About 6 months or so ago, I got to have my first go round with a game that was called Battlecruiser Millennium Gold, a game that was designed to be a full scale space and combat sim where anything and everything were possible created by Derek Smart. Well, I had to say at that time that it was a pretty huge and amazing title, but had some issues to it that couldn’t be overlooked that ultimately made it a little more than what I look for in a game from an enjoyment perspective. Well, here we are a few months later, and the next title in the series has been released under the name Universal Combat (Originally slated to be Battlecruiser Generations). From what I understand, this was supposed to be a perfected version of the series. Is it perfect? Nope … but it’s definitely a step forward in the right direction.

The whole concept to the Battlecruiser world is to give gamers the opportunity to do and be anything that they want to be in a sci-fi setting. Want to be a pirate? No problem. Want to be a police style defender? No problem. Want to run cargos from system to system? Also not a problem. Basically, the game is really D.I.Y., and the only limits to what you can be or do in this game are limited only to your imagination. The universe that you play in is unbelievably huge, and I will be the first one to admit that I haven’t been or seen anything more than a speck of it, but due to the fact I don’t have 6 months to write a review I’m going by what I got to experience.

One big issue that I ran into with the Battlecruiser Millennium game was in the severe learning curve that was present for any and every type of “job” or class that you wanted to play as. In UC, the controls still are going to take some time to get used to, but the team at 3000 AD has done a good job in dumbing them down enough to allow players to hop right in even if you didn’t sit and read the instruction manual from cover to cover. FPS modes in the game will have you mostly relying on the W,A,S, and D keys like we are used to in other FPS titles, and things like hopping in and out of a vehicle are simple presses of the / key and Alt + E type of thing. Also, doing things like locating an enemy target are as simple as hitting the K key, and cycling is hitting the key, and so on and so on. Basically, this makes it a heck of a lot easier, even if some of the other commands which may not get used as much require a Cntrl / Alt / E press or something.

Another neat little change to the series here is that UC (as the name implies) seems to have more focus on the action part of the game rather than just aimlessly wandering around looking for something. There are a number of set missions that you can play as (25 single missions and 15 instant action scenes) that immediately drop you into an action based gameplay scenario which definitely made it a lot more interesting and enjoyable to me from the get go. The first space mission that I played for example had a message that I was given a commander status, then a couple of wing craft showed up, then an “incoming” alert sounded and next thing you know I’m zipping around outside of a planet locked in a battle with an enemy cruiser. As in Battlecruiser Millennium, you can also seamlessly run from space to planet or vice versa through the clouds as well to continue the battle or pick a fight which also helps to keep things interesting.

Let’s also talk about vehicles here for a sec, since one of the big draws for me with this type of game is being able to jump around from running to driving or flying if I feel the need to, and UC has made sure to load players up with a number of different craft to pilot along the way depending on what you want to do. For example, when starting off at a base in FPS mode, I didn’t have to sit and wander around for an hour looking for something to play with. Instead, a quick look around revealed what looked like a landing strip, and it contained a number of different crafts ranging from surface based warships to space fighter kind of vehicles to ATV’s and Hum-Vee rides that could be accessed. There are also a number of different space freighter, cruiser, and fighter types of space vessels that you can choose to play with, fight with, and even staff and command as you play.

One area of UC that I had a problem with (that I also had a problem with in Battlecruiser Millennium) is during the night hours or times where you are on the dark side of the planet since everything is pitch black and you can’t see hardly anything. OK, to be fair the day and night transitioning or giving environmental effects is a great idea to make the game more realistic, but the problem is that vehicles and the soldiers apparently are not given any standard issue lighting … period. There is the ability to activate a view that reminded me of a night vision view … but it really didn’t do anything more than help make shadows or horizons a little more prominent.

Another issue that I experienced with UC is in the fact that while the game is more action focused, playing the Roam mode (no rules, no missions, no nothing … just play) got very dull very quickly in single player mode. The screen info when I selected it indicated that you could help defend waypoints or fight off pirates, but the first night I had it I ran around for two hours with no other signs of human life but me anywhere to be seen for miles. There were some bear like creatures that I encountered while driving to an abandoned city location, but after trying to get out and shoot them and finding out I couldn’t (just to find something to do other than push the forward button down for 20 minutes), it was just back in the vehicle holding down the forward button for 20 minutes once more. 

Overall, I have to say that Derek and his team at 3000 AD are definitely going in the right direction here with the newest release to the series, but it still has some work that could help it out. The bottom line is that while the controls are easier and there is more action, casual gamers will probably still get turned off by the depth of the game and the controls that are there since there are quite a few of them, and action gamers that are looking for a souped up space version of BF1942 or something may be disappointed at the slower sim based style of the game overall (since this is what the game is intended to be). Still, Battlecruiser fans should be impressed with the expansive galaxy, vehicles, and the fact that enough of the things that they enjoy from the series were left in to be yet another enjoyable version in the series that they love to play. If you like Battlecruiser, get UC … and if you didn’t, you may find this one to be more enjoyable but still not what you’re looking for in a game so buy with caution. 

Gameplay: 7.6
There are still a ton of controls in the newest version of the Battlecruiser series … but 3000 AD has done a good job in making them a little more accessible for things that you will do most often during the game. In addition, using the keyboard and mouse versus the joystick while flying may not be the most comfortable way of doing it, but I tried it before using the Evo Joystick that I have and didn’t have too many issues. Even with some better control layouts, there is still going to be a learning curve … just not quite as steep as its predecessors.

Graphics: 6.8
Two words … old school. The lighting effects and things like reflections off vehicle metal looked far better than they did in Battlecruiser, but they still look very mid to late 90’s overall with some blotchy texturing, pixilated lines, and some really noticeable environmental draw ins or pop ups going on. The space environments looked a little better though, and contained things like lighting in the canopy window or the glare of a sun from behind a planet.

Sound: 6.6
Also old school. The music reminded me of something out of an 80’s or early 90’s sci fi flick, complete with a lot of synthesizers and high pitched beeping tones. The voiceovers, while not horrible, were somewhat repetitive and generic sounding, and hearing someone yell about evacuating 15 times in a row just tends to get annoying after a short time.

Difficulty: Medium
This in itself is really going to vary depending on a few things. For starters, how you decide to play (pirate vs. protector or something) is a big one, and since you can pretty much do whatever you want in Roaming mode means you determine everything that goes on. The missions are probably going to lean a little harder to the Hard though since they are structured with what needs to happen and a time limit to get it done, so it will depend on how comfortable you are with the game.

Concept: 7.8
The series is definitely moving in the right direction. Many of the main issues that I found in the Battlecruiser game had been addressed, but many of the things that cater strictly to the fan base only were left in to make it a little difficult to recommend to casual or action based gamers only.

Multiplayer: N/A
There is a multiplayer option through internet or LAN play, but I was unable to find any open online games in progress and when I did happen to run across one floating around one time, the game kept locking up when I tried to log in. Having the online option will probably help to extend the longevity of the game overall.

Overall: 7.7
While UC shows that many of the complaints that a lot of Battlecruiser players had had were addressed and worked on, the series still isn’t to a point where I would feel comfortable recommending it to a lot of gamers outside of fans, sci fi junkies, or someone looking for a game that they can sit and mess around with doing a lot of exploration. If you are a fan of the series, you would be pretty safe tacking an extra point or so to the score and getting it, but if you are looking for something a little more structured or something in the “combat game meets sci fi” market, you may want to look around somewhere else or see if there is a downloadable demo available prior to buying.