Every weekend, the VGH crew answers a few follow-up questions from that week’s episode, then turns the floor over to you! This is VGHomework.
This week’s episode was all about the Mars lander and space games–the definition of which was up for debate. That, and we had some trouble agreeing on what a space marine actually is. You might say our definitions were a bit nebulous.
Q: What’s your favorite game that’s set in outer space?
Paul: (@spaulsandhu): I know on the show I mentioned Wing Commander II as my favourite space game but clearly I was coerced into not talking about Mass Effect.
Mass Effect is hands down my favourite space game. The first one I mean. I love the sequels but they are more of in the vein of a space marine action rpg, and less of what I want to see in a proper “space game”. The first Mass Effect has a certain charm about it that can only come with an introduction to a new series. The game bombards you with details about the characters, aliens, interstellar politics and what have you. I ate that stuff up and it might be why the first entry of the series is my overall favourite (but not by much).
All of my life I have been interested in space exploration and the grander questions surrounding the origins of the universe so much so that if it weren’t for my supreme laziness I would have considered astronomy a career path.
Mass Effect allows me to partially live out some long lingering childhood fantasies (but with giant guns) so it is always gonna be a special title for me.
Randy (@randy_wrecked): My favorite space game? Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time. Not only do you get awesome platforming, insane weapons, and head-scratching time puzzles but you also get to fly a spaceship around the galaxy, visit strange alien worlds and BLOW SHIT UP. Stick that in your holodeck, D.J.
D.J. (@metaly): My favorite space game is definitely Modern Warfare 2. Remember that part where you play as an astronaut? I thought I was in Star Trek!
But seriously–Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters, no contest. Few games had the depth and breadth that Toys for Bob’s PC classic did. As the captain of an prototype starship from a remote human colony, you return to Earth only to find out that Earth and her allies lost the war in the original Star Control, and you spend the rest of the game discovering what happened in the years since the war ended, all the while building up a new alliance to fight back. The sprawling campaign has hundreds of planets, a huge cast of memorable (and often hilarious) aliens, and a killer battle mode that can be played separately against a friend.
A version of the game’s code was released as the open source The Ur-Quan Masters and as a result you can play it on a whole host of systems, although I haven’t been brave enough to try it on my PSP yet.
What’s your own #1 space game? Is Commander Shepard your favorite space marine on the Citadel? And just how would you make a game out of the Curiosity lander? (Please, somebody make one before Zynga does.) Tell us your ideas in the comments!
I’m just posting so that Pickard, Worf and Sisko are on the same page.
My favorite space game is 7 Days a Skeptic, a freeware for the PC. The fact that its in space really does gives a very odd feel to it, although in essence the story is basically a slightly altered version of the first game’s (which doesn’t take place in space at all).