Space is final frontier, at least according to James Tiberius Kirk. It has captured the imagination of humanity if the Space Race, Star Trek, and Star Wars are any indication. It only makes sense that video games would want to explore the great beyond as well. From humble beginnings like Elite (1984) to the unparalleled imagination of Star Citizen, space-faring games have come a long way and taken many forms. The genre is still progressing to this day, but it’s always interesting to look at some highlights along the way. Let’s have a look at a small game that’s largely forgotten by the community and see what it did right and what it did wrong.

Seems like every space game ever has to have an explosion of some kind on the cover. I really hope that space explosions aren't as a common as games make them seem. It does not bode well for our space expansion.

Escape Velocity: Nova, or EV: Nova, is the third game in the Escape Velocity series. Long ago, humanity left earth and developed the Hypergate technology, which allows them to travel faster than light. You start out as a wet-behind-the-ears captain right after you’ve scrounged up the funds to buy your first ship, a Sigma Shipyard Alpha-Class Shuttle. Right as you land on your first planet, an older Captain named Barry offers to show you the ropes. Barry functions as the games tutorial, teaching you about combat, the various marketplaces, the missions system, trading, and more.

Barry is the nicest guy you'll find in this universe and possibly the only one without some kind ulterior motive.

He’s very helpful for first time players, but you can figure out everything he says without ferrying him about, if you so choose. All of the dialogue, exposition, and story in the game takes place in second-person text boxes, which I personally love. There are six main story lines you can follow, some of which have sub-lines that can be unlocked by the correct set of circumstances. There are also a number of smaller mission strings you can complete, some side quests, as well as the infinitely spawning random quests that you can pick up for extra credits.

You find a good variety of your missions by random chance or by heading to bars you find on most planets.

You ship has a certain amount of mass, which can be spent on weapons or upgrades, and a certain amount of free space, which you can hold cargo in. As the game progresses, you can buy new ships and upgrades with different stats. The main story missions aren’t terribly long, but the six of them will take you a while to unlock and complete.

EV: Nova has an isometric, birds eye view of your ship as you move around the galaxy, land on planets, and take missions. The controls are fluid and fairly easy to grasp, but they are definitely a product of their time. You play the game almost entirely with the keyboard, only using the mouse to interact with menus on screen. You accelerate by holding the up arrow, and turn with the left and right arrow. The down will spin your ship 180°, useful for boarding an enemy ship or landing on a planet. It’s not the usual way to play a space trading and combat game, but I don’t find that it hurts the experience.

Some ships maintain a constant throttle, so you just turn them as they move forward. The Vell-Os ships are among this kind of craft.

What would controls be without something to use them with? Well, EV: Nova offers you a wide variety of ships, with each with their own variants. Several ships can only be purchased if you have the right licenses and some are only available if you pursue certain story lines. Most of the ships control similarly, but there are unique upgrades or weapons that only certain ships can use. I really like that EV: Nova isn’t afraid to lock you out of content, because it both encourages replayability and also leaves a lot of secrets for the player to discover.

The IDA Frigate and some other ships can only be purchased if you go through certain story-lines, like the Sigma Shipyards side quests.

With any space game come weapons, and EV: Nova is no exception. There are a huge variety of weapons, be it blasters, missiles, or even energy weapons. Each type of weapon operates uniquely and has several variants with different damage levels, ranges, and weight. There is also a large number of non-combat upgrades like radars, shields, and solar panels. These upgrades help you make your ship more than just a flying gun and allow you to see more of the galaxy. After all, how will you refuel without a solar panel if you’re 20 star systems away from the last inhabited planet?

Some weapons can only be found on certain planets, so you'll have to search far and wide to find the ones you want.

EV: Nova might not be the most technologically advanced game, but its galaxy map is certainly impressive. There are dozens of systems and planets to visit, and the designers did a great job of making the different areas of the galaxy seem unique. The central planets are policed heavily by the blue-and-white ships that the Federation favor, while the southern systems are patrolled by the wild and reckless Auroran Empire, and so on. You always know where you are just by who is (and isn’t) flying around. The visual design of all the ships is really strong, so you’ll always be able to figure out the general kind of combat or interaction you’ll be dealing with.

You can see Auroran systems in red, Federation in blue, Polaris in purple, and the Rebels in green. I don't think I've ever explored of this map.

A neat little inclusion is the ability to talk to other ships. You can ask for fuel if you’re out, beg for mercy if you find yourself in over your head, or just shoot the breeze without various pilots across the galaxy. In a surprising turn of events, EV: Nova had a big mod scene, with over 70 pages of modifications on the official site alone. You can find new storylines, ships, upgrades, and more so you can play EV: Nova different ways each time. It’s always nice when developers recognize the potential use of mods and give the tools out so freely.

Though there’s a lot that’s great about the game, there are definite areas where things either show their age, or feature poor design. The Wild Geese storyline is fun and well-written, but the majority of the major story lines aren’t going to be willing any Pulitzers. The Vell-Os storyline in particular really feels like bad fanfiction. A super powerful race of telepathic humans fought a war with the Federation because they were setting planets were they shouldn’t but the Vell-Os (undefeated up to that point) surrender because they don’t want any more bloodshed. The federation then enslaves them and forces them to do their evil bidding. All you need is a pointlessly long description of somebody’s clothing and you’re good.

You're telling me that a group of people who can literally create a spaceship out of their telekinetic energy decided to surrender? I doubt it.

Nearly all of the main story missions involve combat in some way, which is a bit of letdown. For such an open ended game, there’s no way to reach the end of anything without killing everything. Offering different playstyles is another way to increase replayability, but evidently the designers of EV: Nova thought that murder was the best way to deal with everything. Without the internet, there’s a good chance you’ll miss most of the missions in EV: Nova. Many of them have very specific requirements about your legal record in the system, your combat record, your ship type, the location, the time, along with just plain old random chance. Thankfully, there are many well written EV: Nova walkthroughs, but game designers should plan for people playing their game blind, unless it’s an online game. The controls are mostly well designed, but cheesing enemies is really easy. You can outrun most ships in any medium class fighter, turn around and just fire infinite range rail cannons at them while their shots miss you entirely.

Worth Playing?

Yes.

EV: Nova is a rare kind of game; it’s small in focus, but has a huge amount of space. Most of its mechanics are well designed and fun to use, even if the writing will make you roll your eyes a few times. The game is still $30, which is absurd given that it came out fourteen years ago, but I will say that this game is worth it.

Hope you enjoyed this edition of Let’s Look At, stay tuned for more!

If you enjoyed this article, please share it, leave feedback, and follow TheMagnusKit on Facebook and Twitter.