Interplay Entertainment Corporation both developed and published the real time strategy game, Space Federation for release specifically to the DOS format in the middle nineties. It features elements of many different gaming genres, including strategy, shooters, and managerial games. The game plays out in the third person top down perspective, or bird’s eye view. It was alternately titled Star Reach in North American and the user can guess, from either title, that the game features science fiction and futuristic themes. Its game play is similar to a light version of Master of Orion.
The premise of Space Federation is very simple. The game takes place in the future… the twenty third century. There are seven alien nations present in the galaxy, and attempts at peace between them have failed. War begins, and each nation makes a wholehearted effort to overrun all of the others.
As mentioned above, Space Federation features many different gaming qualities. There is some flight action where the user will actually have to use his reflexes over his brain in order to succeed. The user has the ability to switch between several crafts in his fleet when performing offensive and defensive maneuvers. Primarily, however, the game is one of strategy and micromanagement. There are diplomatic elements which will come into play a little bit. Most of these qualities, on their own, are very well done. Perhaps Interplay Entertainment Corporation should have stuck to one, or even two. It seems they spread themselves too thin, and the game does not seem to mesh well together as a whole. The user will definitely gravitate toward one aspect of the game or the other, and likely get frustrated with the others. Much of this disjointed feel is due to the fact that the game is a real time strategy, and the user never really gets time to fully appreciate how the individual parts add up to the whole. For example, if the player’s fleet is in the midst of a raging defensive stand, it is…at best…inconvenient to have to pull up ship (literally) and take care of a resource shortage during production on a planet.
On a more positive note, the game does feature some very attractive VGA graphics and some fairly competent computer AI. The enemy aliens are not as brilliant as they could be, and do become predictable, mainly because there are not very many types of them.
Space Federation is worth a look, especially if you are a fan of Master of Orion or even Star Craft. It has a lot of potential, and its many facets will ensure that the user will find something to his liking.
Written by:
~Shannon
