Space Trader Review

Space Trader has a novel concept - mix the classic ‘space trader’ gameplay of Elite and its descendants with the fast-paced blasting action of a first-person-shooter. The game setup is familiar: You are a loner, just starting out with your own ship and a bit of money. By carefully buying and selling commodities, your aim is simply to increase your finances and eventually become the best trader around. The game takes place entirely within our own solar system.

There are three different scenarios, each of which allows you to visit a different set of planets and space stations. Travel is automated (you will never see your ship) – Simply select your destination and, after the game clock has advanced a certain number of hours, you will find yourself at the local space port. Using a first-person perspective, you are able to run around and talk to anyone you meet. You will find commodity brokers, who will buy or sell wares; civilians who offer tidbits of advice or info; and other characters who can offer side-quests (more on that later). The space port maps are very small – only a few rooms in size – so it doesn’t take long to explore them. It pays (literally) to check every corner, as you can pick up boxes containing commodities – ‘stashes’ supposedly hidden by other traders, though they are sitting in plain view most of the time. In every space port, there is one character who can offer a more ‘interesting’ way of making money. This is where the FPS element comes in.

If you played Frontier: Elite II, you will remember the ‘assassination’ missions that paid you a bounty for tracking down and killing wanted criminals (or your clients’ unwanted business rivals). Space Trader has these missions, too. Just talk to the right person, accept their offer and you will be instantly transported to a separate area – the hideout of a known felon.

Gameplay in these shooter sections is definitely arcade-style, with no pretense of realism. Shields, medi-kits and weapons are scattered liberally around each map, together with boxed commodities that you can grab, then sell later on. All items and enemies are marked by icons on your radar. Enemy AI is basic but serviceable and combat is fast and furious. The overall feeling is of a classic Quake–era deathmatch (or botmatch) as you blast your way through the crime boss’ hired goons. The boss him/herself typically appears a couple of minutes after you arrive. Then you only have a short time to find and kill them before they make their ‘escape’ (An on-screen timer ticks down the last remaining 60 seconds). You only have three attempts (lives) to complete the mission. If you fail, that’s it – You don’t get another chance. No reward for you, and the person who gave you the mission is probably not going to recommend you to their friends. These shooter sections are typically over in 3 or 4 minutes, then it’s back to the space port.

Trading is, as you might imagine, the core feature of this game. Luckily, it is easy to understand: Buy low, sell high. When you talk to a trader, you can see whether prices have risen or fallen, and by how much. Gold stars mark especially lucrative deals. Events take place which affect prices, and you are told about these via news items (which you can refer back to at any time in case you forget what’s going on). So if, say, there’s a temporary iron shortage on the moon, it’s a safe bet you can fill up your cargo hold with cheap iron while you’re on earth, then high-tail it to the lunar port and sell for a big profit. There are plenty of traders in each port, and they fall into two categories; legal and illegal. Selling contraband can net you bigger profits, but you may run foul of the law. I should also mention at this point the useful ‘teleport’ system. Every trader you’ve talked to is listed on the left of the screen, with a picture of their face. Simply click on the person you’d like to talk to and you are instantly taken to them. This means the only time you’ll really need to walk around is when you first get to a port.

As well as the people who offer assassination missions, you can talk to others who will give you optional side-quests, such as collecting a postcard from each planet you visit, or buying a certain number of illegal items. You have choices; You can either accept or pass on these offers, and if someone asks you to break the law, you can be a good citizen and report them to a security officer (for a reward, obviously).

The aim in each of the game’s three scenarios is to make a certain amount of money, in a certain amount of time. For those of you who hate timed games, I should explain: You’re not actually playing against a ticking clock. Instead, Space Trader uses a turn-based system. Time only passes when you travel from one place to another. Therefore, you have to work out which are going to be the most profitable journeys. It may take 20 hours to get to one planet and only 8 to get to another, but perhaps you can make four times the amount of money on the longer trip. This is where strategy and a close watch on the galactic news comes in useful.

So far, I’ve told you about the mechanics of the game, but what do I actually think of it? Well, it’s solidly put together and is an impressive effort, especially as it was made by a small group of independent developers. The graphics are more 2001 than 2007, but that will only upset graphics lovers who probably don’t pay attention to independent games anyway. The music is nice, though a tad repetitive. Sound effects and voice acting get the job done. The engine is smooth and fast.

I think that Hermitworks have come up with an absolutely killer idea – I loved Frontier and obviously, as I’m writing this for PlanetPhillip, I am an FPS fan. The marriage of the two styles is a potentially brilliant one. But the game doesn’t have enough content, and as the FPS sections are over so quickly and there are so few of them, nearly all of your time will be spent in menus, clicking to travel back and forth between worlds, then clicking on personality-free traders to buy and sell the same commodities over and over again. This might not be so bad, were it not for the two big problems that Space Trader has:

Firstly, it has no ‘save’ option. The developers have stated that they are working on this, and will implement it in a future patch, but it hasn’t happened yet. It would take several hours (at least) to play through each of these campaigns, and I do not want to do that in one sitting. Plus the repetitive nature of the game means it is more suited to half-hour play slots than extended play.

And secondly, the basic aim of the game is just not interesting to me: Make as much money as you can within the time limit. That’s it. I hate to keep mentioning Frontier, but it’s appropriate: In that game, there was a lot of repetitive trading, at least at the start, but you were building up money for a reason. You always had your eye on some new upgrade for your ship – A sparkly laser cannon, or a new missile rack, some passenger compartments so you could do taxi runs… and when you finally had enough dough, a brand new ship. It was exciting, and it kept you plugging away, even through the dull patches. It’s exactly the same in any RPG – You fight hordes of monsters so you can increase your abilities, learn some new spells, get stronger and better, and build your cash to purchase new weapons and equipment. Sadly, Space Trader offers no incentives like this. You gather money, simply for the sake of gathering money (and to complete your objective). There are engineers you can talk to – You can upgrade your ship – but only to add extra cargo space, so you can carry more commodities to sell.

I don’t want to be too harsh on this game. If the concept intrigues you as much as it intrigued me, give it a try. It’s well made, but as it stands, it’s just a bit lacking. I think though, that it’s a solid base for Hermitworks to build on, and it’s definitely worth keeping an eye on. A save system would increase its value tremendously, as would a ‘sandbox mode’ (something else that players have been asking for) and some additional content.

In the end, my recommendation is to ‘consider it’ – It’s a promising and different piece of software that you may enjoy more than I did.

Sam Jeffreys
02 October 2007

Screenshots

Click on the thumbnails below to open a medium size image. WARNING: The screenshots may contain spoilers.