SPACE "RPG" 95-99

🚀1995

01🧭Frontier: First Encounters 

🕹First Encounters carried over the gameplay features from its immediate predecessor Frontier: Elite II, in that the game is a combination of trading, fighting, espionage, bombing and a variety of other military activities; the combat ratings were also carried over from the previous games. 

🕹Like Elite II, First Encounters features realistic Newtonian physics, the ability to seamlessly land on 1:1 scale planets in authentic 1:1 scale star systems, and rival factions for which the player can perform missions, gaining or losing standing accordingly. 

🕹As well as employing the same open-ended gameplay of its predecessors, First Encounters also features a storyline which takes the player through a series of events starting with the "Wiccan Ware Race" and missions concerning an alien race called the Thargoids. 

🌟Some of these missions can only be completed under specific circumstances, or with specific combat ratings. The missions take place between 3250 (the start-date of the game) and approximately 3255.

🕹Comparing First Encounters to earlier games in the series, creator David Braben said that where the original Elite was "basically just trading" and Elite II positioned the trading as "something to do while doing missions", the developers had done "almost no work" expanding the trading for First Encounters, as it was not seen as the focus of the game. 

🌟The player's objective is instead to explore, have fun and "find out what's happening with the aliens", although how they achieve this would depend on how they played the game.

🕹The game also allows the player to earn special ships that are not available to buy. These ships are given as rewards for completing missions; the ships are the Turner-class Argent's Quest, the Stowmaster-class fighter (which comes with the Argent's Quest, equipped as the escape pod) and the Thargoid Warship, given to the player by the Thargoids at the completion of the Thargoid missions.

🚀1996

01🧭Escape Velocity

🕹Escape Velocity is an open-ended, role-playing arcade game set in a future where interstellar space travel has allowed mankind to expand its reach to countless unique solar-systems. 

🌟The game is presented from a top-down, slightly isometric-view in which players control a pilot of one of the many space vessels the game has to offer. 

🌟Traveling between the various different star-systems in the game is done through hyperspace travel, whereas sub-space travel is used for manual maneuvers, such as landing/docking and space combat.

🕹At the beginning of the game, the player takes control of a single shuttle along with a few credits at their disposal and may proceed in whichever direction they would like. 

🕹The main gameplay attraction comes from exploring and learning more about the universe in which EV takes place and, if the player so desires, engaging in space combat; either by siding with one of the different factions which are in conflict with each other or by simply staying neutral throughout the game and working for one's self.

🕹By landing on the different planets available in most systems, the player can find work through shipping or trading, upgrade or buy new ships, and obtain story-based missions.

🕹The main plot in EV revolves around a dispute between two rival groups, the "Confederation" and the "Rebellion". Depending on the player's actions throughout the game, the two factions may or may not be affected at all. It is completely up to the player as to whether or not to assist either of them.

02🧭Privateer 2: The Darkening

🕹You regain consciousness and the unfamiliar faces surrounding you inform you that you've lost your ship in an unfortunate accident. 

🌟The cutthroat world of the Tri-System privateers greets you with a clenched fist and a knife pointed at your back. Your only order of business is survival. You've got just enough credits to afford something resembling a new ship. It takes more than just a bucket of bolts to make it in this world; you'll need upgrades, and most important of all: money. 

🌟The sector is brimming with "business" opportunities, but who can you trust? Legal or not, it's time to trade, travel, and battle your way through a place where high risk equals high reward and only those with the brass reap the rewards.

🕹Privateer 2: The Darkening is the premier open universe space trading and combat sim. 

🌟Blaze your own path through the Tri-System by either hook or crook. Take any mission you see fit, without rules or restrictions. 

🌟Corner the market as you work out trade routes with the most reward. The universe is waiting for you, Privateer.

🌟Clive Owen, John Hurt, Christopher Walken, and David Warner are your guides through the seamy underworld of Privateer 2.

🌟Explore and exploit the universe as you see fit - either as a peaceful trader or a battle-hardened mercenary.

🌟Shady deals, deep space battles, and fast bucks are the standards you must live by if you're going to amass enough firepower and information to stand any chance of success.

03🧭Battlecruiser 3000AD 

🕹In this space simulation game, the player takes the role of a Galactic Command officer and has command over a giant space ship, a Battlecruiser, and can control everything that happens on this ship. 

🌟The year is 3000AD and Gammulan Empire is on its way to conquer the galaxy. This isn't seen lightly by the Galcom who sends out their best commander (the player) to stop the threatening empire.

🕹The game is mostly played from the bridge, where the player has access to all the ship's functions. 

🕹There is three modes in the game: Free Flight, Advanced Campaign Mode and Xtreme Carnage Combat Simulator. 

🌟The Free Flight mode lets new player explore the world and learn the game without having to fear being attacked. 

🌟The Advanced Campaign Mode is dynamic and features a number of alien civilizations that influences what happens in the world. 

🌟The Xtreme Carnage Combat Simulator mode allows players to train their combat performance.

🚀1998

01🧭SunBurst

🕹SunBurst is a 2D shoot 'em up with an economy and gameplay mechanics similar to the Elite games. 

🌟It contains four different galaxies to explore where the ship needs to stop an alien race from invading. 

🌟Next to the fighting money needs to be gained by completing missions or through trading. There are four levels of ship types that can be obtained eventually.

🕹To hyperspace to another galaxy, no equipment is needed. You fly to a special space station (one in each galaxy called JumpStat) and press 'H' to make a hyperspace gate open. Docking is similar; you gain permission by pressing 'D' and if granted you fly into/over the space station.

🕹The missions roll on one after the other so you don't have to be a specific status to trigger most of them. 

🌟The radar is located to one side of the main screen as well as in the centre of the main screen, a sort of head-up-display. 

🌟To pick up cargo, you need no extra equipment. Fly over the yellow cylinders to pick them up and sell them at any station.

🕹Some space stations have games to play, either a casino or a phase-to-stun game, these can gain you money but equally use up your money.

🚀1999

01🧭X:Beyond the Frontier 

🕹The year is 2912. Kyle Brennan, an Earth pilot, is testing the new X-Shuttle, which can jump between parts of the known universe through wormholes. 

🌟During the test jump, something goes very wrong, and Brennan ends up in an unknown part of space. He meets aliens of the Teladi race, who repair his ship and loan him some money. 

🌟Unable to return to Earth, Brennan is all alone, owing money to an alien race, and yet unaware of the existence of the Argon race, who look surprisingly similar to humans and are threatened by mechanical beings known as the Terraformers.

🕹X: Beyond the Frontier is a space trading and combat simulation, similar in many ways to Elite, set in the fictional X universe. 

🌟Trading occupies the larger part of the gameplay. There are fifty-four star systems in the X Universe, each with space stations, solar power plants, shipyards, and other installations. 

🌟By trading with them the player makes a profit, upgrading the X-Shuttle with new weapons, better shields, and increased cargo space. 

🌟The player is also able to buy factories, which will generate money at regular intervals. 

🌟From time to time, hostile ships will attack the X-Shuttle, which will force the player to engage in action-oriented space combat, using the weapons on board or ramming the enemy ship.