This game was the most annoying frustrating game I have ever played. If the missions you must complete were "reasonable" it would be a great game. The storyline is good, the interrelations of the empires is very well done. It was fun for awhile flying into the asteroid mines to gather the artifacts to "enhance" your ship. The combat dogfighting is great. The missions are ridiculous. I finally quit probably most of the way through the game in disqust. You must destroy a complex on a planet that has hundreds of gun emplacements and mines. Besides that you have to figure out how to shut down energy fields that block some of the doors (I assume you must get through them to destroy the complex). I was saving my game every time I destroyed a gun emplacement since I died about 200 times in this complex. My ship was down to 31% hull. Then I discovered that the stupid thing is timed. I started getting a timer - you have 30 seconds left. Errrrrggggh! Some of the other necessary missions to the storyline I had to play 10 times before success. One example, you have to save a cruiser where the pilot does nothing to help. Six ships are attacking him when you jump into the system and you are out of range. You have to use afterburners to get into the fight. I would kill 2 of the 6 ships and get the message he has been destroyed. I played this probably 10 times before everything went my way and I was able to save him with his hull at 10%. If you have the reflexes of a 10 year old and the patience of Job, have at it. Otherwise I would play something that is at least reasonable. I must have died 500 times getting to the point where I got to. I have never quit a game this far into it but my patience is gone.

It's no Elite or Freelancer but until their Heirs appear then this is the best of the new(ish) space sims. I have played the X series and see their appeal but don't have the time to put in to get the best out of it which is where I appreciate the more relaxed learning curve of Darkstar One. Controls are simple and the interface isn't too overwhelming, however some of the weaponry lacks variation and combat can sometimes be a bit repetetive. Overall if you spot it at a low price it's a 5* games, full price probably a 3*.

This has got to be one of the most enjoyable Space-Simulation games I have played in a while. Well worth the price and more.

I'm not sure why I was told that Darkstar One would be a hard game to get to run correctly, but I have had no trouble at all with it. I have Windows 7 Home Premium and it works fine. Have had many hours of great gaming and space sim flying, taking out Pirates, mercenaries, bad guys and the like.

The storyline is fun to go through and after the story ends, the game still offers great dogfighting with space pirates and doing missions just fer da heck of doing something and killing time.

If you have a few dollars and time to kill, I strongly recommend you check Darkstar One out.

I'm a fan of Freelancer and Privateer and i found "Darkstar One" is quite promising but something still missing.

Ship upgrading system is not "open" as it look, you have to go through the storyline (that quite boring) and get some kind of alien "Artifact" that allow you to develop ship's hull strength, maneuverability or engine and generator (and its look). But you stuck with it until the next sequence which also reveal the next tiny part of galaxy you have to go next.

Weapons and Equipments have no variety.

Dogfight is exciting only in the first few hours.

Conclusion

Freelancer or X-Series are the better choices.

When at first you see the darkstar one, you might not be suprised... but that is a good thing, cause after playing through the starting hours of the game, you'll already have begun forming your own Darkstar.

The things I really liked about darkstar one:

- The different area's and aliens (+1)

- A nice storyline to follow (+1)

- The customization of the darkstar to once disires (+1)

- Graphics (+1)

- Controls/interface (+1)

The things I didn't like about Dark star one:

- Somewhat repetitive inbetween "quests" (-1)

(and no multiplayer)

Rating final: 4 stars, well worth its money! If you like si-fi space shooters with a story then be sure to pick this one up, sadly no multiplayer.. but the singleplayer experiance more than makes up for that.

If you've been into gaming long enough like me then you might remember a classic called ELIE,this brought about the new genre of space games that we have today. If ELITE was to be made today then i think it would look pretty much like Darkstar One,you certainly can see the influence of the past master here,graphics are incredible detailed if you have a good graphics set up and at full settings,the best thing about Darkstar One are the controls,they are so responsive and makes life so much easier.

Sound is equally impressive as the graphics but not in the same way,sure they are all done well but not ground breaking but what you have is rather comical and inteesting,for instance you will be docked in the space port and you will hear announcements over the tannoy with rather silly and humourous things.The missions are quite varied,one minute you could be escorting someone then the next you will be fighting for your life because some wacko is hell bent on blaming you for some crazed incident which you seem to be in the middle of,so be that rogue or space pirate that you always wanted to,really great fun and great homage to the said ELITE classic,92/100

I give this game 4 stars.

-Simple combat

-In depth customization of your ship

-More campaign oriented than a sandbox.

-Graphics are ok.

-Easy to learn

-Sometimes repetitive. Sometimes.

Overall, i like it. It's a good deal for just $10.

Greatest space simulator I have ever played. Superb handling, easy and understandable ship upgrades. Accurate difficulty. Straight story, that doesn't bore. Sincere recommendation for those, who expect easy to handle space sim fun.

Typical combat space sim with linear story - it lets the player fulfill mission goals any time he wants though. Graphics/sound are adequate. Joystick is a must to play this without problems. It's getting a little bit boring after playing a couple of hours because you have to take the same kind of missions in order to progress. This game is not for the hardcore fans of the genre.

i realy liked this game

the narrative is a little chessy, but i liked the graphics of the game and i cant find any glitches.

Darkstar One places you in the shows of Kayron Jarvis a newly minted escort pilot, who sets of on a mission of revenge to find the traitor who murdered his father. Whilst on this quest Kayron meets a mysterious woman and finds him self in an increasingly dangerous univeres as a series of stations are attacked by alien drones and that these are some how linked to his fathers death.

Graphically the game looks good, not surprising that isn't that old. There are some nice effects that don't distract from the gameplay but there aren't comparable to more moderen games. The models are nicely detailed and work well.

Sound quality is good with a number of muusical tracks. The musical quues change depending on what is happening and will often by the first inclining that pirates might be in the system. Voice work is good, though some of the alien accents can be annoying, in particular the Raptor.

Gamplay centres around undertaking mission either as part of the plot, side missions to unlock special star systems or missions from a terminal. Almost all of the missions will usually involve combat. Combat itself is your classic space combat sim type, though through a series of upgrades you can access a number of special powers. These special powers might be faster gun rechage, an emp weapon or an time limited invincible shield. Enemy ships will often have their own special power making dogfights more intersting. The upgrade system for you're ship involves collecting alien artifacts, some of which are located in asteroids, whilst some can only be gotten by liberating pirate held systmes. This can be annoying as shield, generators and weapons can only be fitted up to what ever weapon or energy class your ship is. There is an opportunity for trading but the system to do it involves exteranl cargo pods which can be shot up in a fight, forcing you to drop them, making the choice of trader a poor one.

The game also has a number of missions that take place in canyons, tunnels systems with a different feel then the space combat sections. These aren't bad but one is confusing. There are also two missions that involve you taking control of a turret to defend a base from attack. The turret missions can be annoying as there isn't the ability to target the enemies in the missions.

The plot is okay though one resolution is obvious from the very start, some of the other ideas arent. After you finish the plot the game will allow you to continue to fly and take missions.

Overall the game is okay, and there is enough options to allow significant replability.

There aren't all that many space games around. For some reason, there was an enormous decline in sales during 1999. Therefore, every space game that comes out already gets my special attention.

Darkstar One is based on the 1984 'Elite' game, where you were given a ship, and it was up to you to decide what to do with it. Darkstar One does too. You can trade, smuggle, be a pirate, be a merc, be a bounty hunter, and upgrade your ship in any way you'd like.

I love the upgrade system. Bassicly, the Dark Star One can be expanded upon in three things: Hull, Wings, and Engine. Expanding the hull gives you a stronger ship (as in, it takes longer to blow it up), a ship that is capable of mounting more sophisticated equipment, and turrets. Expanding upon the wings makes your ship more manouvrable and gives it extra front mounted weapons. Expanding upon the engine gives your ship higher speeds, and allows weapon and shield energy to recharge faster. All upgrades give you both defensive and offensive advantages, but it is impossible to fully upgrade every aspect of the Darkstar, so you will have to upgrade the ship to suit your tastes. There are quite a few variations to try out, although giving your ship an huge amount of guns with no energy to power them probably is a bad idea.

Combat is not as awesome as games that were spefficly made for combat, but all games of this type have that problem. DarkStar One is very interesting in this regard though, and the combat is much better then it's direct competitor: X3: Reunion (although some mods for X3 improve that aspect, but that falls outside the scope of this review). Besides the myriad of possibilities on upgrading your ship, the weapons you can mount on them and the 'plasma cannon' (an weapon which can boost your weapons, shields, or fire an special attack, again based on your choice). there are also different opponents to fight. Each race has it´s own fighting style, and as you will quite often encounter a mix of different races as your opponents, you will have to use some tactics to win. This becomes obvious on the highest difficulty level when you have advanced beyond the first chapter of the story. Sometimes, for me atleast, the games feels to easy, although I am quite used to this sort of games, so that might just be me.

Although fighting (trough piracy, shooting down pirates, or performing missions (which are quite neat, compared to games like Privateer and Freelancer) nets an considerable amount of money, trading is also an way to make money. Personally, I found this system less interesting, although smuggling computer games is quite fun, and this system is thought out well. Your ship is not designed to fly cargo, and therefore, your cargo will be carried by drones which fly behind your ship. Your ship will become significantly more sluggish when that is the case (the drones are apperently heat seekers), so when you are attacked you will have to drop your cargo, then pick it up later. It's a pity that the pirates will not attempt to make it off with your cargo in the mean time. Could have been fun.

The graphics of this game are simply gorgous. I personally think that X3's are better, and DSO's graphics demand more (which suprises me, as I know X3 for having excessive system requirements).

The plot is not very engaging, and the dialogous and voice actors are not state of the art either, but it is enjoyable. It is bassicly a fairly standard plot, but it does not suffer from annoying cliché's or inconsistencies.

All in all, this game is quite fun. It is not that awesome that it will grip you and you will end up forgetting everything around you, but you can fire up this game, relax, and roast a few pirates. Well worth the 10 euro's.

This is a solid, fun game. Nothing revolutionary, but it looks good and plays well, you won't be dissapointed.

This is precisely the kind of space-sim game that I like to have for months on my hard disk. The story is completely linear, the rpg element is non-existent. the only variations are the upgrades you get for your ship, the money is far too easy to get. BUT...it is so good to take 15 minutes everyday or so to shoot a few pirates, torpedo a cruiser and upgrade your railgun for a better model. Deep space is beautifully rendered, the fights are nice, spectacular, and very fluid with my Nvidia 8x : personnaly, I don't ask for more!

This hasa to be one of the most presently surprising games I have ever played.

Sure, the narrative is predictable and cheesy, the graphics are better than average but a few years old and this game is not for the hardcore sci-fi fanatic. The upgrades system is depressingly linear despite being sold as the opposite, and despite being advertised as "free rein" the storyline is rigid and unavoidable.

These factors fade into irrelevance, however, when you start actually playing. The interface is fantastic, the action immersing and gameplay fluid. Behind this veil of cheese there is a rally great space sim, and once you start playing the game it doesn't take long to get under the surface.

To summarise, if exactly the same engine was used for a Star Wars sim, this game would be perfect. If you have any love of space flight sims, please don't be put of by the apparent RPG nature - this is a truly good game in it's own right.