Miner Wars 2081 (released)

[Ghambit]

Sneakily released on Steam today.
www.minerwars.com

note: this is not the MMO version (which releases a year from now supposedly, and the one I'm waiting for).  However, it does support MP-DM and coop-MP.   I know some of you pre-ordered so I'll wait for your report before I click "buy."  

The persistant sandbox and in-game editor have my attention.

edit (demo link):
http://www.minerwars.com/Downloads.aspx

[Lantyssa]

So what is this?  Space sim?  FPS?  RTS?  All of the above?

[Paelos]

Is it like minecraft with ships and pvp? I'm also confused. What are we buying?

[Ghambit]

It's campaign-based Descent with destructable environments and resource mgt.  The MMO is supposed to be more minecrafty and constructable with territory control (when it gets released).  I fooled around with a very basic alpha (tech demo) version but didnt play the beta so I'm not hip on the BiiF of this thing, aside from the fact I thoroughly enjoyed blowing up rocks.  IainC might be able to shed more light.

Anyways, I always looked at this release as the moneygrab for the MMO.     But who knows, maybe it's fun in its own right.  $20 and no-DRM or sub. so it's likely worth it if not to just play a newer version of Descent with friends.

Key-Features

Open-world Environment
Fully destructible and persistent (dig through asteroids, destroy space stations ...)
Seamless transition between outdoor and indoor environments
Full Solar System traveling (billions of sectors)
Intuitive Controls
6DOF - six degrees of freedom
Skill-based game
Fast adrenaline-pumping action
Joystick Support
Rich Gameplay
Story campaign - 31 epic missions
Mining and Exploration – Players are encouraged to explore and harvest
Trading & Looting
50 weapons, armors, medicines, tools...
22 player ships
RPG-like / Survival game-play
Single-player / Co-op / Death-match
Single-player
Co-op multi-player up to 16 players
Death-match multi-player up to 16 players
Survival & Sandbox
Factions (Fourth Reich, Euro-American Confederation, China …)
Devoted community which crowd-funded the development
In-game editor

[Rasix]

Uhh, someone let me know how it is.  I have a bad feeling.

[ezrast]

I have now seen two Wheel of Fish references by separate people on separate gaming fora today. Wiggy.

[Lantyssa]

Guess my confusion wasn't evident enough.  So not having played or paid any attention to Descent other than knowing some student my year of college had gone "Pro"... is this a space sim?

I thought Descent was like Doom in Space.

[Ghambit]

Descent is simply a 6DOF space shooter more akin to an FPS inside of a ship really.  It didnt have newtonian physics (though I do believe there was a mod for it).  Anyways, picture a labyrinthal dungeon crawl fps inside of a spherical space hulk with no gravity, and that's Descent.

This is supposed to be similar to that.  Though having destructable environments obviously changes that dynamic.  I also am pretty certain the level of twitch Descent was capable of needing is likely not apparent in Miner Wars...   BUT, there IS an in-game editor and the difficulty is supposed to ramp up, so it's possible.

If I can get my brother to co-op the campaign with me I'll give it a whirl again.  But, I will say if you've any interest in this type of gameplay to at least simply go out and get Descent3 (probably free) and dip into the mod/competitive community.  Last I checked it was still very alive and kicking.

[Ghambit]

Okay, I took the plunge with my brother on this game and we've had a bit of time running the coop campaign.  Not bad.  Not bad at all really.
Here's the demo if you want to try before buying it:
http://www.minerwars.com/Downloads.aspx

If you buy from the site you'll still get a Steam key btw.

Anyways, the game is VERY resource intensive and survival oriented .  You need to find fuel, o2, armor, health, ammo, etc. or you're in deep shit.  When you die, they give you like 5% of max as well (if u run out of any of these), which is a bit hardcore.   If you take hits to the canopy (cracking your windshield), you bleed o2 (nice touch), which causes you to lose health and pass out. Run too much AB, bleed fuel.  And so on.  This makes the game subtly hide/seek (from enemies), while you hunt for resources.  And there is no mapping feature so yah.    Which makes sense in a destructable game.  (one tunnel may suddenly merge with another if I blow a hole in the wall)  There is however a GPS and objective/friendly locator track.

You can blow up rocks (with a drill or weapon) to get to ore veins, which get picked up by a grapple.  You can then sell these to vendors for credits, credits buy lootz (upgrades, ships, ammo, health, yada yada).  Standard RPG faire.

There is no crafting.  Which is kinda   in a mining game.  HOWEVER, the in-game editor is whole hog, so you can essentially design completely custom sectors with your own scripting, which means there may be a roundabout way to inject some crafting into your world (i.e. bring me this, I'll give you that).  This means you can design your own homebases, stations, "dungeons," whatever.  Aside from the usual effect of drilling your own creations in-game.

The voice-acting is top-notch.  Like, better than most aaa titles "top notch."  And the storyline is well plot and written.  Graphically??  It seems a bit dated (though better than something like Evochron) but part of that is due to the voxel tech. (the levels are procedural as well).  Also, bloom is excessive unless you manually fidget with your gpu settings or run the tunnels w/o headlights blaring all over the place.  (headlights can change view distances btw.  nice touch again)

Twitch-wise the game plays faster and more simply than Descent, however inertial dampeners CAN be shut off for advanced play (and at harder moments this does come in handy).  This will give you simulated Newtonian physics.  I'm not sold on the "feel" of the game as yet, especially since I'm having trouble programming my old stick.

Overall, a nice little indie-thing I think (so far).  $20 is all it's worth though.  But, obviously if you get into the editor you can get much more out of that money.  It's definitely something fresh at least as there's nothing ever been done exactly like it.  It's indeed like Descent, but Descent never had this much resource mgt. nor this much storyline.  And you couldn't drill your own shafts in Descent either.  If you're more of a sim-oriented person you're still better off foolin' with something like Evochron or Nexus.  Persistance-wise Evochron and Freelancer are better bets as well, even though one could conceivably leave an open MW server running.  Sectors have to load btw, so it's not completely seamless.  And each sector is relatively small compared with other space sims.

So hmm, what kind of game is this?  A 6DOF open-world space-shooter destructible survival-RPG.    Does it do this perfectly?  Hell no, but it's a nice start.  Bodes well for the impending MMO.  BiiF?  Yah.  Definitely moreso than your typical starwraith-type affair.

p.s.
Networking seems pretty solid.  Games are run via host similar to something like Borderlands; wherein everyone's 'verse is their own.  One can drop-in/out at will at any point during a campaign, pvp, or sandbox game.

[Lantyssa]

Looks like no, but can you play a female character?

[schild]

OMG LANTYSSA, YOU SEXUALLY IDENTIFY AS A SPACESHIP WITH LADY PARTS TOO? I THOUGHT I WAS ALONE ON THAT ONE!

[Ghambit]

 
Eh?

"Battle Beyond The Stars"

[Lantyssa]

Haha ha.  I was referring to the supposedly amazing voice acting.  Sue me for wanting my pilot to be female.

[tgr]

Networking seems pretty solid.  Games are run via host similar to something like Borderlands; wherein everyone's 'verse is their own.  One can drop-in/out at will at any point during a campaign, pvp, or sandbox game.

Is there a way to play it completely offline/on your own, or do you have to log in to their servers first?

[Venkman]

I had to look up 6DOF. Never heard that term before but it makes perfect sense.

What is BiiF though? I know the perjorative "biff". But no idea what that word with two caps means, and there's too many Google results.

[tgr]

"But is it Fun"

[Furiously]

Haha ha.  I was referring to the supposedly amazing voice acting.  Sue me for wanting my pilot to be female.

Just pretend she's really butch?

[Ghambit]

Haha ha.  I was referring to the supposedly amazing voice acting.  Sue me for wanting my pilot to be female.

The mothership pilot has teh hawt sexay voiceover and unlike MWO there is indeed a hawt ship's computer  (might even be the same lady from MW actually). 

Networking seems pretty solid.  Games are run via host similar to something like Borderlands; wherein everyone's 'verse is their own.  One can drop-in/out at will at any point during a campaign, pvp, or sandbox game.

Is there a way to play it completely offline/on your own, or do you have to log in to their servers first?

Nope, have to log into their servers but I'm not sure if you can/cant logoff during gameplay.  And being steamcloud supported obviously you'll need internet for that as well, or risk borking your progress.    Tbh, given the design it's probably smart to require a net connection.  Also, pushing updates in an open-world MP game is a lot better if everyone has the same version.