Quick Look: Manticore - Galaxy on Fire

E machine squad represent! My e-machine floor model came with a disk of sonic + knuckles collection in the drive :)

I would love a return of the Random PC Game series with Vinny & Dan, so Dan can finally learn about the TIE Fighters and Wing Commanders of the world...

This reminds me of Elite Dangerous on PC. Fun game.

I'm sorry Dan but I think the Switch could probably, maybe produce a nicer looking space game. There is free to play mobile version of this as well if that's your thing.

@rubbad: Did it run fast?

I wonder if freespace 2 holds up, that game was amazing when it came out

Oh its a Switch game. Never mind.

@scroll: I thought it looked like a mobile game...

I think Dan's lack of experience in the genre may be coloring his feelings on this game. It looks mad boring.

It most certainly does, with mods. Check out freespace 2 open: http://www.fsoinstaller.com/

DIVE DIVE DIVE HIT YOUR BURNERS PILOT

was hoping vinny would mention x3 but i think that game might be at a level of space grognardism vinny has not achieved... yet

@saucygiraffe: It does. Also, the BSG mod for it is something to behold.

The repetition of that laser fire sound effect-- oof.

Sounds like we need a Dan [Wing] Commander series.

I enjoyed Galaxy on Fire 2 when it made it to PC. Graphics wise it was fairly decent for a mobile port after all. Still, I'd like to see this come to PC also. As far as I can tell, its Switch exclusive like Dan said. I see no mention of PC or any other console anywhere credible. Meh. Maybe down the line eh?

@yellownumber5:

How about Wing Commander Ryckert?

@kevin_cogneto said:

I would love a return of the Random PC Game series with Vinny & Dan, so Dan can finally learn about the TIE Fighters and Wing Commanders of the world...

Yeah, Wing Commander 1 was so amazing at the time, sadly it doesn't play too well on current PC's, even the GOG/Origin versions feel a bit off. I think it was very specifically made for the 286, and ran too fast on a 386 or anything later than that, and it's really hard to dial in the exact right CPU cycles in DosBox for it to feel good.

As I recall the later Windows 95 version included with the Wing Commander Saga box played at the correct speed, but had issues recognizing multiple keyboard inputs at the same time.

Either case, this game looks alright, I've been meaning to check one of the Galaxy on Fire games out for a long time, though held off on the GoF 2 because it's apparently missing a lot of content from the iOS version. Hope this one makes it to PC at some point.

This game strikes me like it is aimed at young people.

Yes, I do remember E machines.

... Did she really say "Sucks to be bad" instead of "Sucks to suck"?

I'm sad that everybody totally seems to have forgotten about Wing Commander: Privateer. The main series always gets mentioned and remembered for it's fancy FMV stuff, but Privateer's gameplay was way more interesting due to being more open.

Freelancer isn't as old but also very underrated (if still flawed) and rarely mentioned, also easy to confuse with Freespace ^^

This looks pretty bland. I always love this idea of an arcade-y space fighter, but they're almost always insanely boring and repetitive in practice. It'd be cool if Everspace came over to Switch at some point, because it seems like a really good fit.

@mvhvtmv: Well, you're in luck then, since it's already been announced, though no release date yet.

This looks like a generic mobile game. Surprised it got a quick look to be honest...

Obligatory that's not a barrell roll post.

@nethlem: Thanks so much for this. I think I always confused Freelancer and Freespace. However, Freelancer-style games are way more my cup of tea than the rigid mission structure ones. I think every time I looked at Freespace thinking I should give it a go again with some mods I realized it wasn't the game I remembered, but couldn't remember the original game and promptly forgot about the whole thing only for the cycle to repeat again. Looking forward to checking out how Freelancer holds up with mods. Also, the gameplay is rather different, but I recommend Space Rangers 2: Reboot quite a bit.

I played older versions if this on my phone. They were alright, but a little repetitious and bland.

This game looks a lot more like Freelancer than any of the games Vinny mentioned, what with it being third person and arcade combat. I played so much Freelancer back in the day, gotta pick it up again!

Galaxy On Fire is a pretty long running mobile series for those who weren't aware. They're decent games, especially on a tablet with a controller.

These games are pretty neat on mobile. It's what Dan said, if you wanna fly around and shoot shit in space, they're solid, if lacking in variety.

It looks a little thin for 20 bucks. Maybe if it goes on sale for 5 I’ll pick it up.

Dan mentioning colony wars makes me sad. That game was like the platonic ideal for an Arcady space shooter. The visual design was far and above what I see in this manticore thing. It also had a ton of great voice acting and FMV story narration. The actual shooting was only maybe a touch more complex, but I think it probably controlled better (hard to say without playing manticore).

I've wanted a successor to Freelancer for so long... Rebel Galaxy got the structure down, more or less, but the flat-plane-naval-combat wore on me pretty quickly.

Even then... Freelancer had such wild and distinct art direction. Ships and stations in space games look so samey, now. Put stone faces on shit! Make ships look like boats! Everything doesn't need to look like Battlestar Galactica.

I still pick up Privateer every once in a while. I think it still holds up, easy to get into, and bite-sized enough not to demand too much attention. When I played Rebel Galaxy I even changed the music to Privateer's background music for the nostalgia.

Privateer was a clone of the original Elites, and not the first game after to follow the format, including especially Elite Dangerous. But in my memory, it was the first game to modernize the open-ended structure. I think it eventually got lost in the shuffle, but I'd say there is a fondness for Privateer whom were around for it. I get upset the same way when Dune II is forgotten about as the father of RTS instead of Command and Conquer, but still even Dune II I think was based on some earlier strategy games.

@yellownumber5: Totally forgot about Elite because I never played that. But from what I understand Privateer (and subsequently Freelancer) did story way better than Elite did, so it wasn't just a clone but rather expanded the genre.

It's interesting to how Chris Roberts and David Braben seemingly have been on this kinda "space game rivalry" for decades, tho I wish Star Citizen wouldn't be in this weird Schroedinger's cat state of existence and it's sad how that Freelancer branch of the genre pretty much seems to have died off.

Rebel Galaxy was good fun, even if a bit too far on the light side, most of the other space flight stuff is usually way too much simulation and not arcadey enough with the flight system or like in this case: Arcadey flight system, but kinda boring game structure.

@nethlem: Have you tried House of the Dying Sun? It hits a good balance between sim and arcade like Tie Fighter did, with similar style mission objectives that offer just a bit of strategy on what to attack first.

I bought a ship in Star citizen what feels like three years ago. I've given up on it. Someone wake me when it's out.

An Old Space Games series would be awesome to see. Especially in light of the latest resurgence in space games and where they got all of their inspiration from.

Also, I'm really glad to see more games using the peripheral targets circle instead of pushing the icons way out to the edge of the screen.

I find it really funny that Vinny called out Dan and gave him shit because he was realistic in his description about the graphics.

@the_last_starfighter: cause it is >_<

@kevin_cogneto said:

I would love a return of the Random PC Game series with Vinny & Dan, so Dan can finally learn about the TIE Fighters and Wing Commanders of the world...

First time i saw that animation running on my Amiga 500 i was blown away. Also yes i would love that too.

Elite: Dangerous is like one of the only games I consistently play.

There really is something to the open ended nature with very technical simulation and keeps me coming back.

Also the fact it’s content has increased in depth tenfold from is launch.

"When playing a space game, one must discuss every other space game."

And when watching Quick Looks about space games, the Comments section must also discuss every other space game. Hey anyone remember Renegade: The Battle for Jacob's Star? An...anyone? No? Aww.

This game looks a'ight, but the fact that enemy ships just disappear into a puff of space-smoke instead of blowing up dramatically really lets me down.

EDIT: Okay, I'm actually...kind of liking your peppy little British-accented AI robo-kid. He reminds me of Tinny Tim from Futurama!

Sadly, I don't think it was jut that.

I always thought space sims in the mid 90's-99 did well because graphics were taxing. If you could remove land, that's a lot of poly's you don't have to render. You could make a game look good with the hardware that was available. There was an old Psygnosis game on the PSX that was a space shooter that was actually 640x480 resolution. Looked super sharp! Heck, I remember Wing Commander 3 running ok on my 486 (Until you hit Kilrah. Those planetary missions were slide shows...)

If you wanted to make a game that looked pretty good, you made a space shooter. So, you had this golden age of TIE Fighters, Wing Commanders, and Free Spaces. Making a string of missions when you had a large, flat combat field (I remember doing this with some TIE Fighter editor) took no time at all compared to making even simple Doom levels.

One big problem was that outside of Freespace, those games really felt like you were stuck in a bubble. Like you were just pointing a turret around. That there was a lack of motion. This problem only got worse when Freespace came out, as it gave you that sense of motion lacking in the other games in this genre.

Then, 3d accelerators came out and then the internet. People moved from space flight sims to Mechwarrior. Mercenaries scratched that need to put shit on a hardpoint itch for me.

I'm also going to blame X-Wing v. TIE Fighter for at least cooling my love of the genre.

Freespace 2 was the cream of the crop of a flooded genre that was already in a steep decline. It catered to a player base that was now knee deep in games that played totally different than what was possible just a few years earlier.

Freelancer though you guys.

The 2nd game in the series was a cute and quality B-game for the iPad.

I am ambivalent towards the whole "... for a switch game" thing. I understand it, and I also understand the implications. Let's just say Manticore is a technically proficient game.

My first PC was an eMachines eOne. It was definitely an iMac ripoff (name being a big clue). Not all eMachines computers were like that one, though.

Makes me think of Colony Wars games on PSX though this doesn't seem as fun.

I like ships and putting shit on my ships. Seems a little generic, but added to my "if i'm taking a trip" list of Switch games.

This looks like janky Everspace.

Came here to post this. A few seconds in I knew the sound would get old.

Funny you said that since the Everspace devs made the original Galaxy on Fire game.