It looks like this is the year for Microsoft Games with titles like Motocross Madness 2, Midtown Madness 2, Flight Combat Sim 2, Crimson Skies and  Starlancer due to be released in the next 9 months.

Starlancer is being developed by Digital Anvil which is made up of talent such as Erin and Chris Roberts, developers of titles like the Wing Commander and Privateer series. Starlancer does bear quite a bit of simiality to the Wing Commander titles but  with the addition of multiplayer it is well worth it.  Fans of games such as Wing Commander and the Descent Freespace titles should take to Starlancer right off the bat.

Story
The story takes place hundreds of years in the future. You have been recruited by the 45th Volunteer squadron to fight in a war for control of Earth and Mars among other planets scattered across the solar system.  You get to fly 12 different ships against over 80 unique spacecraft. Starlancer is described as a cross between a first person space combat sim with a WWII combat movie which is right on the mark.

Graphics
The graphics in Starlancer are incredible while gameplay remains silky smooth.  I haven't witnessed even the slightest bit of machine lag or slowdown with the graphics options all on and at 1024x768 this game is smooth even in the most furious of dogfights.  Add to that the awesome lighting effects and incredibly detailed planets and enemy ships and you have one jaw dropping experience.

Very reminiscent of the Wing Commander series are the Hollywood style cut scenes that make you feel like you are a part of a block buster movie. The one difference here being that Starlancer uses Full-motion computer-generated cinematics as opposed to the real live actors uses in the past Wing Commander games. The footage here is first rate and everyone that has seen it here at 3DGW has been well impressed.

Multiplayer
Starlancer will support up to 4 people in cooperative mode fighting their way through the entire games campain or up to 8 players can play 6 variations of Deathmatch over LAN or the internet via the MS Gaming Zone.  Unfortunately I only had one set of CD's and lobbys aren't set up on the Zone yet for Multiplayer So I wasn't able to test out any of the multiplayer features hands-on.

Conclusion
Microsoft has a very good track record with their games and this is certainly no exception to the rule.  The beta of Starlancer is so solid its hard to believe it is beta code.  This game is certainly something that I will be playing for a while and I can't wait to see how the multiplayer ends up. The best news is there isn't much longer to wait as Microsoft expects to ship Starlancer in April so be on the look out.

Preview by: William Gall
March 14, 2000