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              <p><font color="#0000FF"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000CC">volume 
                1, issue 27</font></b></font></p>
              <p><font color="#0000FF"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000CC"> 
                </font></b></font></p>
              <p>  <p><font face="Courier New, Courier, mono"><b><font color="#339900" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Today 
                in loonygames:</font></b></font></p>

<P><font color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1">New!!</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> The Archives have been cleaned up, fead links fixed, and printable versions restored! Also, don't miss the new comments <a href="../../../index.html">on the front page</a>!</font></p>
              
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              <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="../../1.25/feat/index.html">Serious 
                Brass Ones</a>: Jason &quot;loonyboi&quot; Bergman sits down with 
                Derek Smart, the man behind <b>Battlecruiser 3000 AD</b>.</font></p>
              <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="../guest/index.html">History</a>: 
                Derek Smart's definitive history of <b>Battlecruiser 3000 AD</b>. 
                Re-edited, and with a new introduction by Jason &quot;loonyboi&quot; 
                Bergman. </font></p>
              
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        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0022A8"><b><a target="" href="../../reviews/index.html"><font size="-1">Off 
          the Shelf</font></a><font size="-1">:</font></b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="+3" color="#0022A8"><br>
          Battlecruiser 3000 AD</font></p>
        <p align="right"><font color="#804000"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By 
          Jason &quot;<a target="_self" href="mailto:jason@loonygames.com">loonyboi</a>&quot; 
          Bergman</font></b></font></p>
        <p>&nbsp;</p>
        <div align="right"> 
          <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">I chose the 
            "Advanced Campaign" mode of play initially, so let me tell you what 
            it's like. You're given your assignment from Galcom while docked at 
            the base. You then can go and spend some cash on upgrades to your 
            ship, or just hop right into the game. You can also survey each and 
            every part of your ship, assign various crewmembers to different craft, 
            and a boatload of other stuff. When you're ready, you launch. Now 
            your first mission is pretty much to escort a diplomat from one sector 
            to another. So you patrol the area, making sure there's no bad guys 
            about until the diplomat's ready for you. Once he is, you start with 
            the escortin'. You set your course in the Navitron computer, and head 

            on out.</font></p>
          <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">After a few 
            minutes, some bad guys are inevitably going to show up. When this 
            happens (and you should probably be ready for it) you'll launch some 
            interceptors and well…intercept them. Here's where the game gets weird. 
            You can tell the interceptors to just plain attack the bad guys, or 
            you can actually go down into the ship and do it yourself. If you 
            choose to do it manually, you'll notice that the game looks a lot 
            more like the space sims you're acquainted with all of a sudden. And 
            it pretty much is. It's pretty cool, because you can see your own 
            ship off in the distance, and any other interceptors you assigned 
            to engage the enemy will hop in there with you. Neat stuff. So you 
            fight off the bad guys, escort the dude, and collect your cash. Head 
            back to base, and you can upgrade your ship, or most likely, you'll 
            need to repair yourself between missions.</font></p>
          <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">That's the 
            really, really, really simple version of a mission in <b>BC3K</b>. 
            There's a billion and one steps along the way that I either didn't 
            mention at all, or gave the Reader's Digest version of. It makes it 
            very difficult to get into at first, to repeat myself yet again.</font></p>
          <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">If all of 
            this sounds way too complex, you can just try out the "Xtreme Carnage" 
            mode. This is much like your standard space shooter. In this mode, 
            you're dropped into an interceptor in the middle of a spacefight. 
            It seems like a waste of all the stuff that's in the game, but it 
            is a nice distraction, and if nothing else, it's good interceptor 
            practice.</font></p>
          <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Now the game's 
            had a rough ride in coming out, no question. There's a freeware version 
            of the game available on the <b>BC3K</b> website, and your first inclination 
            will be to download that and try it out. I'd certainly recommend it 
            (in fact, the original version of this review was of <i>that</i> version) 
            but understand that the version that comes on the CD is much more 
            stable, and all in all is a much more "full" game. The CD version 
            comes with two "Advanced Campaign Mode" campaigns for a total of 50 
            missions, and the mission builder, so you can make your own missions 
            (if you're <i>really</i> hard core about this). The stability of the 
            CD version is enough to warrant purchase, to be honest. The freeware 
            version is definitely worth checking out (assuming you don't mind 
            the 50 meg download, of course) but expect to have quite a few problems 
            running it. While the CD version isn't 100% bug-free, the most recent 
            patches make it pretty solid. The occaisional problem aside, running 
            in software mode was near flawless.</font></p>
          <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">As for the 
            3D acceleration, while it does make the game prettier, no question 
            about it, I turned it off entirely after a few crashes. I think it's 
            very cool that it's offered, considering how hardware has changed 

            since the game's inception, but the game really isn't about 3D acceleration, 
            it's about the in-depth gameplay. If you have problems running the 
            3DFX version (and I did…oy, I did) don't bother. It doesn't make that 
            much of a difference in the end.</font></p>
          <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The question 
            a lot of people have when they first look at <b>Battlecruiser 3000 
            AD</b> is, "is it worth it?" And the answer to that is well…yes, and 
            no. If you're the type who's looking for an action packed thrill ride 
            of a game, go play <b>Descent: Freespace</b>. If you're looking for 
            something more…cerebral, then by all means, check out <b>BC3K</b>. 
            Because when the game opens itself up to you (or really…when you open 
            yourself up to the game) it becomes one of the most immersing games 
            around. When you get used to your crew, you'll find yourself learning 
            their names…and actually caring when they die. (Hey, I'm not the best 
            commander in the world, you know.) It's very strange in that regard, 
            and there definitely isn't anything else like it. I've done things 
            in <b>BC3K</b> that I didn't know were possible when I first started 
            playing it…like the first time I actually drove across a planet's 
            surface. What other game out there actually lets you control a giant 
            battleship in space, dogfight in an attack ship, and then…<i>drive</i> 
            a lander across a planet? Nothing, plain and simple.</font></p>
          <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The game desperately 
            needs two things: a new, more intuitive interface, and a serious tutorial 
            system. Badly. Very badly. Take a look at <b>Alpha Centauri</b> as 
            an example of a great interface/tutorial setup. In that game you've 
            got almost as many commands at your disposal (okay…it's not even close. 
            But it's closer than most games at least) and while that game can 
            be intimidating at first, it's got a very nice tutorial that takes 
            you through the ropes. If <b>BC3K</b> could just get these two things 
            there's a lot of people who would be probably enjoy it. </font></p>
          <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The real story 
            with <b>Battlecruiser 3000 AD</b> is this: you get what you put into 
            it. If you want to play a simple space shooter, you can do that. If 
            you want to take the simplest method possible to solve each assigned 
            task in the Advanced Campaign Mode, knock yourself out. But if you 
            take this stuff really seriously, and I mean <i>really</i> seriously, 
            then you're going to want to take the game by the horns and study 
            it. If you can master the game's interface (and again, it's no piece 
            of cake to do) and you want in-depth gameplay, there's no better bargain 
            than <b>Battlecruiser 3000 AD</b>.</font></p>
          <p align="right"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><i><font size="-1">- 
            Jason &quot;loonyboi&quot; Bergman is the editor-in-chief here at 
            <b>loonygames</b>. He likes beer.</font></i></font></p>
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    <td><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2"><b>Credits:</b> 
      Bargain Bin logo illustrated and is &copy; 1999 Dan Zalkus. Bargain Bin 
      is &copy; 1999 Jason Bergman. All other content is &copy; 1999 <a target="_self" href="http://www.loonyboi.com">loonyboi 
      productions</a>. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited and like, 
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