So, a few months ago a guy I know gave me a copy of Shattered Universe. He had gotten it for free, but didn't have a PS2. I've been trying it out on my roommate's console this weekend.
This has to be the most frustrating game ever. Not only do they give almost-impossible objectives----like, "Defend the Excelsior against five squadrons of fighters and two capital ships, and oh by the way we don't feel like launching any fighters except yours *and* our shields and phasers are down, sorry"----but they start the relevant part of the battle *after* 20 minutes of dogfighting, and there's no way to save between the two steps.
Plus, the strategy guides tell you to use ships and weapons that aren't available yet at that point in the game. Ridiculous. Frankly, there's nothing more annoying than a strategy guide that says, "Then destroy the Orions", completely glossing over what a f*&#ing impossible task that is.
Eh, it's fun enough to keep me playing, for now. But this is bad game design. I mean, in TIE Fighter, you could target and destroy individual laser cannons and torpedo launchers on Star Destroyers, but in Star "target their weapons array" Trek, you can't? It's frankly ridiculous. The 3D radar is useless, my eyes aren't good enough to make out what dots that small mean, so there's no way to get an overview of the battle at any given time.
Speaking of being often the only friendly fighter, why the heck are you consistently able to take on and destroy 10 Klingon ships at a time? Talk about unbalanced play. I mean, TIE Fighter and Freespace also have issues with the player being better than the AI, but at least they make it *seem* fair.
Plus, I find it annoying that every single vessel that jumps in is hostile. Just *once* I'd like the last-minute arrival which warps in while Excelsior's hull is at 10% to be a friendly.
This has to be the most frustrating game ever. Not only do they give almost-impossible objectives----like, "Defend the Excelsior against five squadrons of fighters and two capital ships, and oh by the way we don't feel like launching any fighters except yours *and* our shields and phasers are down, sorry"----but they start the relevant part of the battle *after* 20 minutes of dogfighting, and there's no way to save between the two steps.
Plus, the strategy guides tell you to use ships and weapons that aren't available yet at that point in the game. Ridiculous. Frankly, there's nothing more annoying than a strategy guide that says, "Then destroy the Orions", completely glossing over what a f*&#ing impossible task that is.
Eh, it's fun enough to keep me playing, for now. But this is bad game design. I mean, in TIE Fighter, you could target and destroy individual laser cannons and torpedo launchers on Star Destroyers, but in Star "target their weapons array" Trek, you can't? It's frankly ridiculous. The 3D radar is useless, my eyes aren't good enough to make out what dots that small mean, so there's no way to get an overview of the battle at any given time.
Speaking of being often the only friendly fighter, why the heck are you consistently able to take on and destroy 10 Klingon ships at a time? Talk about unbalanced play. I mean, TIE Fighter and Freespace also have issues with the player being better than the AI, but at least they make it *seem* fair.
Plus, I find it annoying that every single vessel that jumps in is hostile. Just *once* I'd like the last-minute arrival which warps in while Excelsior's hull is at 10% to be a friendly.
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