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Review: Escape Velocity NovaReviewed By: Erica Marceau Review Date: May 7, 2002
Escape Velocity Nova (EVN) starts out with you as a new captain of a Light Shuttle with the universe and all its secrets laid out before you. Do you want to earn a few credits to buy a better ship? Then land on a planet and head over to the Mission BBS to see if anyone needs passengers or cargo transported. Or you can use the ancient method of "buy low and sell high" at the Trade Center which offers the planet's local wares. Want your ship to have a few more extras? Then pull out your wallet and browse through an Outfitter which sells anything from missiles, armor, radar enhancements, and the ever-useful Solar Panel.
And what amazing stories they are with well-developed characters and varied missions. Although the only choices you have in these missions are to either fail or succeed, the stories are interesting enough to keep you playing to see what happens next. You can work with the Rebellion who are fighting against the Bureau of Internal Investigation, reclaim your inheritance as head of the Association of Free Traders, test new weapons for the Gli-Tech company, and more. The only downside is that once you complete each of the six major stories, you have to start a new pilot if you want to explore any of the others. It makes sense, since your actions have changed the universe so much that you couldn't possibly start any of the other stories. On the other hand, you can start a pilot and earn lots of credits without accepting any of the major stories and use it as a starting point when you have finished a major story.
The graphics are much improved over the previous Escape Velocity games with beautifully rendered ships, planets and starports (especially those in the descriptions when you land), items in the Outfitter, explosions, and the lighting on the weapons as you fire them. The font is also much more readable, although I don't like the white text on black background as it's a bit hard on the eyes. Overall, the graphics are at the upper end of what's commonly seen on shareware games. On the other hand, there are only sounds in combat, jumping to another system, hailing, and planet/starport background noises. Otherwise, EVN is completely silent. Not that this is a bad thing, as I'd rather have appropriate sound effects than lame sci-fi songs that loop endlessly. It would also be nice if EVN had stereo sound so you can better tell from which direction the hostile pirates are coming from. In fact, there are already plug-ins available to replace the built-in sounds so you don't have to play in silence if you don't want to.
Escape Velocity Nova is a great game with the expandability that will keep you playing for years to come. If you're still not sure you'll like EVN, download it from Ambrosia's site and give it a try. You won't be sorry you did.
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After a while of going back and forth and back and forth you might wonder just what the heck it is you're supposed to do. The biggest stumbling block I ran into is that many of the stories require you have to some skill in combat. This is hard to get when your ship is an Asteroid Miner that's better suited for blowing up asteroids than enemy ships. What you have to do is keep on earning credits so you can buy a combat-capable ship so you can blow up a Pirate ship or a derelict which will open up many more stories for you.
Going back to combat, while having a combat rating is important to get into many stories, it's not really necessary to engage in many battles once you do. That's a shame since there is a huge variety of ships, missiles, cannons, turrets, escorts, and defensive options to choose from to turn your ship into a fearsome weapon. It's especially worse at the end of a major story when you get access to the best ships and weapons and no real reason to use them unless you feel like attacking passing ships or demanding tributes from planets. So, while combat is a great deal of fun, I would have liked to see more of it necessary to advance stories.
Speaking of plug-ins, this is the main reason why EVN will be played even after all of the built-in stories are finished. From adding new ships to new systems to new mission to an entirely new story, plug-ins can do it all. The only limits are your imagination and a willingness to work and learn the editing tools. Based on the amount of plug-ins for Escape Velocity and Escape Velocity Override, I am certain there people working on new missions and stories even as I am writing this review.