Everspace 2 PC Review
Summary: Open world spaceship sim with role playing elements.
4.4
Spatious Space
I was a big fan of Privateer back in the day… Privateer 2 as well (not quite as much… but hey Clive Owen, Christopher Walken, Brian Blessed and Amanda Pays among others… not bad)… and I’ve been yearning for a game to scratch that itch ever since. Everspace 2 doesn’t quite have the same feel… but it’s not too far off.
The opening is cinematic and dramatic enough with you working as a protection crew on a job that seems to go south. After all hell breaks loose you find yourself escaping confinement with a fellow prisoner who will become your “team mate” for lack of a better term, as you try and save a friend and figure out what to do whilst a target seems to be on your back.
It’s all quite dangerous sounding… but once you get in to the actual game that sense of ever present danger eases dramatically. Most location you go to will have threats, often in the form of ships that are all too happy to attack you… but there’s enough space between you and them that you can avoid them if you so choose… or generally you can engage and have a good chance of coming out better off than your foes.
That sense of space is good though. You never really feel restricted (even when you’re flying inside an asteroid or a planet)… it always feels like you have a choice of where to go… you aren’t on rails. You can follow the missions just in story line order and never deviate… or as soon as you see a little blip of a distress call while flying half way across the sector, you can drop out of jump drive and see what is going on.
You can spend your time flying around mining resources, crafting items or you can offer your services as a gun/guard for hire. There’s a decent amount of freedom for how you play the game including doing some modifications to your ship.
The only real issue I have with the game is the cut scenes. The space elements are fine… but anything with people shifts to a hand drawn/cartoonish looking style that isn’t very animated… rather than having lip synced mouths to dialog… they have key frames with perhaps a little motion here and there. It’s not terrible… but it’s not my preferred way of having visuals done in game… it feels like a place holder animatic that is waiting for the art department to finish the cg rendering.
But over all… the flight dynamics are good… it’s very easy to maneuver your ship (I’ve missed the days of simple but satisfying space flight)… you can strafe, fly directly up or down… any way you need, you can do it and it handles beautifully. That plus the music (at times touching on an almost Vangelis style sound… so right up my alley)… makes spending time in the space of Everspace 2 a very enjoyable experience.
If you were a fan of Privateer grab a copy. If you just like the idea of an open world space flight game with aspects of role playing grab a copy… if you might be… maybe wait for a sale then grab a copy.
About the Author
Chris O'Connor Father of four, husband of one and all round oddity. Gaming at home since about 1982 with a Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Moving on to the more traditional PC genre in the years that followed with the classic Jump Joe and Alley Cat. CGA, EGA, VGA and beyond PC's have been central to my gaming but I've also enjoyed consoles and hand helds along the way (who remembers the Atari Lynx?). Would have been actor/film maker, jack of many trades master of none.
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