New Space Sim Added To GameTap (November 22, 2006)

[ChrisReid]

The online game delivery service GameTap has added Tachyon: The Fringe to its playable library. Although the company began with a relatively limited collection of classic titles, its games roster has expanded dramatically over the last year to include a wide variety of more recent items. Tachyon was one of a handful of space sims released in the very early 2000s to modest sales and reviews. The game's basic structure is similar to Privateer with a branching story and multiplayer components. It joins Battlecruiser Millennium, Freespace, Star Fury, Universal Combat and a handful of modern combat fliers in the growing list of simulation games available to subscribers. Wing Commander Privateer has also been announced as a future addition, although it and other EA games have been somewhat slow to appear on the service.


--
Original update published on November 22, 2006

 

[cff]

Tachyon has to be my second most loved space sim after Wing Commander. However it really isn't Privateerish at all. You think that it is at first, because you can choose your ship and buy weapons, but there is no free roaming around. You are on rail for the whole game. Doesn't make it a bad game at all, but I'd rather recommend it for people who like story driven space sims instead of Elite/Privateer/...

 

[Maj.Striker]

Yeah Tachyon wasn't a bad game. It had a decent story behind it even though there was really no cutscenes...all conversation was carried out from your cockpit. Actually looking back I quite enjoyed the game. Beautiful graphics. I remember it had massive bases and not just a freespace type of game ("Oh look we have gigantic ships!") but actually great graphics and meaningful gameplay. You could hire wingmen, and go to the jobboard. You could even choose sides at one point in the game. Of course the coolest factor was that your character was voiced by Bruce Campbell.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

I wouldn't classify Tachyon's sales as "modest".

 

[Maj.Striker]

What were they? (I have no idea...I only know I bought the game).

 

[Delance]

Tachyon is a lot of fun. The tutorial is introduced in a clever way.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

What were they? (I have no idea...I only know I bought the game).

Low five figures. Tachyon, StarLancer and Freespace 2 all came out around the same time and sold very, very poorly.

 

[Death]

Tachyon is a lot of fun. The tutorial is introduced in a clever way.

While fun, there wasn't much of a replay value, after slogging through both branches of the main storyline. That was the biggest disappointment, IMO, that once the plot missions and the small handful of non-plot missions (no randomly generated missions like with Privateer's mission computers and guild offices) were done, you couldn't even launch, let alone just wander around space without the closed tachyon gates restricting your movement.

Nevermind that the GalSpan branch was rather unsatisfying an ending, and the online stuff was riddled with hacks and cheats to a fare-thee-well.

 

[Delance]

I agree, the replay value is very small. In fact, I ended up never playing the entire GalSpan branch, and just finished the poor miner's missions.

What makes it even worse is that the initial part of the game was very cool, with big starbases, and lots of ships coming and going. But it was just a front, the game had little to do with Privateer/Elite.