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| The Entertainment Review |
| Genre: Strategy Developer: HermitWorks Publisher: Meridian4 |
In the future, the Ministry of Accounts governs everything that happens. They are an organization that tracks the daily life of every citizen,
including the spending that happens from day to day. In “Space Trader: Merchant Marine” players start off as a regular person who
decides to take chances in the space trading business in order to make some cash. The only problem is that he doesn’t have a ship,
which could be a problem. The game focuses on three specific activities, exploring, trading and combat.
Exploring consists of simply wandering around in whatever world the player is on, much like an RPG, and speak to the residents of the
world. Speaking to the residents will sometimes result in gaining useful information or unlock new people to trade with. The entire
game is 3D and looks pretty good for being an independent game with a small budget. The graphics don’t compare to those of an
average first person shooter from a company with a large cash flow, but the graphics are decent and are fairly small considering the
budget. Every planet looks different and the areas to be explored are well detailed with posters and graffiti on the walls. The characters
are also detailed fairly well; with the only real gripe is with how often similar character models were reused.
While exploring and interacting with different characters, players are able to buy and sell good to these people and get jobs. During
these conversations, there are some unique moments that can occur because of these conversations. There are times when players
will be asked to make a moral decision that could possibly influence the price of products or they can use different responses in order
to complete a quest without having to resort to violence. How all of these situations turn out can be very surprising at times, leaving
players constantly guessing. It is at these points that players must decide whether to do something evil for money, or to use violence or
talk their way out of a situation.
Since the game is called “Space Trader: Merchant Marines,” the game revolves around trading goods. Actually, the different levels and
challenges that make up the game are based around earning a certain amount of money in a specific amount time. This, along with an
extremely easy to use interface for buying and selling products that allows players to quickly see the demand for specific products,
players are able to instantly see how much profit they will get from selling a certain item. Sadly, the interface is far too simple. Making
money from trades in the game is simply looking at the demand of a product, if it is low, buy a lot. If the demand is high, sell it all as fast
as possible. Or, travel to another planet and sell it for a large profit. That is really all that is consists of. The hardest part of this whole
ordeal is what to buy and trade and which planet to go to next. The planets keep moving during the game so the planet that the next
mission may take place on could be very far away. Since each challenge has a time limit, traveling from planet to planet can waste a lot
of time.
The last element of the game is combat. When players aren’t exploring or trading on different planets, players are able to talk to local
bartenders about bounties. These bounty missions are similar to those of first person shooter games. Players are thrown into an
arena with a pistol, there are power-ups, weapons and items floating to collect and use. During the bounty missions players must kill a
few enemies before the person being hunted appears, then they are the next on the list to eliminate and succeed. Players are only
given three chances to complete the mission, if players die or if the bounty gets away, it is over.
The bounty parts of the game are a very small part and do a good job of providing a break from the exploring and trading parts of the
game, but it still has its flaws. There are only a few arenas that the bounty missions take place in and they get very repetitive very
quickly. They quickly begin to feel like copies of each other. They are very fun the first time through, but players will be wanting more
soon after. Also, the AI for the enemies is a little awkward, the just don’t seem to move very fluidly, and they seem to be hopping around
at all times, which is a lot odd.
Another part of the game that many players will probably be fairly frustrated with is the fact that there isn’t a save system. While the
game automatically saves progress anytime the player travels from one planet to another, there is not option to save while on the
planet. This means that players must travel to a new planet if they want to end a playing session, which may mess with a task they are
working on. A simple save button could have fixed this problem, but it may have been a minor oversight on the developer’s part. Also,
there are achievements for players to achieve in the game, but there is no place for these achievements to be viewed after they have
been unlocked. This can be a little frustrating, especially for those who enjoy collecting achievements.
“Space Trader: Merchant Marines” also offers a multiplayer mode that allows players to compete against up to either other players in
order to try and reach a monetary goal the fastest. Though it is multiplayer, there is very little feeling of competing against other live
opponents.
This game is another example of a great independent title that shows promise for the future of gaming. Though there are flaws in the
game, they can be excused because of the lack of funding, unlike some big name games that continue to have flaws. For those who
enjoy the stock exchange, space ships and fighting, this is the perfect game to buy with a high demand and low price.
including the spending that happens from day to day. In “Space Trader: Merchant Marine” players start off as a regular person who
decides to take chances in the space trading business in order to make some cash. The only problem is that he doesn’t have a ship,
which could be a problem. The game focuses on three specific activities, exploring, trading and combat.
Exploring consists of simply wandering around in whatever world the player is on, much like an RPG, and speak to the residents of the
world. Speaking to the residents will sometimes result in gaining useful information or unlock new people to trade with. The entire
game is 3D and looks pretty good for being an independent game with a small budget. The graphics don’t compare to those of an
average first person shooter from a company with a large cash flow, but the graphics are decent and are fairly small considering the
budget. Every planet looks different and the areas to be explored are well detailed with posters and graffiti on the walls. The characters
are also detailed fairly well; with the only real gripe is with how often similar character models were reused.
While exploring and interacting with different characters, players are able to buy and sell good to these people and get jobs. During
these conversations, there are some unique moments that can occur because of these conversations. There are times when players
will be asked to make a moral decision that could possibly influence the price of products or they can use different responses in order
to complete a quest without having to resort to violence. How all of these situations turn out can be very surprising at times, leaving
players constantly guessing. It is at these points that players must decide whether to do something evil for money, or to use violence or
talk their way out of a situation.
Since the game is called “Space Trader: Merchant Marines,” the game revolves around trading goods. Actually, the different levels and
challenges that make up the game are based around earning a certain amount of money in a specific amount time. This, along with an
extremely easy to use interface for buying and selling products that allows players to quickly see the demand for specific products,
players are able to instantly see how much profit they will get from selling a certain item. Sadly, the interface is far too simple. Making
money from trades in the game is simply looking at the demand of a product, if it is low, buy a lot. If the demand is high, sell it all as fast
as possible. Or, travel to another planet and sell it for a large profit. That is really all that is consists of. The hardest part of this whole
ordeal is what to buy and trade and which planet to go to next. The planets keep moving during the game so the planet that the next
mission may take place on could be very far away. Since each challenge has a time limit, traveling from planet to planet can waste a lot
of time.
The last element of the game is combat. When players aren’t exploring or trading on different planets, players are able to talk to local
bartenders about bounties. These bounty missions are similar to those of first person shooter games. Players are thrown into an
arena with a pistol, there are power-ups, weapons and items floating to collect and use. During the bounty missions players must kill a
few enemies before the person being hunted appears, then they are the next on the list to eliminate and succeed. Players are only
given three chances to complete the mission, if players die or if the bounty gets away, it is over.
The bounty parts of the game are a very small part and do a good job of providing a break from the exploring and trading parts of the
game, but it still has its flaws. There are only a few arenas that the bounty missions take place in and they get very repetitive very
quickly. They quickly begin to feel like copies of each other. They are very fun the first time through, but players will be wanting more
soon after. Also, the AI for the enemies is a little awkward, the just don’t seem to move very fluidly, and they seem to be hopping around
at all times, which is a lot odd.
Another part of the game that many players will probably be fairly frustrated with is the fact that there isn’t a save system. While the
game automatically saves progress anytime the player travels from one planet to another, there is not option to save while on the
planet. This means that players must travel to a new planet if they want to end a playing session, which may mess with a task they are
working on. A simple save button could have fixed this problem, but it may have been a minor oversight on the developer’s part. Also,
there are achievements for players to achieve in the game, but there is no place for these achievements to be viewed after they have
been unlocked. This can be a little frustrating, especially for those who enjoy collecting achievements.
“Space Trader: Merchant Marines” also offers a multiplayer mode that allows players to compete against up to either other players in
order to try and reach a monetary goal the fastest. Though it is multiplayer, there is very little feeling of competing against other live
opponents.
This game is another example of a great independent title that shows promise for the future of gaming. Though there are flaws in the
game, they can be excused because of the lack of funding, unlike some big name games that continue to have flaws. For those who
enjoy the stock exchange, space ships and fighting, this is the perfect game to buy with a high demand and low price.
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