Starlancer

by Microsoft

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00004R9AL
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 8.8 x 2 inches ; 4 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: April 10, 2000
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #19,022 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

StarLancer recruits space fighter pilots into the 45th Volunteers, a ragtag group of U.S.-led Western Alliance freedom fighters tossed into the war against Russia's Eastern Coalition. It's the cold war in space.

This is the first game by Digital Anvil, the company formed by legendary game designers Chris and Erin Roberts of Wing Commander, Privateer, and Strike Commander fame. It's no surprise that StarLancer's gameplay follows standards set by its classic predecessor and obvious inspiration, Wing Commander. Players are briefed on the tactical situation of the upcoming mission, then choose a fighter and ordnance. Only a few playable ships are offered at the outset; mission performance determines how quickly you earn access to more powerful fighters.

StarLancer's ships are well balanced: some are fast and lightly armored, while others carry powerful weaponry but can't keep up with an agile foe. But while the ships are cool, they lack the customizing features found in FreeSpace 2 and Tachyon: The Fringe. You're able to equip particular missiles and add additional afterburner fuel, but you can't customize gun weaponry or add upgrades or special features.

StarLancer's mission design is certainly its best feature. Mission goals often change on the fly, and frequent pilot chatter immerses players into the game's war atmosphere. Decisions made during missions can drastically alter later missions. For instance, if you fail to eliminate an enemy battleship early in the game you'll face a tough fight in a later mission when the enemy reinforces its front lines with that same battleship.

Though offering nothing really new to the space combat genre, StarLancer's crisp 3-D engine, frenetic combat action, and complex missions make enlisting worthwhile. --Doug Radcliffe

Pros:

• Keeps you on your toes by switching objectives midmission
• Missions feature multiple paths to victory and failure
• Stellar multiplayer support with deathmatch, team, and cooperative play
• Excellent musical score

Cons:

• Inability to fully customize ships
• Visually pleasing, but it doesn't exceed standards set by FreeSpace 2

Product Description

Lethal spacecraft and weaponry!Product Information  StarLancer combines the action offirst-person space combat with the drama and intrigue of aclassic air combat movie. Countries from around the worldincluding the United States China Russia and Great Britain haveformed strategic alliances and now battle for control of EarthMars and other planets across the solar system. As part of anewly formed ragtag aviation unit the 45th Volunteers Squadronplayers must prove themselves and earn the respect of their peers.This dramatic story based on the dynamic history of the 20th century warfareincludes over 25 minutes of Holly-quality computer generated cinematics and 40custom composed music tracks.  Pilot 12 different fighters and dogfightwith enemy fighters that each have their own "artificial intelligence"profile for more realistic space combat.  Join the fight for thefuture.  Enlist.Product Features Stunning 3-D graphics and effects. StarLancer will provide a level of graphic details and effects not currently found in space combat games with particle effects dramatic source lighting and realistic ship destruction. More than 80 types of spacecraft are rendered in extraordinary 3-D detail throughout the game. Dynamic mission structure. StarLancer missions are designed to challenge players create a wide variety of gameplay and enhance the story lines. Players fly in over 25 gripping missions that range from escorting marine boarding ships to free POWs to leading an assault on space stations built right into an asteroid field. Immersive story line. StarLancer features a dramatic story based on the dynamic history of 20th century warfare. To enhance the story StarLancer includes over 25 minutes of Hollywood-quality full-motion computer-generated cinematics over 250 unique pilot

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply incredible!, April 16, 2000

By 

Earthworm - See all my reviews

This review is from: Starlancer (CD-ROM)

Anyone who ever played the Wing Commander games or any other space sim will enjoy this title for sure. Made by Warthog (the same company that made Privateer 2), and Digital Anvil (wich has a large number of Wing Commander vetrans) StarLancer will please even the most demanding gamers. I was lucky enough to get a beta copy of StarLancer, and I enjoyed playing through every mission in this game. The story is great, presented through CGI cutscenes, cockpit chatter, briefings/debriefings and news reports available between each mission. As a member of the newly formed 45th Volounters squadron you will have to prove yourself to the Western Alliance fleet. The Alliance is made up of Japan, Itally, France, Germany, Spain, USA, and UK. You're going to fight against the Eastern Coalition which is made up of China, Russia, and various Middle East countries. If you complete your mission objectives you'll get promoted and receive new ships and weapons, but be careful. If you screw up in some missions it's all over. The game begins with a Pearl Harbor-like attack on the Alliance, and the French and Italian fleets are nearly completly wiped out. The main point of the game is to defend the remaining Alliance fleets while they try to regroup. The game is set 160 years in the future, and takes place entirely in out own system.

The minimum requirements are prety low, especialy when compared to recent space sims like Freespace 2, but it looks better than any other space sim out there.

54 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Freespace Lite, April 29, 2000

By 

Sarcastor (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Starlancer (CD-ROM)

My god, I can't believe what passes as a good game nowadays. Being an extreme fan of the Wing Commander series, as well as other space simulations like Descent Freespace, I was more then ecstatic when I first bought Starlancer. After playing the game for 5 hours, I was disappointed. 2 days later I was downright appalled.

Descent Freespace 2 raised the bar for what a space sim should be. Starlancer is nothing more then a colorized version of Wing Commander. Sure, there's alot of action, and the graphics are purty, but it could have been better - alot better. Actually they should have called it Freespace Lite - For Dumbies.

First of all, it's downright impossible. Even at the easiest setting, I barely managed to finish each level. Why? The enemies weren't' that hard to destroy. It had to do with the fact that your ship, no matter which ship you choose, couldn't carry anything worthwhile. In Descent Freespace 2 (DS2), the ships could carry dozens of missiles of various types. In Starlancer, you have 3-7 hardpoints which carry one missile each. Yep, one missile. Except for the screamers, which come in 20, but they have no lock-on capacity. Imagine trying to kill 10-20 ships each level with 4 missiles. And the worse part is you can't reload!

And then there's the fuel. Even though it's 2160, you're still using solid fuel, so if you tend to use the afterburner (which you need alot because everything is so far apart), you'll have to install fuel pods, which limits the missiles you can carry. So now you're left with 2 missiles, which makes the game even harder.

And then there's no logic behind it. At the beginning of mission 8, the enemy carrier is launching torpedoes at your carrier. Your carrier informs you to just attack the fighters and disregard the torpedoes, because their cannons will handle it. Yet 30 seconds later, when enemy bombers jump in and start launching ALOT of torpedoes at your carrier, the carrier begs you to shoot down all the torpedoes before they are destroyed. So you command your wingmen to destroy your bomber, but since they're so inept, it takes them 15 minutes to destroy 1 bomber. Meanwhile you're chasing back and forth shooting down torpedoes. I had to replay that mission at least 8 times because the wingmen couldn't tell the difference between a bomber and a hair dryer.

Communication Remember how in DS2 you had complete control of your wingmen? In Starlancer you only have three options: help me, ignore this enemy, or go home. What happen to guard? What happen to rearm? Even though half of the missions require you to guard a freighter or convoy, you can't even tell the wingmen to guard it. And the worst part is, on the keyboard, you use 1-6 to change camera view. Pressing "C" will bring up the communications display, then you hit "1" for talking to the enemy, "2" for talking to your wing, etc.. But since it's so slow, if you hit C then 2 really fast, it will change the camera view! So if you need to issue commands in a hurry, you can't, because the screen will change view! Who's the genius behind this?

Graphics The graphics are the best part of the game. The engine is basically the same as Privateer 2, except with some heavy tweaks. The blackness of space is replaced by distant nebula and asteroid fields. But the odd thing is, you're flying around in our solar system - there's not suppose to be nebula in this area. Ships blow up in little pieces after you destroy them. Each weapon has its own look and feel. Missiles leave a trail of smoke after you fire them. But it's not nearly as good as Freespace 2, where deep space is alive with nebulas, comets, galaxies, planets, etc.

Also there's little things. Every time you play another mission, you have to change your HUD settings. You can choose what displays are shown - missiles, guns, damage, etc. If you turn it off on a level, when you start the next one, it jumps back to the default HUD display. So you have to waste time setting the displays back to what they were before. And then you can't bypass the in-game cinematics, which just takes forver.

Starlancer should have been called Wing Commander 6. Except for the graphic overhaul, the introduction of online gaming (which is pretty cool) and the new ships, it's the exact same gameplay, same commands, and same missions. After 2 days of Starlancer I went back to playing Wing Commander 4. Sure it's outdated, but at least it's got Mark Hamill.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Starlancer, May 4, 2000

By 

David Best (Best.com) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Starlancer (CD-ROM)

When I first played Starlancer, I was VERY impressed. The graphics may be it's best feature, other than the fun missions. What I like about it is that you don't play the same kind of mission over and over again., they are pretty much different. Some aspects may be the same, but the setting always makes it different.

The gameplay is great! Downing your fist enemy will be historic to you, as you fly by you will see the debris (and mabye the pilot) of the fantastoc explotions. The missions are nice and long, so the game will last. If only there was an in-game save feature. The story ties the game together well with in-mission events. The sound is great too. Except for the constant "ARGGHHH!" and "NOOO" of the downed Russian fighters, everything is great.

The ships are cool, and I love how you can land during a mission. Multiplayer is the funnest I've played yet, and the game will run fine on a 56k modem. And if your stick on a mission, log on and find some guys to help you beat it-hence-co-operative gameplay. Deathmatch is better, though.

Starlancer is great, and for the guy who said Russians as bad guys were bad, the designers wanted a change from furry lions and wanted a more close to home conflict. BUY THIS GAME!