Gaming Target - Xbox: Battlestar Galactica

Written by Kyle Williams on July 14, 2003

First Impressions: There are those who believe...that life here...began out there.

Just as Star Wars raised the bar for theatrical science fiction, Battlestar Galactica revolutionized how we would view space on our televisions. However, high production costs led to an early demise of the groundbreaking series, leaving diehard fans with only 22 episodes to watch in syndication. Of course, the last five years have seen a resurgence of interest in the series, kicked of with several novels continuing the Galactica legacy as told by Richard Hatch, Apollo from the original series. All of this interest is coming to a head this fall as the original series is being released on DVD, the Battlestar Galactica universe is being re-imagined for a Sci-fi Channel mini-series, and Vivendi Universal is bringing the war against the Cylons to the PS2 and Xbox.

Battlestar Galactica is going to tell the story of a young Viper pilot, Adama. For those of you that are old enough to remember the 1978-1979 television series, you will recognize the name as that of the venerable Commander of the Battlestar Galactica. The entire game is going to take place prior to the start of the television series and will tell the story of how one Viper pilot single-handedly turned the tide of the war against the Cylon Alliance in the favor of the Twelve Colonies of Man. This game, being set prior to the devastating betrayal that we see in the first episode of the TV series, will take on a pace that is much different than what we have seen before. At this point in time, the Colonial fleet is made up of a lot of Battlestars and they are squaring off against a lot of Cylon Basestars.

At E3, we had the opportunity to take a look at an early build of the game and it is shaping up nicely. Built upon the engine technology from Starlancer, Battlestar Galactica is going to be a strictly single-player experience that spans at least 15 levels of play. As Adama, players will have the opportunity to take the controls of five different spacecraft, including the classic Colonial Viper and even a captured Cylon Raider. Not all of the missions will be dogfighting though, as you will even have the opportunity to take the controls of one of the Galactica's gun turrets. To further flesh out the gameplay experience, the developers are taking a few liberties with the traditional Viper armament, specifically through the addition of missiles. While the game will recreate the two different fire modes that the traditional Viper had, players will also have control over a customizable missile tagging system wherein players can select between missile power and missile quantity.

If nothing else, Battlestar Galactica is shooting for visually stunning gameplay. Just take a look at the screenshots and you will see what I mean. Where most space combat video games fill the universe with endless starfields, Battlestar Galactica is taking you into orbit around various alien worlds. Each of the locales are unique and are filled with beautiful atmospheric effects and celestial phenomena. Of course, combat is made up of various combatants and they are looking sharp as well, especially the capitol ships. Each of the Battlestars and Basestars are very high polygon models with independently destructible gun turrets, cannons, and engines. When you throw in dozens of small AI controlled Vipers and Raiders, the end result is turning into an absolutely stunning recreation of an epic story of man versus machine.