I don't know if any of you remember Imperium Galactica I and II, but they were pretty cool games. They were all about building an empire in space, and fighting in strategic battles with massive war ships that you could customize with dozens of different weapons. Sort of a predecessor to Homeworld I guess.
Anyhow, an Imperium Galactica III was scheduled to be released back in 2002 or so, but apparently its design and storyline had strayed too far from that of its previous versions so they renamed it Galaxy Andromeda. They even released a demo for it that was pretty neat, I looked forward to getting it. Then, the game was axed, and dissapeared. I was pretty dissapointed.
Then, BANG, out of nowhere, its released as "Nexus: The Jupiter Incident" in the US 3 weeks ago. I played the demo (which unfortunately doesn't have a tutorial and is quite confusing but still cool) and was pretty impressed. Me and Knightwyvern (my bro) went out and bought it and I've been having a BLAST. The game plays like the Homeworld series, but with BETTER graphics, fully customizable ship configurations, fun missions, and a storyline remiscent of Freespace 2. Best single-player gaming experience I've had since Half Life 2.
So, if you were a fan of Homeworld, give the demo a shot. An added bonus is the game is only $40 right now in Gamespot and EB.
Demo link:
http://www.download.com/Nexus-The-Ju...ml?tag=lst-0-1
A few things to help you out when you start playing the demo, you command your ships by selecting a command from the bottom of the screen or using its corresponding function key and right-clicking on the target on the right side of the screen. On the left side, the little bars next to Support Shield Weapons Engines are the energy being used by those systems, which you can choose to boost by 150-200% at the cost of draining your ships power reserves. Pull up system management menus by clicking the icon of a hand to manage your weapons, support and engione systems, or the wrench to manage repair priorities for your systems. When in combat, switch your ships engines to the Deflection drives, its a combat engine that allows your ship to perform evasive maneuvers in combat to avoid enemy fire or line up its weapons. Laser beams are used to disable the enemy ships devices without causing damage to the targets shields or hull. You select the system you want to attack on the menu that pops up when you target and approach an enemy ship with your sensor systems active, and using the "destroy subsystem" command on the target.
Basically be patient, mess around with it for a bit, and you'll figure things out. Its a beautiful game and the full version is definately worth getting IMO.
2005-03-16, 05:32 PM
Linear Mode
