Strange Adventures in Infinite Space Review

|Tap-Repeatedly|FFC Archives

           

Strange Adventures in Infinite Space

Review by Old RoosterAugust 2002

“Explore the Galaxy in Twenty Minutes or Less!”

This rather peculiar-sounding claim is touted by a small (three guys working part-time) developer and a publisher of admittedly inexpensive titles—Cheapass Games. Employing a session playing time of 5 to 20 minutes, Strange Adventures (SAIS, for short) suggests, with the vocabulary and subtle humor evident throughout play, that you can: “Sail the high seas of stars in your own deep space exploration vessel. Explore exotic star systems, seek out new technologies, artifacts and lifeforms; boldly blow up stuff where no one has blown up stuff before!”

On the surface, SAIS looks and acts like a poor man’s version of Masters of Orion or Star Control 2. It’s a turn-based strategy game, emphasizing exploration, with battles settled in real-time. It’s solo, not multiplay, with variable difficulty settings and infinite replayability by using random map generation.  Available for your enjoyment are 21 different ship types; 69 different weapons, shields, and artifacts; 18 alien lifeforms; 17 different planet and star types; and 7 unique alien races. SAIS plays on a PII 350, uses only 16 MB of hard drive space, and costs only $15. This may sound like a “no-brainer” kind of deal for gamers with this kind of genre disposition. Yet, all is not perfect, and I do have some hesitance in giving an unqualified recommendation. Let’s explore that a bit.

“An Intriguing and Dangerous Proposition”

The premise for SAIS goes like this (all in text in the game; no vocals): “Despite your erratic record as a pilot, Lextor Mucron has offered you a scheme so potentially lucrative it could set you up for life! It’s a long shot. It’s risky and unlawful.  But, you find the idea of adventuring for profit irresistible. He rents you a military corvette and crew. Upon your return, the costs of the mission will be weighed against any discoveries you bring back.”

Given this charge, your challenge, in 10 game years (which may last all of 20 minutes), is to visit planets, find all the good stuff you can, and get back with enough points to pay back your initial loan and have a bit left over. There is no carryover from mission to mission in that each brief game is self-contained. Points are awarded at the end, and a running tally kept, so you can compare your score against your own or others. For the first few missions, you will likely get the failure message, “Your career as an adventurer in Infinite Space is at an end,” or the “can’t pay back your loan” greeting, “Mucron seizes everything you own and you assume a new lifestyle as a robot maintenance worker, a position more appropriate to your status and wealth!”

Along the way, matters can become interesting. There are random encounters with peculiar aliens (peculiar to humans, that is) who may offer a trade (often without a lot of obvious logic as to comparative values), offer to ally with you in your travels, or desire a battle.  In the case of a fight (assuming you don’t retreat, which is an option), a point-and-click, Asteroids kind of exercise ensues, the outcome of which is dependent on the relative outfitting of your vessel, allies if present, a bit of tactics, and the power and numbers of the enemy. Essentially, that’s “all” there is to the game, with some variations, ship and equipment modifications, alien contact and planet discovery options.

Graphics are clear and serviceable, not inclined to tax your system’s abilities. Sound effects are adequate, and the music is pleasant.  Speech is absent.

“Hope Is a Shining Pearl in the Blackness of Space”

SAIS, to be really involving and enjoyable, needs to depend on your imagination. The dated graphics won’t do it for you. The authors have contributed to that prospect by creating text, messages, statements that are articulate and often tongue-in-cheek funny.  “Hope” is your home planet, from the system “Glory.”  Alien races to be met in your travels include the Muktians, who are fickle and cautious; the Garthans, who are aggressive and brutal; and the Tan Ru, who are oblivious to biological life! However, it was during one of my early encounters that I began to smile and appreciate the writing and humor. After doing quite nicely in exploring, I came upon the Urluquai—”large luminescent hemispherical floaters who feed on fear and death, with a demeanor that is malevolent and thoroughly evil!” However, I didn’t take this manual description seriously, since I was greeted with this: “We call to you with songs of praise and peace. We are buoyantly trembling with the anticipation of our happy congress (oh, my). In a play of colors we will dance joyfully.” Needless to say, the resultant congress produced utter destruction for my ship and allies.

In summary, my 15 hours or so with SAIS went something like this. Initially, I thought it was likely a shallow little game, almost of a shareware type, about 10 to 15 years out of date—graphically, sonically, and gameplay-wise. After a bit, I began to appreciate the brief bouts of fun and variety—depth, really—present in the play, and found myself smiling (a relative rarity) and often fooling with it between lengthy sessions of Warcraft III or Morrowind.  Finally, I backed off a bit, not to the initial shallow impression, but rather to a more balanced view, I think. If you take SAIS for what it is, a little time-waster with funny and interesting twists, and don’t think of it as the second coming of Privateer or complex space strategy, you may well find it enjoyable, kind of inventive/creative, and well worth 16 MB of your hard drive space.

What I Like Most About the Game

  • Economical—as to purchase cost, required hard disk space, and playing time.
  • Variability—With random maps and many items/creatures, no two games seem quite alike.
  • Combat—The real-time encounters are fun to watch, even with little control.

What I Like Least About the Game

  • Sameness—In spite of variety, there’s a sameness within the framework that can become predictable.
  • Length—”Coffee break” games are nice, but one does wish for the option to build and move up levels.
  • Strategy—Feedback (or lack of) is such that you often seem dependent more on luck than skill. The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Digital Eel Publisher: Cheapass Games Release Date: March 2002

Available for: Windows

Four Fat Chicks Links

Player Feedback

Screenshots

Click to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlarge

System Requirements

PII 350 (PIII 600 recommended) 32 MB RAM (64 MB recommended) 16 MB free hard disk space

Where to Find It

Cheapass Games $15.00

      Copyright © Electric Eye Productions.  All rights reserved.  No reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission.

Pages

Top

Category Archives

Top

Blog Posts

Top

14 Responses to Fear Factor

  • Fear Factor | Tap-Repeatedly.com | Reality Topics Blog

    […] nobody@flickr.com (graftedno1) wrote a very interesting post today.   Here’s a quick excerpt:My greatest fear is to be trapped alone in a confined space with a blind human, in total darkness. They have a heightened sense of smell and hearing, and. […]

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    Lewis, you made me think of the scariest moments I’ve experienced in gaming, and we’re very similar people.

    Bioshock had two moments – the dentist and the flooded room filled with mannequins.

    Thief had Return to the Cathedral, which was terrifying to me. Thief 3 had Shalebridge Cradle, which is so scary it ought to be fined.

    System Shock 2 kept me on the edge of my seat, but it was more lonely panic than true fear.

    Korsakovia was so scary that I uninstalled it.

    And STALKER. Oh, god, the haunted labs in STALKER. The latter two games don’t have scares like that. Few games do.

    It’s especially rare for a game to have more than mere “moments” – for a game to be scary from beginning to end, that’s a triumph.

    Wonderful article. As if Gregg’s review wasn’t enough to convince me that Penumbra is not something I have the courage to play!

  • DPenn

    I’m with you Lewis … I’m a bit of a puss. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of dread as entertainment.

    Still, I’m drawn to dark stories when they have something interesting to say, whether it’s a game like Thief or a film like, say, Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible. So I’ll push through, sometimes peering through my fingers.

    The trouble with games, though, is that if you look through your fingers, you’re probably just going to have to play through the scenario again. :~)

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    I wanted to play this game. I downloaded the demo but the controls were just too wonky for me to get my head around. I liked the atmospheric vibe a lot. I think I’m a bit desensitized from an overdose of horror movies in my youth so I don’t so much get the dread thing from these games as a nice creepy vibration. If only the controls were better…

  • Lewis B

    @ Mike, what’s wrong with the controls bud? As someone who despises poor control schemes, Penumbra’s is just like any other FPS, except to examine things you right click on them.  To use things you left click.  I’m not sure that can be considered difficult 🙂

  • Gregg B

    @Steerpike: Yeah my greatest shit-scared moments were with those games too. A few spoilers below people, so beware.

    Bioshock – Haha, I remember the dentist. I didn’t really find the game that scary overall but the bit where you go into the wine cellar and notice a mannequin facing the wall and after upgrading your weapon it’s stood directly behind you motionless and quiet just for a moment before attacking you. I shat a brick. I also missed that bit originally until Lew told me about it.

    System Shock 2 – same as you really, more unremitting tension all the way through rather than specific terrifying moments. Oh actually, theres a bit where you call a lift and it breaks then you realise a service droid is coming to fix it… I do remember having sleep issues after my first encounter with the cyborg ninjas though.

    Thief: The Dark Project – The Sword and Return to the Cathedral and Down in the Bonehoard and well, loads of them. The Sword made me break out into goosebumps though because there was a bit where you could hear this creepy giggling which seemed like it was following me about then it suddenly changed to this horrible throaty noise. What made matters worse was that the EAX (bless you Creative) made my foot steps sound like somebody else was there with me. That level was incredible, a bit too incredible as it seems I missed great chunks of it because I was so eager to leave.

    Thief II: The Metal Age – Trail of Blood where you end up in that opening with those damn tree beasts. God the first time I saw one of those hurtling towards me I actually died shortly afterward. Do you remember that Mechanist child walking around on one of the levels? That was a little creepy.

    Then there’s Penumbra: Overture – quite a few bits but I’m not mentioning them here.

    Oh and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – The brain scorcher lab just because it was so damn quiet. My imagination seriously got the better of me there. Those stuffed animals and heads I’d seen in various buildings led me to believe that those creatures were lurking somewhere in the Zone, specifically that lab.

    @Mike: My control setup was perfect after some tweaking (as well as the simple weapon swing fix). If you ever fancy giving it another go, give me a shout and I’ll let you know my setup.

  • Lewis B

    I’m not sure why guys, but one of my starting paragraphs had gone missing, even though I copied it straight from the original source, and It was fine earlier. 

    Incase you missed it due to some technical issue you might want to re-read just after “Well no she wouldn’t in truth, but in Penumbra: Overture you don’t want to move anyway.” at the very start for those who’ve already read the article. Apologies 🙂

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    Lewis, it was the weapon swing. It had this terrible, unresponsive feel to it, like trying to hit through molasses. I couldn’t stand using it. I tried the .ini fix as mentioned in the review but it didn’t seem to help. Of course this was the demo…but that shouldn’t have made any difference. I might try the second game instead as I guess they did away with the weapons thing.

    I’m see your first paragraph just fine. It’s the dialogue, right?

  • jdeuel

    I like the argument that weapons can remove fear, but even loaded to the teeth with ammo in AVP’99 the Marine missions were frightful because the enemy was anywhere at any time.

    As for Penumbra Overture, if the controls are anything like the original Penumbra they need to hack in some Wii-Remote 3d controls. I did not like using my mouse for 3d movements.

  • Gregg B

    @Mike: I’ve read that many people avoided conflict altogether in Overture which incidentally is something forced upon you in Black Plague. As somebody who has been renovating a house over the last 6 months with no DIY experience I can safely say that swinging a hammer is significantly easier in real life than it is in Overture without the fix. The fix balanced that for me.

    I’d highly recommend completing the first Penumbra because it’s one big build up to Black Plague which spoils the ending to Overture in the intro. And it’s a great ending too. Just so you know!

  • Lewis B

    @ Steerpike, those moments you mention are all my worst too!!  Do you remember the Robot labs in SS2? Absolutely terrifying, waiting for robots to burst out on you! 🙁 oh and have you ever player Condemned?

    @ Mike, The use of weapons in Penumbra is different to say HL2, where the player is physically holding the weapon, as in Penumbra it floats slightly infront of you.  However, if you change the control method to normal weapon swing, it’s no different!  Speak to Greggi and he’ll tell you what to do 🙂

    @ jdeuel, AVP the original and its sequal were scary however what type of fear do you think it is? I don’t think it’s anything more than sheer tension.  Having a Smart Gun makes you feel incredibly powerful.  I can honestly say in Penumbra the fear is sheer unrivalled terror, where you actually have to force yourself to play on.  It genuinly is that scary! 🙂

  • Jason Dobry

    It’s so true, an arsenal of weapons and ammo rapidly deflates any sense of horror or uneasiness in any game for reasons you already mentioned. Sakey, I thought Bioshock was more “lonely panic,” while I was pretty much always terrified in System Shock 2. I really, really, REALLY did not want to enter The Many’s nursery, and my weapons were so unreliable and ammo so scarce that I never felt safe.

    Silent Hill was terrifying for the same reasons. Ammo was rare and I frequently had to rely on my pipe for self-defense.  Even when I had ammo, the game mechanics prevented my character from being anything other than marginal with any firearm.

    Fear had one moment for me: I was climbing up a ladder, and as I reached the upper platform, my guy briefly looked down as he climbed off. As my perspective looked up again, that Ring-esque little girl was RIGHT THERE, reaching for me. I screamed and she was gone.

    What else…the original Aliens vs. Predator sent me into a locker room and I could only hear the facehuggers scurrying about somewhere within. I had to go in there. I advanced about three steps before the damn thing screamed and filled up my screen with its repulsive underside as it implanted me with its spawn. My roommate made fun of me for weeks for screaming like a girl child.

    Korsakovia–meh.  I was too annoyed and frustrated by the box rearrangement/jumping puzzles to be scared. I uninstalled it after an hour of play, I think. Maybe the scary parts were later, but I doubt it.

    As for Penumbra, I did play through about half of it before other games distracted me. I remember unease and creepiness, but no sweaty fear. I think I’m to blame here, or, more precisely, my daughter, who was still an infant at the time and generally allowed me only to play during the day for 45 minutes at a time. I was denied total immersion and the fear effect suffered. Maybe I should give it another go after I finish Call of Pripyat since she sleeps through the night now. With any luck, Penumbra will keep me from doing the same.

  • Gregg B

    I played the demo of F.E.A.R. but that ladder scare is the only bit I remember. Christ, that made me jump. I’m not too good with cat scares.

    Also I felt exactly the same about Korsakovia. It was creepy at first but then it began to irritate me far too much and it just soured the experience. I stopped playing as a result. Not to mention, when I realised I could bash those smoke-things with my crowbar they didn’t bother me nearly as much.

  • Online Up

    Great article. I look forward to reading more in the future.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.