• Publisher: Kalypso
  • Release Date: Jul 13, 2010
Metascore

Mixed or average reviews - based on 33 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 17 Ratings

  • Summary: DarkStar One - Broken Alliance sees players exploring the vast reaches of space, encountering, battling and trading with six mysterious alien races in a quest to unravel the mysterious death of the protagonist’s father. Players can create their own career paths – be it brigand, mercenary, pr, privateer, merchant or whatever mix they please, while buying (or capturing) alien technology to customise their highly adaptable ship, the DarkStar One, with hundreds of possible combinations of weapons, shields, armour and components. Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 33
  2. Negative: 0 out of 33
  1. DarkStar One: Broken Alliance is a bit repetitive, but it has enough variety and the gameplay is easy enough to get into that the experience is very addictive.
  2. DarkStar One is a fairly big (and dangerous) world; while it isn't always the prettiest game nor does it host a wide variety of missions like other contemporary sandbox titles, the important thing to know is this: for a 4 year old port it still manages to bring something new to the table that is fun and the combat works, and in the end isn't that exactly what we want out of our games?
  3. DarkStar One: Broken Alliance is a solid adventure that brings due to a lot of side missions quite a long game time to you and is fun as a space-shooter. But the bad presentation drops the mood several levels.
  4. DarkStar One: Broken Alliance is big, complex, and just messy enough to make it hard to recommend without some reservation. If you've been hard up for a space combat sim, this is a lot of game for $50. If you're short on patience, though, you may want to sit this trip out.

See all 33 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 3
  2. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. DarkStar One: Broken Alliance for the Xbox 360 is currently the only one of its kind as of Feb. 22, 2011.

    Most people who enjoy 4X games, e
    xploration, expansion, exploitation, and extermination will find this game lacking at the same time playable. It's a fairly shallow game that doesn't offer much customization, although there are plenty of upgrade components. Exploration is comprised of entering new solar systems via your upgradable warp drives jump distance; which is not only determined by money but mainly where you are in the storyline. When you enter a new system everything in it is listed in a Target List leaving little room for actual exploration.

    Expansion consists of opening new solar systems. There is no station management or player controlled solar systems.

    Exploitation is not worth discussing because of how little it brings to the game.

    Extermination has less to offer than exploitation.

    The graphics are crisp and clean but to me they feel unnatural.

    Overall the game fills a void that has been neglected on the console and that in itself makes this game worth 20 USD and a 7.5 review score in my book. But be warned that this game is for those of us who want a 4X game so badly that we can't score it lower than 7.5.
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  2. We REALLY need more games like this on the 360! or any console come to that,Especially as this is the only one like this on it.. So Kudos Kalypso for releasing this game,cos theres people out there(myself included)that have been crying out for a game like this on cosole,for the longest time..(Probably the last decent space combat game on a console,was Starlancer,on the Sega Dreamcast,which is unacceptable).This has got everything you would want from a game like this.You can go where you want,& take on whatever missions you want,& do trading also,Elite style.I like the way that the Alien artifacts you collect,you use to upgrade your ship(The Darkstar One),to the systems you want to work on,& the way it shows visibly in the look of your ship.The combat could be a little better if i'm honest,Could do with being a little slower & more tactical like say Starlancer or The X-Wing games,but its ok,& not too fast & 'wizzy' like Project Silpheed.But all in all,if your looking for a decent Space Combat/Trading game,then this will do nicely.. But can we have more games like this on console PLEEEEEASE.... Is that too much to ask?.. Expand
  3. I've always wanted to try a space simulator, but Darkstar One: Broken Alliance might have turned me off from simulators forever.
    The plot goes
    like this: your father has been murdered by a mysterious criminal, but on the bright side he left you a kick-@$$ ship that can be upgraded with alien artifacts. You must hunt down the vile murderer and bring him to justice, but first you must collect enough credits to get to a star system with information.
    From there, you go around collecting credits by killing pirates, pirating for yourself, smuggling, or escorting cargo ships between systems. The missions are pretty much all the same within their respective types.
    The game tells you it has "Over 300 star systems to explore!" That's half true; it does have over 300 star systems, but since about 250 of them consist of little more than a trade station, a planet decal (or picture), and some random debris, that's not saying a whole lot.
    Space battles are fun usually, once you get the controls. The ship's a little slow and the default weapon sounds like a Star Wars reject, but otherwise it's fun.
    I got this game for $5, and I don't think I'd pay a whole lot more for it, but I can't say it's a bad space simulator...just that space is really boring.
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