Evochron Renegades

very good
key review info
  • Game: Evochron Renegades
  • Platform: PC
  • Show system requirements
  • Gamepad support: N/a
  • Reviewed on:

This week-end you will get yourselves launched into space and that's because a new game from the StarWraith 3D Games ended up in my hands. I'm talking about the new Evochron Renegades.

This game is basically another sequel, which follows other game called Evochron Alliance. Alliance belongs to the same category, together with other StarWraith 3D games, Arvoch Conflict or Star Wraith 3: Shadows of Orion and Star Wraith IV: Reviction...

The genre of the game is simple flight space simulation. Not that we need any at this point, but for once you can let yourself be enchanted by the marvelous space, stars, space ships and space stations, while blasting away a few enemies and learning to fly.

Now that the "learning" thing has been mentioned, it's recommended not to jump right away into the game, but try to follow some instructions. The TRAINING mode of the game will help you navigate the virtual space much easier, but like in the previous games, for me there is still a problem.

No matter how accurate and clearly explained the training is, that thing is way too long to follow. From the first to the last flight instruction, the player will basically forget what keys he should use for a simple flight. And after all that is done, here come the shooting instructions... another long and boring lesson. You start to get the feeling that you're at school and this class never ends.

You have the option to skip through the explanations, of course, by pressing the ENTER key repeatedly, but that won't help you in your game, when you shoot instead of land.

Anyway, the action of this games evolves around Evochron, which is a planet or a region in space (it was never clear enough), but the important thing to know is that this Evochron was a place filled with opportunity. Not long after it was discovered, this place started to be exploited by everybody...

The whole thing became a problem when the mercenaries discovered the place too and started to build an empire and claim the territory as theirs. In order to protect their investments they formed clans that later on united. But the mercenaries did not stop there and they went on expanding.

More things started to go wrong. The worst was a group of mercenaries called the "Renegades" that started to search for the Vonari legend RiftSpace. Of course, at one point, the resistance started to form itself and, powered by the Alliance's weapons, fought back the Renegades.

After all this story is told, you learn that your mission is to locate the remaining troops of these Renegades. You will have a lot to search because Evochron Renegades features a vast universe that lets you fly almost anywhere without loading screens or environment.

You can fly from planet to planet, solar system to solar system until you can't stand to see stars anymore. What's great about this game is the fact that it goes beyond the "general background wallpaper" that you see in a lot of games. Everything you see around you, like Nebula cloud, asteroid fields, atmospheres, stars, moons, caves and planet rings, provide unique options for shelter and strategy.

The perspective of the game-play is that of an action with a first person viewpoint, meaning that you directly control your ship, its weapons and equipment (doh! that's why it is a flight simulator). The unified gameplay architecture of Evochron lets you keep the ship, its upgrades, the equipment, money, weapons, crew and commodities you acquire during the game in both single player and multiplayer mode.

Also unlike other games from the genre which have restrictions regarding the trading activities to other space stations and/or planets, Renegades gives you the opportunity to trade directly with other ships, no matter if your ship is AI controlled or by a human player.

Now that all the details are clear, you are free to enjoy the game. If you're not sure and you want to simply try it, the demo version is 90 minutes long... Unlike other games around...

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story 8
gameplay 9
concept 8
graphics 10
audio 10
multiplayer 8
final rating 8.5
Editor's review
very good
 
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