It could have used more variety in the mission area, a bit more content and definitely multiplayer, but it remains a game that gives a player freedom to explore, trade or fight as he sees fit, with little restrictions.
If you want to steer your own spaceship through Space but don't like MMOs like Star Trek Online, EVE Online or Black Prophecy, Starpoint Gemini is the singleplayer experience for you.
A year ago I loved this. And I still do. But since we have Starpoint Gemini 2 now I will not tell you to buy the original. Buy the sequel because it's as good as it gets. Developers also intend to make a full conversion mod of the original and port it to Starpoint Gemini 2. For free. So one more reason not to buy this, but to definately buy Starpoint Gemini 2. Peace out.
Music - good.
Story - good.
Gameplay - good.
Graphics - good.
Sound - good.
Overall impressions are excellent. It's a fun game, but if you never played it, go straight to Starpoint Gemini 2 which is brilliant!
Starpoint Gemini struggles to deliver a proper space simulation experience: the story is badly told, graphics aren't good, roleplaying and strategic elements are shadowed by a bidimensional universe and a persisent slow feeling.
Do not bother with reading "trusted reviews" cause there are not trusted by any sane user for years now. Metacritic lost its credibility and it's here basically to give advantage to the highest bidder. This game was made by a small indie team and it's amazing as majority of users agree.
It would be a good game EXCEPT: you can not skip cut scenes, the cut scenes are too long and kill the immersion. seriously, they are too long. Way to kill what would have been a cool space game.
RPG, Open World-ish, Space Battles. All these things sound like fun, but...
1. Combat. SG combat is frustrating and all around terrible. It consists of incessantly spinning in circles while attempting to fire at the right moment. The AI spins around you while you're trying to spin around them. It's more like dancing and less like space combat.
2. The. Voice. Acting. Is. Atrocious. Firstly: every ship captain is Russian, for some reason. Secondly: you can't skip much of it. The narrated cutscenes are SO LONG, and the voice acting is SO TERRIBLE, you'd think there would be an option to skip these. Nope!
Horrible voiceovers (russian,bulgarian english), terrible execution (some functions don't work or respond or missing), and total garbage imitation of previous games ie Fleet Academy Star Trek, Elite, Freelancer, EvE online and some other more successful titles. The result is a catatrosphic bundle of bugs, typos, and unreliable interface in the ship movements that cuts off any real enjoyment from the "game". Plus it's in 2D over a 3D backdrop which makes it even less attractive and not in a good way. Felt like wasted 30 minutes of my life away.
The game play is almost their, which would be ok if it had some sort of decent story to drive it, but as it stands it is simply an empty husk of mechanics that any number of other space games do better, with higher production values and more interesting stories. I would skip this one if I were you.
SummaryStarpoint Gemini is a tactical space RPG set in a science-fiction universe, which focuses on the control and strengths of individual vessels and their captains.