Space… The Final Frontier
Banath puts down his idea’s and feelings about the SWTOR space combat. Either if you agree or disagree with him, let us know. We want to know. Enjoy!
Space… The Final Frontier
Flight in SWTOR
By Banath
Space… The Final Frontier, as captain Kirk would say and with him, his successors. Wait what? This isn’t Star Trek, this is Star Wars. Space has been far less than the final frontier. It hasn’t been a frontier for a very long time in the Star Wars universe. Its most illustrious battles have been played out in the dark expanse. Well maybe the unknown regions count as those…
And this important feature, Bioware has implemented in the game. I have played at this point in time, the first three Imperial space battles. And to be honest, I was a bit underwhelmed. Now before everyone says “don’t take notice, it is just a mini-game”, let me iterate. Yes, it is indeed a mini-game, however, that doesn’t mean that it should not be as epic as the rest of the game, even IF it is just a mini-game. For me personally, I found it a bit lacklustre. I was missing the typical Star Wars-space battle tune, I got hit due to, in my eyes, cheap shots from behind. I don’t mind rail-shooters, however, I hate cheap shots. If this is a rail-shooter, in my mind at least, I am supposed to see where the fire comes from. That it is difficult to escape, fair enough, but that doesn’t mean you should be shot and unable to fight back.
But now to criticize it for what it is. Though being shot from behind was annoying, it was, for me, just a side note. The gameplay of it overall was just… leaving me wanting for something a bit better. It lacked the… pizzazz, power, awesomeness or however you want to call it, that the rest of the game does have. I know it has potential, but it lacked the same oomph as I had in the rest of the game. The timer Bioware has integrated is annoying rather than really helpful. I’d rather have the game do it without a time limit to finish the “quest.”
Let me emphasize, I know this is a mini-game and should be treated as such. And that means it shouldn’t distract from the main game too much. However to me, at this moment (I only have the first three/four missions unlocked) it is not very convincing to me. In such a manner that I don’t care about it at all. I don’t have the feeling, for those few minutes of minigame, that I am part of a large space battle.If this had been a full-fledged version, I would have a lot less issue with being shot down from behind, because you are surround by everything from all sides, but you can escape to any direction in such a version.
Maybe that is also the problem of having it on rails, but maybe that is just me. It is not really boring, but I am not thinking at any point “ya know what, I want to space a little (no, not the stoner version).” I want them to spice it up a bit, so it can function as something I look forward to doing as a “break” from normal questing. I don’t think the problem is difficulty, because that is sufficient, but I want them to change the music towards more the Star Wars pumped up space tune/theme, get more ships in the battle, even if they are only in the background. To at least make it look like a large battle.
