Battlestar Galactica Onine: Beta Review

Game site: http://us1.battlestar-galactica.bigpoint.com/

Battlestar Galactica fans everywhere, your game has arrived! Bigpoint, in association with SyFy and NBC Universal, has been working on an online MMO called Battlestar Galactica Online. Battlestar Galactica Online (BGO) is set just after Season 2, Episode 11 and 12, where Galactica and Pegasus destroy the Cylon Resurrection Ship. According to the story of BGO, the Cylons retaliate soon after for the lost of their ship. But when the Colonial Fleet tries to jump away, something goes wrong. Both the Colonial and Cylon fleet are hit with a massive energy pulse that overloads their FTL drives and triggers an uncontrolled jump that throws them way off course.

Here starts the main story of BGO. One the game site, Bigpoint gives this description:

In Battlestar Galactic Online, both the Colonial and Cylon fleets find themselves stranded in an unexplored area of space at the very edge of one of the galactic arms. Heavily damaged and critically low on resources, both fleets race against time to repair and rearm, struggling for control of systems rich in Tylium, metals and water. The Colonial fleet desperately searches for a way to escape and continue the search for Earth before the Cylons gain enough strength to destroy them once and for all.

Even though BGO is just a beta at the moment, I'll give a short review of it in its current state. When it goes to its actual release, I'll review it again with any additions they've made.

Note: This review is done from the human side of the game. You can play as a Cylon, and I will be reviewing that side of game later.

Review

Gameplay/Presentation 7/10 - The gameplay of BGO is pretty well executed, especially for a solely online MMO with no downloaded client. The game starts you off with a brief tutorial that teaches you how to fly your Viper Mk II, how to attack, and few other basic skills. When the tutorial ends, you can get more training by going and getting missions from Admiral Adama, or you can jump straight into the main game. The main story of the game involved jumping to systems, preferable with a fleet of other player ships, and establishing an outpost in that system. This can be easy if the Cylons don't have an outpost ship in that system. But if they do, massive, multi-ship PvP battles tend to take place, with spectacular results.
If you don't want to jump straight into helping with the raid fleets, you can take little assignments from Apollo and Starbuck. These are usually mining, drone killing, and recon missions, great for getting a little extra money and experience. Hopefully when the release copy of the game comes out, they will have a few more missions. When they do, BGO will definitely get a higher score here.

Graphics/Sound 9/10 - If you run BGO at full graphics over a good internet connections, the graphics of the star systems look amazing. The ship textures are extremely well done and the textures for the asteroids, planets and other various in-system objects look great. Even when you have to turn the graphics down, the game still looks good. The soundtrack of the game is even better. Some of the music is from the show, and the music that isn't from the show is clearly related to the music from the show. But it's not just the music that is stellar, is also the sound effects. The explosions, gun and missile sounds, engine noise are all extremely well done. They sound similar to the show, without being a direct rip from BSG.

Story 7/10 - Here's where the game is lacking a little bit. While there is an over-arching story to the entire game, there are not a lot of side missions and side stories to explore. Mostly, the story revolves around trying to take more systems than the Cylons. But what happens if the humans push them all the way back to their Basestar. Does the game end? Will Galactica jump out from behind the nebula finally? We may never know, but hopefully the developers have considered these, and other burning questions that the beta testers have had.

Overall Verdict 8/10

This game has huge potential, and since it's just hitting open beta, it has plenty of time to work out any hiccups that may pop up. To the developers, I just have to say keep up the great work on the game. I'm look forward to flying my Viper around the world of BGO for many months to come.

Kai_Strife

Image Sources:
http://windows7themes.net
http://www.mmogamesite.com
http://us1.battlestar-galactica.bigpoint.com

Blog Update 09

Hey everyone!

Just a very brief blog update: All Stargate reviews, starting this friday, will be released every friday, and most likely not by the same person each time.

I believe that they will also be posted over at FLIGHTS OF FANTASY as well. Coming Soon, and starting out with the original movie!

Other - (The 21st Generation)

Hey everyone!

Just started a new website over at www.the21generation.wordpress.com, go check it out! Should hopefully turn out interesting.

Everything will continue here as usual, just though you might like to see that one.

Music - Doctor Who Series 5 Original Soundtrack-Track 9: I Am The Doctor (Extend...

Wow... all I can say is WOW! Go watch the show! Review coming soon.

Stargate (Part 1): The Movie - Review #1

Let me start off by saying Kurt Russell is no Richard Dean Anderson. ;) In all honesty, the original Stargate motion picture was not what caught my attention and lured me to the Stargate franchise. It was the sarcastic wit and humor of Colonel O’Neill in SG-1, and the charisma between that SG-1 team that first won me over. I didn’t grow an attachment to anyone in the original Stargate movie. Okay, I take that back, James Spader did an awesome job as Dr. Daniel Jackson and thus was the only character in the film that I felt any connection to.

The movie starts off showing Ra arriving on earth and presumably capturing a human boy. The movie jumps to 1928 Egypt where Professor Langford and his daughter, Catherine, at the dig site during the uncovering of the physical Stargate. The movie then jumps to modern day with Dr. Daniel Jackson (James Spader) giving a lecture. His audience soon disappears as he shares his view that the Egyptians did not build the pyramids. Little does he know that Catherine Langford is present and has being following up on him. She gives him travel plans and tells him this is his chance to prove his research. Having just lost his apartment, he has nothing to lose.

Colonel Jack O’neil is introduced when officials arrive at his home to bring him out of retirement. We see the distress and sadness in his home and learn of his son’s accidental death while playing with Colonel O’Neil’s gun. Langford, Jackson and O’Neil all meet up at a secured military base where Jackson figures out in days what the research team has been working on for two years. He recognizes that the symbols on the Stargate’s cover stone are constellations and act as coordinates for another planet. Jackson quickly volunteers to go on the mission by stating he is sure he will be able to get them home.

While dialing the gate to send a probe through, I felt my spooky sense kick in. Yes, I am very sensitive to movies and am known to have an increased heart rate during any movie or scene that I consider chilling or unearthly. I remember being in the theater watching the first trip through the stargate. What a ride! For that time the effects were great and during those seconds of twisting and turning, I was extremely eager to see what was waiting for them on the other side. This scene is my favorite in the movie because it gave me that unknown extraterrestrial feel, which made me excited and fearful at the same time. Later on, I was pleased to see this wormhole journey carried over into the series.

Once on the planet, you immediately feel sorry for Dr. Jackson. It was like watching a nerd being picked on by the football team in high school, as the military off-world team yelled at him and even threw his bag, resulting in his books being scattered in the sand. All this because they do not understand that he cannot automatically dial the gate back to earth. He tries explaining that he needs to look around for any markings that will help him figure out the coordinates, but this falls upon deaf ears. The tone soon changes when Dr. Jackson goes to pet a local domesticated beast, gets his foot tangled in the animal’s reigns and goes for an unexpected drag through the desert. Don’t worry, O’Neil and a couple other team members are close behind and they all end up on a dune overlooking the local humans mining for mineral.

Introductions go surprisingly smooth since Dr. Jackson is wearing a necklace Catherine Langford lent him that she found on the dig site when she was a small girl. The necklace is inscribed with Ra’s symbol and the people of the distant planet think that their God, Ra, sent them. While visiting with the villagers, they learn that Ra has outlawed reading and writing in fear that the people of this world will rise up against him. During the evening Daniel spends some time with Sha’uri, and unknowingly becomes married to her. She takes him to where their history is written on the walls of caves and teaches him to speak the language. Being a linguist, he catches on quickly. It is here that we learn Ra is portrayed as an actual alien. The human host’s body is possessed by Ra, an average looking grey alien that we all are used to seeing in Area 51 type photos. Ra is the last of his kind and chooses a human host because the human body is easy for him to repair. This is a notable difference between the movie and the Stargate series. This obviously was changed later on with the SG-1 series where Ra and the other false gods are easiest described as evil parasitic snakes called the Goa’uld.

Upon returning to the rest of their team at the Pyramid, they find that Ra has returned and has killed or captured their team members. Ra’s men then kill more team members as they enter the pyramid and capture O’Neil and Jackson. This is also where Ra confronts them with the bomb that Jack O’Neil brought to the planet to detonate in case there is any threat to earth. Ra tells Dr. Jackson that he has to kill his teammates in front of the villagers to prove that Ra is their true god.

Meanwhile, the children of the village see the battle between Ra and Colonel O’Neil’s team and return to the village to spread the news, only to see that Ra has attacked the village. Sha’uri tells the children their history and why they no longer can continue on as slaves. An uprising is formed and during the assembled called together by Ra, where Dr. Jackson is suppose to kill O’Neil and his team, the villagers fight back and save the day. In my experience, the most remembered scene in the movie takes place during this battle. Just about every time I mention this movie to someone, they bring up the scene where one of the local boys is killed while running down the pyramid’s inclined plane.

When Ra realizes he has lost control over the people of this world, he tries to flee. Unfortunately for him, O’Neil and Jackson are able to send transfer the bomb is Ra’s ship seconds before it explodes.

Unlike the TV series, I didn't become attached to Colonel Jack O’Neil’s character. He was rough, and not just around the edges. The few times we were able to see a closer look at him, we saw the pain that he is still experiencing from his son’s death. He didn’t mind letting a child in the village try out smoking for the first time and even gave the boy his lighter as a gift, but as soon as the boy reach out to handle his gun, O’Neil’s fear exploded and scared the boy away. By the end of the movie, there was a sense that O’Neil had softened a little – just a tiny bit. Okay, who am I kidding?

Besides the threat of Ra being eliminated, the end was left wide open. With Dr. Jackson choosing to stay on the planet and live with his new wife it seemed he had finally found a place where he fit in and belonged. How does Dr. Jackson’s life unfold on the planet? The film ended with the rest of the team walking through the stargate headed for home. What happens back on earth? What does O’Neil tell the military about the planet they visited and their trip? Maybe frequent visits between the two planets are in store? If you’ve seen this movie and for some reason have never started watching the TV series, be sure to start watching Stargate SG-1 to see how the story continues and unfolds during ten seasons of awesomeness.

Image Source:

www.gateworld.net

Day 16 - The Leviathan Chronicles - Special Edition Episodes

Over winter The Leviathan Chronicles released their first for sale Special Edition episodes, right after eagerly downloading them, I sat down to give them a listen.

For several months Christof Laputka (Creator and Author), and Nobi Nakanishi (Director), had been alluding to these in their soapbox episodes. I didn't really know what to expect (Having purposely skipped listening to the trailers), but I knew that if it was in the Leviathan-verse and done by Mr. Laputka and Mr. Nakanishi, then it had to be good!

And boy did that turn out to be true! 

"Each of these audio drama podcasts is available for sale and immediate download for your listening pleasure.

These episodes are related to the main Leviathan storyline and give you a deeper look into some of the backstory and characters that you know and love.  It also provides a sneak peek into what to expect in Season 2.  All episodes are full audio drama productions with original soundtracks, amazing sound effects, and incredible cast of actors.

To purchase, just click on the '+' button next the episode title.  Then click on 'Go To Cart' to proceed to Checkout.  After purchasing, you will receive a confirmation email with a download link.  If you don't receive an email, please check your SPAM folder.

These episodes really help us offset the substantial production costs of The Leviathan Chronicles.  Remember that all of the actors, musicians and sound engineers are paid so your support of Leviathan is greatly appreciated.

Everyone involved in the production of The Leviathan Chronicles is incredibly proud of these podcasts.  Thank you for supporting us.  

You guys rock."

- Quote from the website page. www.theleviathanchronicles.com

When I started listening to "Internal Affairs" you could immediately tell that they had spent tons of time on the project, and when listening to "The Dramatist" you find yourself dropped into the 1930's and 40's, with the feel and sound completely down.

Even if you haven't listened to Leviathan, (Which you don't need to have to listen to these), they are both great introductions into the Leviathan-verse. 

Both episodes are for sale on their website for $1.99 each, (The same as a TV episode on iTunes, but more content considering they are both longer than a TV episode). 

I can praise Christof and Nobi's work enough, go by the episodes and get listening to The Leviathan Chronicles! (Season 1 already reviewed, see post archives).