Starpoint Gemini 2 Ships

Starpoint Gemini 2: Ship List using data from game v1.9901 w/SoA DLC.

Exploring space is an endeavor for the patient; there’s a vast amount of area to cover and the scenery doesn’t change very often. But when you do see something unique and interesting, it’s usually enough to leave you wide-eyed and slack-jawed. That’s representative of the overarching experience in Starpoint Gemini 2, as often you will be marching through familiar territory, both visually and within the gameplay itself, but the moments when the game throws something new at you, be it a new mission or a new ship, it’s very exciting.

I didn’t know what to make of the game initially. It’s certainly beautiful; the ship and structure models are filled with fantastic detail and have a significant weight to them, and the boundless void that is outer space is painted with glowing stars, cloudy nebulas, fields of asteroids, wormholes, space stations, planets, and other ships zooming about. At first it’s all a bit overwhelming to take in, and for the first couple of hours you will be bombarded by tutorial texts that sing the litany of the game’s structure.

On one hand the game offers straightforward action in the way of flying and shooting, this portion of the game is easy enough to grasp. You use your mouse to direct your ship, aim your turrets, and fire your basic weapon. The keyboard is connected to a numbered action bar where you can use special skills and items, as well as use hotkeys that perform various functions. You can toggle between the mouse directly controlling your ship or behaving like a mouse on your desktop, interacting with all the buttons and sliders in the game’s dashboard/interface.

When you’re not busy shooting down enemy ships and transporting precious cargo, you will be treated to the game’s RPG elements. This aspect of the game includes a story that pulls you along a primary mission line, side missions that are typically made up of assassination and transportation jobs, as well as leveling up and customizing your ship. The story itself is interesting enough to give you purpose and context as you zip around space, but if you just want to focus on action and exploration, there’s a sandbox mode that moves the story out of your way.

I mentioned customization earlier and Starpoint Gemini 2 has a lot of it. You can hire staff for your ship which affects its performance: For example, you might hire a crew member who increases your propulsion speeds. You have complete control over your equipment loadout and their enhancements. You can even customize the look of your ship to some degree. All of this is generally handled when you anchor yourself to a space station. While docked, in addition to what I’ve already mentioned, you can buy and sell trade goods, read news clips, access a garage which houses your ships, and more. Battle realms download mediafire. It sounds like a lot to deal with, but between all the tutorials, which are accessible at any time for reference, and the well-designed interface, you’ll have your hands around it in a reasonable amount of time.

The music is very appropriate for a game that is set on immersing you in space. When you’re just drifting and not engaged in combat, the soundtrack bellows soft, playful notes that actually remind me of the more relaxing moments in Mass Effect. When the action picks up, so does the soundtrack’s tempo, and suddenly you’re being alerted with more aggressive audio. The sound effects and voice-overs are mostly standard affair, neither offending nor impressing.

Starpoint Gemini 2 is a massive sandbox style game that plays a lot like an MMO and games like Fallout and Skyrim. There’s no shortage of things to do and it’s a lot of fun exploring space. You’ll ride wormholes like waves in an ocean and jump through warp gates to zip around the map quicker, and you’ll actually feel a sense of danger when you enter enemy territory. The RPG elements allow you to outfit your ships to your liking, and earning credits through completing missions and trading will allow you to invest in even more powerful equipment and ships. The ships look awesome, by the way. Even the ship you start out with looks cool. The first time you lay eyes on a massive dreadnaught ship you’ll be floored.

The biggest downfall is the repetitive nature of the missions. At some point even the story missions feel like a chore and all you have left to push you forward is the drive to conquer the star chart – and the factions within – and acquire bigger and better ships. You have to be alright with not always having some interestingly scripted story event to draw you in and instead relying on raw exploration and adventure.

Starpoint Gemini 2 is a game for space lovers. This is one of the most wonderfully realized open space games I’ve played and it will delight you with its gorgeous visuals. There’s a true sense of adventure as you discover new areas of the star chart, with opportunity and danger lurking around every corner so you’re constantly encouraged to build yourself up in terms of power, wealth, and relationships with the various factions. There’s a serviceable story that will draw you into the personal ambitions of the game’s cast and imbed you within the politics and the conflicts. Just be aware that, ultimately, you’re basically completing the same type of missions ad nauseum: destroying enemy ships, transporting cargo, repairing structures and the like.

Starpoint Gemini 2 is a beast of a game. It gracefully balances exploration, action, narrative, and RPG elements to create a complete package that thrills and excites.. most of the time. Be aware that the nature of the missions are repetititive and ultimately a means to an end: to become the most powerful captain in the galaxy.

PROS

• Incredibly detailed ship models
• Gorgeous visuals - this is space!
• Excellent blend of action and RPG gameplay

CONS

• Repetitive mission types
• Moderately steep learning curve
• The game stutters during gameplay sometimes when new events trigger

Starpoint Gemini 2 (abbreviated to SPG2 or SG2) is a space trading and combat simulator developed by the Croatian-based Little Green Men Games (LGM Games) development studio. It is a direct sequel to Starpoint Gemini, which was released in 2010.

Features[edit]

StarpointGemini 2 is a full 3D space sim/RPG. The in-game world is the Gemini system, which consists of various cohesive star systems.^[2] Players captain one of around seventy ships, controlling a single vessel rather than a fleet, although wingmen as well as ship’s officers will be available for hiring. The game features pre-scripted story missions, but also randomly generated “Freelance missions” that rely on player’s actions and allegiances.^[3]

At the beginning of 2014, LGM Games became an official Oculus Rift developer and have begun implementing support for the VR device. Their stated plan is to 'make all the necessary modifications in rendering and resolution in order to allow players to experience all Oculus Rift is capable of offering'.^[4]

Gameplay[edit]

The player can choose to play campaign or freeroam mode. The game features an extensive space simulation gameplay where the player is put in control of capital ships instead of more classic approach of controlling fighter based vehicles.

The player has the freedom to do as he likes so professions in the game vary from space pirate, trader, privateer, asteroid miner, gas miner, scientist, explorer, salvager to lawkeeper.The player is open to explore those professions as he likes but there is a set class that is picked upon creating your character. The 3 classes are: Commander, Gunner and Engineer. Commander being specialized in augmenting your fleet, gunner in offensive capabilities and Engineer being a mix in between while also featuring support skills.

Combat mechanics[edit]

Players can utilize control of their weapon batteries and turret based weapon system. Depending on the ship preset conditions he can equip a fixed amount of weapon types to his ship which also have a preset locations on the ship and turret firing angles. Furthermore the player can increase or decrease the amount of turrets placed to his ship. Weapon system features light weapons(beams/railguns/plasma) and heavy weapons(missiles/shockwave). The shield system also follows more unconventional approach by splitting them in 4 parts instead of a usual single system.Player can use 4 skills which differ depending on the picked class and he can use various equipment which augments combat abilities.All this allows for a more tactical and faster paced gameplay.

Campaign[edit]

In the campaign mode, the player starts out as Adrian Faulkner, a 22-year-old son of the legendary Gemini League hero, Gabriel Faulkner, known best for his endeavors in the last Gemini war. The player struggles to unveil the mysteries of his father's death and his efforts to save the Gemini from foreign invasions. Along with the main story quest line, the player is also able to pause his main story progression in order to enjoy features that the freeroam mode provides from the start.

Freeroam[edit]

The player is thrown into a vast universe with his starting ship to explore and play as he likes. There are no obligations to complete any quests, and it is essentially a sandbox experience where players can choose to play as they like.

Timeline[edit]

• December 2011: First announcement^[5]
• January 2013:Little Green Men Games secures publishing of Starpoint Gemini 2 with Iceberg Interactive^[6]
• September 2013:Alpha released on Steam Early Access.^[7]
• March 2014:Beta released on Steam.^[8]
• September 2014: Final Release Candidate released on Steam.^[9]
• February 2015: DLC 'Secrets of Aethera' released on Steam.^[10]
• June 2015: DLC 'Origins' Free port of Starpoint Gemini story into the new engine, released on Steam. ^[11]
• June 2015:'Starpoint Gemini: Warlords' spinoff from Starpoint Gemini 2 announced on official LGM website^[12]
• September 2015: DLC 'Titans' announced on official LGM website^[13]

Reception[edit]

Starpoint Gemini 2 has been generally favorable by critics. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the game 74.09% ^[14] and 70/100.^[15]

Patrick Carlson from PC Gamer described the game as one of the most positive and relaxing game experiences he's had in a long time.^[17]

Nicholas Plouffe from Canadian Online Gamers thanked the developers for making him lose in his own little world.^[19]

Nick Horth from Strategy Informer praises the game for its pirate system: 'Want to be a despicable pirate, preying on weak transport ships and poorly defended mining stations? That's fine, knock yourself out.' ^[18]

Di Lorenzo Baldo from IGN Italia describes the game as 'the best balm to heal the wounds left open after the disastrous X Rebirth'^[16]

Sales[edit]

According to LGM, the game sold more than 400,000 copies as of February 2019.^[20]

Awards[edit]

• 2014 - Best PC games of 2014 - Exploration and survival ^[21]
• 2014 - Best game in the region ^[22]
• 2014 - Top 100 indie of the year ^[23]

References[edit]

1. ^'SPACE FANS REJOICE: STARPOINT GEMINI 2 LANDS ON STEAM TODAY!'. 26 September 2014.
2. ^Smith, Adam (9 September 2013). 'Ship Of The Iceberg: Starpoint Gemini 2'. Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
3. ^Pitcher, Jenna (9 September 2013). 'Starpoint Gemini 2 hits Steam Early Access'. Polygon. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
4. ^Dean (9 January 2014). 'Starpoint Gemini 2 support for the Oculus Rift'. nextpowerup. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
5. ^'Starpoint Gemini II Announced'. GameBanshee. 15 December 2011. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
6. ^Griffioen, Mayke (15 January 2013). 'The gateway to Gemini will open once again in Starpoint Gemini 2!' (Press release). Haarlem, Netherlands.
7. ^'Through the wormhole with Starpoint Gemini 2' (Press release). Haarlem, Netherlands. 6 September 2013.
8. ^'Starpoint Gemini enters Beta'. 6 March 2014.
9. ^'Starpoint Gemini 2 has left Early Access'. 27 September 2014.
10. ^'Starpoint Gemini 2: Secrets of Aethera'.
11. ^'Starpoint Gemini 2: Origins'.
12. ^'Starpoint Gemini II: Warlords DLC Announced'. LGM. 24 June 2015. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
13. ^'Starpoint Gemini II: Titans DLC Announced'. LGM. 26 September 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
14. ^ ^ab'Starpoint Gemini 2 for PC'. GameRankings.
15. ^ ^ab'Starpoint Gemini 2 for PC'. Metacritic.
16. ^ ^abDI LORENZO BALDO (10 October 2014). 'Starpoint Gemini 2 review'. IGN Italia. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
17. ^ ^abPatrick Carlson (9 October 2014). 'Starpoint Gemini 2 - review'. PCGamer. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
18. ^ ^abNick Horth (8 October 2014). 'Starpoint Gemini 2 review'. StrategyInformer. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
19. ^ ^abNicholas Plouffe (7 October 2014). 'Review: Starpoint Gemini 2 (PC) Review – Space Pirates… 'Nuff Said'. Canadian Online Gamers. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
20. ^http://www.poslovni.hr/tehnologija/hrvatski-serijal-sa-600000-igraca-lansirao-novi-hit-na-steamu-350393
21. ^PCGamer
22. ^[1]
23. ^[2]

External links[edit]