggle in a distant part of the galaxy. Players have many options regarding how fast the want to move the plot along, which is wonderful. Game missions are presented as options rather than a series of tightly scripted events. The gameplay itself is cleverly designed. Gone are the first version's confusing and complicated ship "stations": Engineering, Navigation and Command, replaced by a easy to use HUD (Heads Up Display) interface. The game's physics are just like the first game, which makes dogfighting an incredible experience. On that note, alot of critics complained that the game's learning curve is too high and dogfighting is too difficult. I disagree, all you need to do is:
1. Read the manual first. Really, this will help.
2. Stop playing the game after the beginning, after the "tutorial" segment, then play the "Instant Action" game until you feel comfortable dogfighting - you should be able to last at least 10 minutes in Instant Action mode before continuing on with the main game.
3. Never show an enemy your back, one shot into your ship's engine exhaust port will "blow you up real good". Retreat backwards. I rarely play a game that is as fun to learn to play as Independence War 2. Buy it and enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: eh......
Review: Edge of chaos has great space combat, but that's about it. I feel they could have done so much more with the environment they created. First of all, trading goods could have been carried out at the MANY space stations in the galaxy, but it was all carried out at some bland screen you visited at your home base. Plus, with a huge myriad of planets, you couldn't land on one of them. Besides all that, progression of technology was far too slow and the number of ships was pathetic. The plot line was iffy at best, and I couldn't get though the game without the occasional hint from the walkthrough. One good thing is that you can modify the game with downloads available from various web sites. However the quality of the mods is not all that great.. Basically, this game was pretty fun, but it had a flat ending and got old REALLY fast...
Rating:
Summary: Must have game for Iwar, Babylon 5, or Firefly fans
Review: First off, this is the first space simulator I've played that has reasonably realistic physics. There is no speed limit, and stopping a turn or movement takes as long as starting it. You've got shields and even auto-aiming guns. You can not only move forward and backward but side to side and up and down also. Once you get used to the controls, it's a lot like a 1st person shooter when it comes to dogfighing, but without the limitation of gravity. You'll find yourself strafing, flying backwards, and rolling around in all directions while always trying to face the enemies in order to shoot them. Graphics are good, too. Stars and planets look pretty good (except that they all spin WAY too fast), and ships look great. Distances between destinations are huge - lightminutes. Now, if Particle Systems had put this into a FreeSpace-like game, they'd be set. But no, they had to make your character a freelancer and the game's missions either nebulous or outright ridiculous. The action, when there is any, is good, but you'll normally find yourself flying the most boring missions the creators could think of. In one mission, I had to sneak into some kind of corny space party and spraypaint a ship to prove my self to a group of Robinhood space pirates. In another mission, I flew around an evil corporation's space base and stole a large vehicle. The missions are so corny and boring, it's stupifying when combined with such good physics and graphics. Often, you'll have time to fly around between actual missions and pirate goods for trading. Better goods are more dangerous to come by. It's sorta fun, but very repetitive. Twice, I've restarted the entire game because a new mission just didn't show itself. I just endlessly searched the IW2 cosmos for loot after a certain mission and never got orders to fly any specific mission no matter how many times flew on my own. This game had huge potential, but it just puts me to sleep.
Rating: 
Summary: Good start, now make a game out of it
Review: First off, this is the first space simulator I've played that has reasonably realistic physics. There is no speed limit, and stopping a turn or movement takes as long as starting it. You've got shields and even auto-aiming guns. You can not only move forward and backward but side to side and up and down also. Once you get used to the controls, it's a lot like a 1st person shooter when it comes to dogfighing, but without the limitation of gravity. You'll find yourself strafing, flying backwards, and rolling around in all directions while always trying to face the enemies in order to shoot them. Graphics are good, too. Stars and planets look pretty good (except that they all spin WAY too fast), and ships look great. Distances between destinations are huge - lightminutes. Now, if Particle Systems had put this into a FreeSpace-like game, they'd be set. But no, they had to make your character a freelancer and the game's missions either nebulous or outright ridiculous. The action, when there is any, is good, but you'll normally find yourself flying the most boring missions the creators could think of. In one mission, I had to sneak into some kind of corny space party and spraypaint a ship to prove my self to a group of Robinhood space pirates. In another mission, I flew around an evil corporation's space base and stole a large vehicle. The missions are so corny and boring, it's stupifying when combined with such good physics and graphics. Often, you'll have time to fly around between actual missions and pirate goods for trading. Better goods are more dangerous to come by. It's sorta fun, but very repetitive. Twice, I've restarted the entire game because a new mission just didn't show itself. I just endlessly searched the IW2 cosmos for loot after a certain mission and never got orders to fly any specific mission no matter how many times flew on my own. This game had huge potential, but it just puts me to sleep.
Rating: 
Summary: Space Sim Tryout
Review: Having never tried any space simulations, except for Destination Earthstar for the original Nintendo console, I thougt I'd be open minded and give it a try. So far, I have logged about 15 hours on this game and it does have a lot going for it. The graphics in this game are pretty, although they tend to become a little repetitive after a while. The different views and perspectives of the ships are fun to look at, but are disorienting for gameplay. There is certainly a lot of detail in the renderings. I run the game on a P4 1.7 gHZ machine with 256 RAM and an NVidia GEforce 2MX video card and it runs very smoothly. Overall I'd give the graphics 4 out of 5 stars. The sound is clear and there is some catchy music. I especially like the way the music builds while you're in the space station if you stay there for awhile. Although I'm still in the first act of what is essentially a 5 act game, I'd have to say that the music is a bit repetitive, but that's pretty standard for most games I've played and isn't crucial to the overall "fun" factor. The sound effects for the ship and the weapons are of good quality and are what you would imagine a space ship's weapons and engines to sound like. I'm not overly pleased with the sound of the characters in the story, because it's a bit scratchy and garbled. I understand that it's supposed to sound like it's coming through a radio, but I hope that communications are a bit better than that 200 years from now.
Overall sound: 3 stars The gameplay itself is fun, but it doesn't have that addictive quality that some games have. On the plus side, there seems to be many destinations to go to and the game is open ended so you don't have to go in any order, although you are given some "hints" as to where you should begin. As the game progresses some of your missions get more defined, but it's up to you when to attempt and complete them. The mechanics of flying a spacecraft is somewhat difficult as changing direction is tricky as you will continue moving in the same direction for a while. It took a couple of hours to get used to this but now that I've got the hang of it, it's really a blast! Unless you're traveling large distances or docking to something, you've got to use your manual thrusters to have a chance in a fight or to avoid one. When you're dogfighting with enemy ships the action is fast and furious. There are also lots of other nice details that are fun to play around with. You can customize your ship with different loadouts and trade or recycle cargo that you've pirated. On the negative side, you can only save the game when you return to your base which means that if you get killed you must start your mission over again from your base. Because distances can be great, even traveling at light speed, it sometimes takes a few minutes to go from your base to your next destination. During these times you'll have your ship on autopilot so there's not much to do, except cycle through the different views. I usually get something to eat or go to the bathroom during these "long" journeys. The problem is that because you can only save back at the base, if you happen to get killed soon after arriving at your destination, you've got to make the journey from your base all over again. This can be rather frustrating and takes away from the excitement of the game. As you get more experienced at the game this is less of an issue but it's difficult to stick with it at first.
Gameplay: 3 stars Overall, I find this game to be a lot of fun. It's nicely detailed, there's a big game world, and the graphics and sound are more than adequate, but the interruptions in the action take away from the immersive quality that are the hallmark of a really great game. In a really great game I'll play for hours, waiting to take one more turn or complete one more quest. In this game after getting blown up three or four times, I'm ready to call it quits. I guess in that respect this game has been really good for my marriage and my sleep habits! If you're a fan of space sims, you'll probably want to get this. If not, I'm not sure this is the game to change your mind.
Rating:
Summary: Must have game for Iwar, Babylon 5, or Firefly fans
Review: I bought the original Independence War back in 98 and loved it. IW2:EOC came out in 2000 and though I really wanted to get it I just didn't have a computer powerful enough to run it. I finally have a computer that will run it and am glad Amazon.com still had it available. You play a space pirate doing odd jobs much like the TV show Firefly. But unlike Firefly your ships are armed. The game is mission based but you can take or leave missions if you like. It has a linear story but you can do what you like. If you just want to fly around you can. It is a difficult game. It is not a shooter. You need to know your ships systems, abilities, and weaknesses. This may seem daunting but you will soon get used to the controls and tricks with a little trial and error. The game begins with a tutorial. If you liked Iwar I am probably singing to the choir. But you will see old and new ships in the Iwar universe. Puffins, patcoms and corvettes make a comeback and have new models. I'm not far enough in the game to know if I will ever acquire a patcom or corvette but I will if I can. :) The control of the ships subsystems is made more easily accessible with the new HUD commands. It is now 2003. Who knows how much longer IW2:EOC will be available. If you want a well made starship simulator with a well thought out universe on the scale of Star Wars, Star Trek, Firefly, or Babylon 5 you owe it to yourself to get this game. It's not a shooter. So if you want something simple to fly you may want to steer clear. But it is a great game if you are willing to be patient with yourself.
Rating:
Summary: The first independence war 2 'edge of chaos' review
Review: i bought this game on the 29th of june (uk release date), and so far lets just say im totally impressed. i bought the original and i still play on that after 4 years, so this one will last even longer i hope. the whole game is not just a take a mission and complete it, you still do have missions but you dont know when you will get a new one. but in the mean time you can launch from your base, and go and pirate freighters and other valuable targets (you are a pirate after all). you can build up your stocks and trade it for better things, or re-manufacture it into weapons and so on. but technically wise the game is airtight, just make sure you have an up to date 3d card driver or you may experience glitches, but the people at particle systems are very happy to help out. its very smooth, lots of information in one screen, and lots of nifty weapons and ships to pilot to boot, you can see the graphics of the game at: www.edgeofchaos.net they just cannot be explained, the new 'flux' graphics engine runs the in game gameplay along the same lines as the fmv sequences, so they look almost the same. also, the game is more challenging, because you start off in a small ship and have to steal or buy new ones, so you need to use your head more and not just a rapid fire finger.
Rating:
Summary: Buy this game
Review: I seariously recomend that you buy this game, it is the second best game I have ever played, and I've played a few. It is only second, in my opinion, to Imperium Galactica 1. The people at Particle Systems have got the bases for one of the best space sims of this centuary. If you have enough to buy this game I sujest you do so and fast!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Too many bugs
Review: I think this is only the 2nd game in my 15 years of playing computer games that I actually finished. I love the accurate flight physics and believable story line. The game walks one right through getting proficient at flying and it is necessary to play the game. You get a whole lot better before you end the game. I would recommend this to anyone that dreams of flying in space.
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