Thread: Darkstar One - Xbox 360

Darkstar One - Broken Alliance

Darkstar One - Broken Alliance (D1) is a space combat sim/shooter developed by Gaming Minds Studios and published by Kalypso Media for the Xbox 360.



In D1, you are Kayron Jarvis, pilot of a powerful ship called the Darkstar One. Your father built it in secrecy and was killed as a result. You're out to pick up the pieces. You seek to build your father's Darkstar One to it's rightful place as the best ship around. While you're at it, find your father's murderer and are brought into a conflict where... you guessed it... it's up to you to save the universe from a grave threat.

The universe of D1 is a lot like Star Wars. There's a political imbalance between warring peoples, factions and star systems. It reminded me a little of Mass Effect too. The galaxy is a big and often dirty place.

D1 was originally relased for PCs in 2006, this remake is curious to me.

Emblazoned all over the box is 'Presented in True 1080p' so it's clear they wanted to bring it up to speed for the current gen of HD consoles. However, you cant hide the fact that this looks like a late Xbox game. Some of the FMVs are lackluster and grainy, the lip synching is completely awful. The in-cockpit first person space combat looks much better. It's crisper and cleaner, but it still couldve looked sharper. It isnt awful, but it isn't impressive either and couldve been better. Another issue is too many parts of the universe look largely identical, with a new coat of paint.



The controls of D1 are easy to use and in no time youll be a master pilot of your ship as the space dogfights are the highlights of the game. At least they got this part right, targeting is easy and there are plenty of fast intense dogfighting. All the pitching and rolling can make you nauseous. The menu interface is easy to use and navigating around is a breeze. I had a problem docking at first but I picked it up in no time. There are some aspects that take a little time to grasp but it's tutorial works well and they guide you every step of the way.



There's a ton of missions to do, but the problem is they are largely the same. Seek and destroy missions, collections, protection, escort, etc, or simply defending yourself. The game is promoted as a 30+ hour affair, and one would think there'd be more variety to the mission structure.

Item collecting is a huge part of D1 as your ship can be upgraded with all sorts of mechanical and organic techs to make it more powerful, which is necessary when your enemies are constantly getting stronger and more numerous. There's an entire trading and economic system that is tough to figure out but once you get it, you'll be wheelin' and dealin'. There's also a class system with different perks that can affect your missions, like bounty hunter, mercenary, etc.

The sound is passable, but it couldve been better. The repetitive voices of your enemies as you fight them is terrible.

D1 is a good space shooter sim that couldve been much better. It has some things going for it. RPG-like options for upgrading your ship and the economics of doing so is really deep. The cockpit view dogfighting can be thrilling and being thrown into an epic galactic conflict across a huge universe is just cool. It suffers from dated visuals, mission variety and repetitve actions which can kill a 30-40 hour long game. Also at $49.99, it's a little steep for a lackluster remake. If it were $20-30 for a HD update of a then lackluster title to begin with, that wouldve been a better sell.

Pros- Combat, leveling up

Cons- Visuals, mission structure, sound

5/10

Rated T for Teen- Blood, alcohol/drug reference, fantasy violence, language