Review

Part Diablo, part Gauntlet, and part Starcraft, Metro3D's Armada is a space-faring action-RPG that pits the six races of Homo Sapiens eleven millennia in the future against a mysterious biomechanical threat known as the Armada The game's universe is near infinite in size, and its genres are wide in scope. As captain of a formidable craft (upgradable to deadly and beyond with experience) you war against an alien horde, perform quests, gain experience, create trade routes, and piece together the plot of this space opera of epic proportions.

Here's the deal: Humanity fled Earth in the early fourth millenium. For the following ten millennia, deadly biomechanical aliens known as the Armada waged genocidal war against the humans throughout the diaspora of space. The six "tribes" of humans found each other in the galactic safe house of the Nexus Cluster and joined together to fight as one.

In a lot of ways, Armada is an RPG. Your character has stats: weapon, science, engineering, tactical, and navigation. You can choose from any of the six races, each having its own personal or technological strengths and weaknesses. Terran ships are the sturdiest, Scarab craft are stealthy, Drakken craft are versatile, and so on. Like most RPGs, it's all about power. As you gain experience, your stats increase. You can also upgrade to more-powerful ships with more power-up "slots." You can purchase new devices and hardware from any of the races to integrate into your craft. And when you defeat Armada foes, you can salvage pieces of their bizarre technology. This is where things get really interesting, and what may separate Armada from the linearity that plagues so many of today's RPGs.

Designer Mark Jordan told us how you can influence the advancement of the Allied races in more ways than by just zapping aliens. "You can... accelerate each race's research rate and path they traverse through their tech tree by donations or sale of Armada technology to a particular race's star base." So you're not just a single active character in a static environment. Your actions affect the progress of individual races and as a result, the entire political and technological milieu of the game. For all its complexity, Armada looks to be first and foremost an action game. The controls are designed for combat. You have rotation, thrust, and fire, as well as shields and a stealth mode that tax your limited energy. Each race has its designated special weapon as well. One has a tractor beam; another can heal multiple Allied ships. Others weapons include a save cannon, an engine blaster, and the ominous -sounding burn fields and link lasers, whose functions are still a mystery. All ships also have a phase bomb (remember the smart bombs from Defender?) that affects all onscreen enemies.

The screens we've seen so far certainly look like an action game. In fact, what we've seen looks more like a superpowered Asteroids than an action version of Starcraft. Think a heavily upgraded version of EA's Genesis and PC classic, StarFlight, and you're on the right track. No linear-scripted adventure game, Armada promises to be open-ended and versatile. Though there is a definite endgame goal, the universe itself is near infinite and the game doesn't end when you solve the final quest. The designers say they didn't want to stop people from having fun and going new places after all their hard work. Hidden races, powerful ancient artifacts, and the capacity for four-person multiplayer action add longevity to what already promises to be a diverse game of stellar proportions.
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