Xenocracy : The Great Solar War Developer: Simis Publisher: Grolier Interactive Category: : Space Action/Strategy System Req: P133, 32 MB Ram, 230 free hd space, 3D accelerator card Might look like: Freespace ? Date posted: 23 August 1998 Written By: Bjorn - This game was reviewed on "PlayDevil.com Game Machine" - A little introduction Xenocracy is a game of space combat set in a distant future. You are the commander of an elite squadron of UPN warships charged with maintaining the status quo between the Solar Systeem's four superpower nations. These nations - Earth, Venus, Mars and Mercury - fight range wars for control of the Lycosite mining colonies in the outer Solar System. Orbital strikes on the colonies, raids and the hijacking of mineral convoys are commonplace. The Manual XC's manual is pretty decent, considered that it was made and published by, for me, 2 unknown game companies. Screenshots (non colour) are included and helps you if you want additional information. The 2 modes (arcade and simulation) are excellent explained. A good reference card, which includes all the commands with its shortcuts is available in the manual too. The Game Well, a new game published by "Grolier Interactive" and developed by a company called "Simis". Two companies, unknown for me and many other people in this industry. Still, that doesn't mean that Xenocracy is a damn crappy game. Or am I wrong? Read on if you want to know the truth. Xenocracy is in fact another "Wing Commander" clone. Or does it look like "Conflict: Freespace" (which was an excellent game btw)? It all looks the same. The developers of XC aren't quite original. Why do we need a game that is similar to ..., this applies also for any old or new C&C clone. I mean, where is the creativity. The originality? Seems to me that some of those developers are just thinking on how to make easy money, and they want it fast. A Space Combat game is coming Like i already mentioned in the game's introduction, Xenocracy (good game-title), is a space-combat game that is set in the distant future. Being a commander of an elite squadron of UPN (something like the UN I guess ;)) warships, you have to intervene where necessary to halt or limit aggression.   Installation Xenocracy supports 3 different installation types, unfortunately there is no custom one included. You can install the Minimum which will take 73 Mb of your hard drive. The Medium type will use 166 MB and the Maximum will take around 301 MB. With my 6x Cd-Rom drive, taking the minimum installation type isn't recommended. The loading times are far too long and sometimes the FMV hangs. If you have space enough, just install the 301 Mb. I rather find it a bit too much. For this type of game, taking 301 Mb of your hard drive is way to much if you look at what you really get when you play it. A shame I would say. Anyway after its installation, lets move on to the actual game. Storyline The storyline is a bit vague to me and all you have to do is obey the directions that you receive from the upper hand. The game supports 2 game modes. First there is the "simulation mode". The boys at Simis have come up with a strange sim mode to me. It doesn't feel and play like you are in a real simulation. What you have to do is turn some things on, turn some off. Engage this and press this. Thats all! About 80% of the time that I engage this simulation mode, things were popping up and I really freaked out. And freaking out on a game is something that don't happen frequently. They are rare. There are alot of things that you will not understand at all. Some are there for a reason, some are not. It's like filling the screen with garbage. In simulation mode, there are many options. From the main screen you have the option to access mission selection screens, a solar guide, intelligence reports and of course the management of your squadron. The Situation report screen provides you with an overview of the current military situations and information on the political and economic state of each of the planetary nations. When you use all this information that is available, you must decide which of the missions that are available you will fly. It's all quite nice presented but what's the use of it, I you hardly understand what is going on? Next Page Up Previous Page If you want to review your favorite game, or if you work with a computer game company and want your products reviewing, mail info@playdevil.com. All contributions are welcome. Any problems and/or suggestions are always appreciated on webmaster@playdevil.com Nothing of this entire Site, animation & logo's included, may be reproduced, stored, saved, transmitted, in any form or means, electronic, written or otherwise without the prior permission of PlayDevil. Other Logos & Names are Copyrighted Material of its respectful owners. All Rights Reserved. PlayDevil Productions © 199/8-199/9-200/0 "rip your own stuff"