Battlecruiser Millenium

[Zkribbler]

Has anyone played this??

I was tempted to buy it when I saw it on the close-out shelf, but this game series has a sad past. Battlecruiser was one of the first games that came out for Windows 75. It because infamous for crashing. Later versions came out: Battlecruiser 2000 and Battlecruiser 3000 IIRC, and they kept crashing. I bought one of them and was very disappointed.

Now, I see BCM and again I'm tempted. The game has a great premise: you can play as (a) the commander of the battlecruiser or (b) of a flight leader of starfighers which launch from the battlecruiser, or (c) of a team of Marine commandos stationed on the battlecruiser.

I read a review which gave it 7 out of 10. So it looks like they've finally got it working.

So, is it worth $7.00?

[DRoseDARs]

I've tried, tried again to even get ANY of the games in this series to install, and it's not for a lack of specs. Piss poor

[DrSpike]

That's because it only runs on Windows 75 apparently.

[Zkribbler]

I just found a very negative review:

I can't quite remember where I first caught sight of Battlecruiser Millenium (henceforth BCM) - I can only remember it sounded fascinating. So fascinating, in fact, I shelled out quite a lot of money to have the game shipped from the US - as it was originally distributed only by its developers, 3000AD. The promised features sounded like just about everything I could ask for in a game: a persistent universe, space-to-surface combat, and the minutiae of managing my own starship in true Captain Picard style (bear in mind you're dealing with a gamer who renamed all his X-COM characters, and grew pathetically attached to them). In short, I was looking for Elite 2 with bells on.

And, to be honest, it's hard to tell where it all went so horribly wrong. The design elements are there - to a fashion, the interface is passable, everything that makes up a good game has been put in place... but what emerges is a hotch-potch of badly implemented ideas.

The game comprises three distinct 'modes' of play - each revolving around the central premise that you can choose what kind of character to play in the persistent universe; be it a starship command, a lowly marine, or a fighter pilot. The first mode is a simple series of 'instant action' scenarios, that thrust you into an engagement in your starship/fighter/fighting vehicle - and here we have our first hint of poor design. Whilst the starship scenarios are decent enough in terms of learning the ropes (and there are a /lot/ of ropes, with all kinds of systems to learn to use), the marine 'instant action' missions have a distinct lack of... well... action, usually comprising of being plonked unceremoniously on a planet and... standing there. And standing there some more. Efforts to find an enemy may eventually result in success, only for the player to uncover a woefully simplistic first-person shooter. Fighter combat is equally dull, as dogfights are impossible to control with both combatants rarely scoring a hit, never mind a kill... and engagements with capital ships are fruitless.

But then it's apparent the game was not designed for such frivolity - no, the real meat of the game lies in its simulation of a starship (or, indeed, a Battlecruiser), and here's where the other two 'modes' of play come into their own. The first is 'roam' mode - which is just that, you choose a race, a career (military, police, trader, etc), and a ship, and are basically thrust into the wild black yonder. The 'campaign' mode is much the same, except with occasional scripted missions thrown in for the limited variety they offer.

All kinds of career, huh? Great stuff! Limitless replayability... you might think, until it becomes apparent your choice of vocation has absolutely /no/ impact on gameplay aside from which AI enemies choose to shoot at you. Be a policeman - shoot at criminals, but the only way you know they're criminals is by their ship's ID - /not/ by any specific actions on their part. Be military - shoot at rebels, and likewise. If you can stomach the game's woefully simplistic economic model, you can be a trader, albeit one that does a lot of note-jotting of prices, as their are no game mechanics to assist you in finding the best prices - a horrible oversight, in my opinion.

Which brings us to the game's major failing in my eyes - there is /no point/. There is no evidence of a 'persistent universe', a la Elite. Enemy (or friendly) ships are simply randomly spawned in your spatial sector, and you blow them up - and more appear. It's quite possible to enter the atmosphere of a world and lay waste to an enemy ground base with turret fire... but the sense of achievement is lost when your AI allies completely fail to capitalize on your success by claiming the ground you so helpfully sterilized. Instead - in time - the base is rebuilt, ready for you to blow it up ALL OVER AGAIN.

A limited sense of progression is offered by the ability to eventually gain 'fleet command' and boss around the friendly ships that appear randomly wherever you are - but considering their total lack of competence or - indeed - any sense of self-preservation, the novelty quickly wears. Likewise enemy star stations can be 'captured', (with a great deal of difficulty, and be careful, if you accidentally destroy it - guess what? - it rebuilds itself after a time) but once all the enemy starships have been converted... that's it. So much could have been added to the game with more specific goals to accomplish, such as various medals to earn, or an actual /war/ to fight, with objectives, rather than 'blow up the respawning enemy'.

There are a number of other terrible, terrible design choices - such as the malicious 'intruders' that board your ship seemingly at random - from destinations unknown - and proceed to wreak havoc until your distinctly slow-off-the-mark security marines can subdue them... or the ability to 'mine' planets using a primitive waypoint system and mining robots, a process that takes hours for limited gains.

The graphics are... functional, but suffer from a number of unpleasant-looking glitches, such as your automatically-firing defensive laser turrets being all but invisible ninety percent of the time - or the occasional 'see-through' star station.

The game, however, must be commended for its sense of /scale/. Since it is possible to leave your battlecruiser in a space-suit, the player is quite capable of walking around on the hull of his own stationary ship... and appreciate its vastness... and then park next to a space station to appreciate /true/ vastness. This moment - along with first seeing your gigantic war-machine floating above an entire enemy ground installation - is very cool, but cannot save the game from its other fatal flaws. The music is certainly atmospheric, and quite catchy in its own way - it's just a shame the game's sound effects are bleeps reminiscent of a very long game of Pong. It's deeply disappointing to be given the command of a terrifying ship of war whose main guns sound like Mario jumping on one of those mushrooms.

Other factors must be taken into consideration, which - despite not being part of the game - are certainly part of the product. The first - technical assistance is, well, not nonexistent, but outright objectionable. Although never having participated on the game's forums myself, an occasional view gives the impression that requests for help are met with scorn and occasionally outright insults from the developer's staff.

Likewise, the box promises 'an optional multiplayer component'. Apparently, in this case 'optional' is a secret code meaning 'non-existent'... ostensibly to be added in a patch only months after the game's release, two years on sees the developer abandoning the project, putting paid to multiplayer shenanigans adding depth or longevity to an otherwise paper-thin game.

It really is very unfortunate, because on paper Battlecruiser Millennium sounds like one of those games-in-a-lifetime - absorbing, open-ended and deep, but the reality is a below-mediocre title crippled by substandard coding and design.

What a waste.

[Sarxis]

The games in the series are like an Indie Film: there are some very neat ideas, and interesting twists, but you will feel disjointed and confused by the lack of convention. :P

But seriously? I've played a couple of the games in the BC series, but not for very long due to bugs and general awkwardness.

$7 however? At least your macabre curiousity will be satiated.

[Hueij]

You want a spacegame?

http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Oolite_Main_Page

It's a 21st century remake of the original Elite with some great user-made mods. Some of these mods are whole new games by themselves.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Hueij
You want a spacegame?

http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Oolite_Main_Page

It's a 21st century remake of the original Elite with some great user-made mods. Some of these mods are whole new games by themselves.

The last space game I really enjoyed was Wing Commander: Prophecy. (I bought Indepence War but couldn't get into it.)

Hmm, was Privateer a DOS-game or a Windows-75 game? I'll be I have it stored away somewhere. It was great!

[snoopy369]

Ok, what the heck is Windows 75? I assumed you meant it as a joke in the OP, but the second reference sounds more serious...

[Zkribbler]

Windows 95? F*^*#!, what was the first Windows operating system?

[Kuciwalker]

1.0...

[LordShiva]

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Zkribbler
Windows 95? F*^*#!, what was the first Windows operating system?

3.0...

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Hueij
You want a spacegame?

Hi Hueij, is there anything like Starflight?

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
3.0...

Wrong.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger


Hi Hueij, is there anything like Starflight?

Starflight was awesome!