Duke Pepo takes from the Sea to the starts in his latest review!
OK, about Gemini Wars… If I have to describe it with one sentence it will be: A dream has come true!
The game is a space based strategy in which you have to command space ships squadrons and to maintain goods production in the planetary systems under you control while defending against different enemies. Its a real time strategy game, not a million miles away from Homeworld. As there aren’t many games of thus type around now, its stands out from the crowd immediately.
I started the game and I was hooked from the very first moment. The game started slow, but the incorporated tutorial was very well done and explained step by step the control system, which is somewhat challenging if you skip the starting levels. Anyway, the game graphics are so good and the story is so compelling that you don’t mind the initial slow pace. The game begins as a conflict between two human fractions, but after a while a new threat is recognised in the form of previously unknown alien species. After that, it is humans v. bugs with some treason thrown in to keep the tension.
Now, a little off topic comment…
Begin off topic comment: I love science fiction literature. I spend a big part of my life reading the great stories crafted by the creative minds of remarkable authors like Isaac Asimov, Arthur Clarke, Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, Douglas Adams, Stanislaw Lem and lots more… One of the greatest sci-fi writers is Orson Scott Card. For his “Ender’s Game” and its sequel “Speaker for the Dead” he was awarded with both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award, making Card the only author to win both of science fiction’s top prizes in consecutive years. That in my mind is something very special.
End “of topic comment”
The reason for my off topic comment is very simple. As soon as I started Gemini Wars I was engulfed in an imaginary world which fascinated me since my childhood. I felt like I am living in the “Ender’s game” saga, and the felling were so powerful that I got the entire series of books and I read them all when I wasn’t playing the game. Absolutely amazing!
Back to the game review: After the initial stages the game changes pace and becomes very vivid and demanding. The story line in the game is very good (not too complicated, yet keeps the gamer interested and involved) and the visual impact of the game is fantastic at all times.
The only thing that I can think of as a let-down is that for every friendly (ally) commander you meet during the different missions, the game renders the same face… It is very minor detail but after you speak to the same face with different name four or five times it becomes annoying.
Over all in my opinion this is one of the best games ever. For this type of game, it is as close to perfection as it is possible without being perfect. The only reason that I am giving the Gemini Wars 9 out of 10 is because I am a mean person and I like to show the others that they are not impeccable!
9 read again and again books out of 10