Reviewed: March 9, 2004
Reviewed by: David Caviness
Publisher
DreamCatcher Interactive
Developer
3000 AD
Released: February 5, 2004
Genre: Strategy
Players: 1
ESRB: Teen
6
6
4
6
5.0
System Requirements
Recommended System
Ultimate Requirements
Multiplayer Requirements
The goal of Universal Combat, as the title implies, is to create a gaming experience that allows you to fight battles on all fronts - foot, air, sea, land and space - enabling you to dispatch fighters from the bridge of a capital ship or storm down your enemy's neck with a rifle trained squarely on their head. Ambitious? Definitely...this is a game that literally seethes with ambition. Naturally a game with such lofty aims is bound to fail on one or two levels, and this it does, perhaps a bit too well.
Do not let the title deceive you, however, as Universal Combat is but the next-in-line in Derek Smart's Battlecruiser series of games. Those of you familiar with the previous title, Battlecruiser Millenium, will probably remember the scathing (but appropriate) review it received here at GCM. Will Smart's current effort fare any better?
The short answer to that question is...no. Though Universal Combat exceeds its predecessors on almost every level, it is also victim to the same pitfalls. The first problem you will be confronted with is the complete lack of any kind of tutorial, in-game or in the manual. You are simply presented with a menu and a few gameplay options, such as roam, instant action, single player campaign, and multiplayer.
Roam is a sort of freeform mode of gameplay, allowing you to choose your race, profession, and starting location before immersing you headfirst into the Universal Combat universe. After that, it's all up to you. Speaking of the universe, it is simply tremendous, containing hundreds of planets and thousands of bases and structures. Campaign and instant action options are self-explanatory, though if you do not carefully read the manual, be prepared to die over and over again. The campaign mode is marked by structured scenarios, though the mission goals (or the proper means to achieve them) are often too vague.
Perhaps the biggest obstacle to enjoying this game lies in its interface. At first glance it seems sloppy, or underdeveloped - you can't help but wonder how much of the needless complexity could've been reduced with simply a bit more refining and polishing, especially for a series going on seven years. It relies far too heavily on hotkeys and nested menus, forcing you to memorize the unalterable key map as if it were a college midterm. This is pure tyranny.
One thing this series of games must grow beyond, if it is to break into the mainstream, is the idea that inaccessibility is somehow a badge of pride. The challenge is not in crafting something so draconian and difficult that only a cadre of hardcore fans can be expected to invest their time in it, but in making a game that is at once both immense in scope and easy to get into. Universal Combat is a resounding failure in the latter category.
Interface aside, Universal Combat does in fact deliver on the promises it has been making since early development. Games often lay claim to a level of depth that turns out to be conspicuously absent in the final product, but Universal Combat is no such charlatan. The problem is that it will take weeks, perhaps even a few months, to really delve into the innards of this game. To some, that might sound alluring, and it would be, were it not for the fact that almost everything in between these moments of brilliance is pure drudgery. Travel requires an ample amount of real time, going from point A to point B can sometimes take up the better part of an hour. Realism at the cost of enjoyment is almost always a bad idea.
Combat, the core of the game, is done well enough. Space combat is particularly engaging, whether you're commanding from the bridge of a huge space cruiser or the cockpit of a fighter. Again, the burdensome interface takes away from the fun factor, but the thrill of intergalactic destruction remains intact nonetheless. First person combat (land bound) is hampered severely by clipping issues and shoddy mouse controls. Aerial combat is comparable to space combat. Enemy A.I. is surprisingly clever, and though it's too early to tell, it almost seemed as if it was adapting to favored tactics employed by yours truly.
The potential for a great multiplayer game is somewhat present here, if only there were any active servers. I couldn't find any. Roam and skirmish modes are available for anyone who can track down an open server. It would seem though that only a group of friends willing to preplan would be able to squeeze out a decent multiplayer game of Universal Combat.
The graphics aren't horrible, per se, but they do seem outdated. Ship models are intricate and pleasing to the eye, but they have a nagging artificial quality to them. Building models are sufficient, but when approaching them they quickly deteriorate. The main problem here is that everything has a "look but don't touch" sign posted to it...because if you do get close, you'll get trapped in an unholy mess of jagged edges and malignant polygons.
Planet surfaces are either bare or dotted with redundant flora and fauna. From an orbital view, planets are featureless, solid color spheres. No clouds, no oceans, no continents. This level of quality may have passed for satisfactory a few years ago, but modern gamers expect more. While in first person shooter mode, firing my weapon resulted in an outrageous muzzle flash, but there was no indication of the round I just fired hitting anything. Unacceptable.
Again, the quality of the audio isn't unilaterally poor, but there are some problems. First, the operatic, bombastic soundtrack is fitting, but doesn't take long to start grating on the nerves. A lot of the voices seem tinny.
Redundancy is the biggest problem here...considering the amount of time 3000AD expects a gamer to spend playing Universal Combat, they would've done well to include a more diverse soundtrack. There really isn't much else to say about the audio. Chances are, it won't take long before you shut the audio off altogether.
There was a good deal of controversy over this game's shipping price. Despite Smart's intention for it to retail at $39.99, Dreamcatcher reduced the price to $19.99. This compelled Smart to take the issue to court, but ultimately, the judge sided with Dreamcatcher. Even at the reduced price, however, it would difficult to recommend this game to anyone but the most devoted of fans. And of course, they need no recommendation.
The only positive aspect to spending any amount of money on this game is that it will certainly take you a colossal amount of time to finish, unlike many other games that come at a much higher price.
Only devout Smartites need apply. Again, as in the previous games, Smart has failed to create a game capable of appealing to the gaming public at large. This almost seems intentional...as a visit to 3000AD's forums demonstrated. Some of the 3000AD staff were openly hostile to anyone presenting criticism. They even went so far as to brush potential bugs off as "rubbish".
If you want a decent space sim with some strategy, I would go with X2: The Threat. Universal Combat, as a whole, is not worth the effort it demands.