➤ Conquering the universe 🎮

The saga created by Shawn Bower draws its origins from the beginnings of space gaming, an era in which Elite, the highest representative of galactic free roaming, dominated. Not surprisingly, one of the most impressive features of Evochron Mercenary, or the ability to roam the universe and explore any celestial body without any loading, was already available in the title developed by Braben and Bell 26 years ago, albeit with some limitations due to memory limitations. But new elements brought by different titles have been added to the Elite formula, obviously including the two predecessors of the object of this review, which in the past years have kept the faint flame of space free roaming alive.

The most relevant elements of this evolution are the quests, the possibility of drilling raw materials and that of juggling by piloting one's spaceship in space circuits. And these are the basic elements of Evochron in which there is no real context that forces us to choose one mission rather than another, but a huge galaxy full of possibilities where the historical events that are the background do not necessarily concern us. But if this choice favors the feeling of being a scattered speck in the universe, and allows the sole developer to concentrate on the game structure, at the same time it deprives the universe of a narrative depth often fundamental to give the player a goal to pursue with passion.

To infinity and beyond

To contextualize our role in the universe, however, there are some factions that allow us to play a role and decide who to favor with our missions and who instead to antagonize on the path to success. And it is a rather arduous path that passes through routine missions, such as the creation of space routes that require the simple destruction of asteroids, but which sometimes puts us to the test as it happens during the escort services to spaceships attractive for criminals or opposing factions. In addition, there is a market for goods to be exploited to increase our resources, a crew to manage and we can improve the performance of our ship by purchasing new components that allow us to customize and enhance every detail. Of course, the complexity of the market and micromanagement is nowhere near comparable to that of X3 but the variety of Evochron Mercenary the quality of the flight model based on Newtonian mechanics is also out of the question and out of the question. Raw physics therefore that we can use to perform extreme maneuvers using, for example, inertia to perform space spin and hit an enemy that until a moment before was a pursuer. And predictably we also have afterburners available that allow us to exponentially increase speed to chase an opponent or to escape his lasers while we unlatch all available countermeasures.

In addition, our ship has vertical engines that allow further escape maneuvers but are also essential to move with greater precision during peaceful missions such as drilling for asteroids, placing satellites or exploring wrecks. But the inertial system is not very comfortable outside of combat and to overcome this inconvenience our ship has an ISD system which, when activated, uses the auxiliary engines to automatically correct the inertial drift and make driving easier and intuitive. Obviously, the ISD takes advantage of the ship's secondary engines, consuming more fuel than standard navigation and reducing autonomy, which is essential for being able to move freely in space without having to refuel at each station. Obviously, for longer journeys we have the classic hyperspace jumps available but the initial version of hyperdrive, which we can change thanks to our earnings, is not very powerful and is insufficient even just to allow us to jump from one planet to another. To complete the offer of Evochron Mercenary we find four classes to specialize in as many tasks, giving us an initial direction towards which to direct our efforts. On the other hand, as anticipated, the tasks to be carried out are not limited to commercial and combat activities but also include espionage and corruption missions and we are even given the opportunity to build space stations.

Also in Spanish ...

... as rightly reported in the comments, we were pointed out that a translation of the game in Spanish is available, made by a group of willing users. We leave you at the link to find it, one more reason to experiment with this interesting indie title.

Il brutto anatrocolo

The first thing that catches the eye of Evochron Mercenary it is the low definition of the image that does not change even at extreme resolutions. Obviously this is a ploy aimed at hiding the flaws of a very poor graphics engine, but we are faced with a very complex, playable and full of possibilities title that was developed by a single person. A single developer who has created an engine that allows you to travel for entire galactic quadrants and to penetrate through the atmosphere of the planets without any loading. And despite the fact that the quality of the peaks and vegetation is certainly not high, the planets are enriched by valid environmental effects and suggestive bodies of water that balance, albeit relatively, the evident aesthetic flaws. In addition, the game engine also calculates the atmospheric friction that can damage the ship at high speeds and it is not advisable to launch a hyperspace jump when you are subject to the gravity of a celestial body unless you have suicidal intentions. From an aesthetic point of view, colors and shapes vaguely reminiscent of Wing Commander and it is not a bad thing even if unfortunately the terrain and structures are not much superior to those used in the now antiquated Origin title. Fortunately, as we have already mentioned, the title adopts the same trick used in the titles of Chris Robers that filed the defects by shelling the image, but it is impossible to improve lasers, countermeasures and missiles that are made in an amateur way and are more reminiscent of a demo of the first three-dimensional engines rather than a full title.

If nothing else, planets, asteroids, stars, black holes and nebulae, when we observe them from the darkness of space, strike us thanks to intense colors and vivid textures and the final result is an evocative panorama that is enhanced by decidedly appropriate and engaging spatial symphonies. The audio effects, on the other hand, are more spartan, both in terms of quantity and quality, but the female voice of the on-board computer takes care of recovering the sci-fi pathos, alerting us to everything that happens around us, including altitude emergencies. Also worth mentioning is the spaceship HUD which is equipped with any kind of beacon or information window and is beautifully designed and colored. In short, despite the modest engine and the investments of a single person, the final effect, although certainly not oriented to high definition, is certainly capable of involving science fiction fans, provided of course to turn a blind eye to the poverty of detail. Furthermore, we cannot fail to underline the presence of a multiplayer with 35 players that allows you to engage real pilots in fights, speed races, clan war and even in challenges to capture the flag. But the most relevant multiplayer element is the cooperative mode which allows 35 players to play freely on the same server by trading and collaborating to tackle the most difficult missions. Missions that become even more complex and fun thanks to the possibility of using the voice chat that is included in the title code.

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Evochron Mercenary improves a number of aspects already present in the saga but is still too weak on the aesthetic side. In fact, models and lighting are not even remotely close to any current production and in the face of this, the 30 dollars in price appear to be honestly too much. Yet the formula of Shawn Bower's title, which includes a multiplayer sector comparable to that of a small MMO, is one of the richest and most complex of the current gaming landscape and one cannot fail to appreciate the possibility of crossing and dominating entire quadrants of the universe. without any limitation. In short, we recommend trying the demo to all fans of free space roaming and above all to anyone who has appreciated Elite and is promptly disappointed by the formulas that try to emulate it.