To help us provide you with free impartial advice, we may earn a commission if you buy through links on our site. Learn more
A one-man developer has created every Trekkers’ dream game: a multiplayer starship simulation. Artemis is designed for up to six people, and you’ll need six Windows PCs or laptops on the same network and preferably a projector or large TV for the Viewscreen. The PC plugged into the Viewscreen acts as the server, and the other computers are the starship’s control consoles: Helm, Tactical (weapons), Science, Engineering and Communications. The game’s price covers installation on all six machines.
You only need Helm and Tactical to play the game, but it’s far more rewarding to have all stations filled – and it just isn’t the same without a captain. This is the only crewmember without a console. Instead, the captain’s job is to interpret the status reports coming at him from all sides and issue orders accordingly.
The other stations have various responsibilities. Helm steers the ship and engages warp drive, Tactical locks on to enemy ships, lays mines, fires nukes and torpedoes and controls the beam weapon, while Engineering moves power and damage control energy to where it’s needed. Communications monitors traffic between friendly and enemy vessels and orders space stations to construct additional munitions, and lastly Science analyses the enemy’s shields and keeps an eye out for energy-rich anomalies.
While each crewmember always has something to do, some stations are more exciting than others. For example, while Tactical, Engineering and Helm are pretty much full-time positions, we found we could combine Science and Comms into one post without losing much advantage over the enemy.
The Artemis universe consists of your ship and a number of space stations, called DS1, DS2 and so on. No DS9, though, as Sisko is in another quadrant. There are various scenarios and options, but they all involve defending your ship and space stations from various groups of enemy ships. You can’t just go warping around the quadrant shooting anything that moves – planning is vital. Your ship has a limited amount of energy, and if you run out it’s game over. Everything from warping to raising shields to combat uses power, and you need to get back to a space station to refuel. You can always convert torpedoes into energy, but these are built to order at space stations and vital in combat, so this shouldn’t be done lightly.
Combat is challenging, exciting and frequently hilarious. Engineering frantically shuffles power between manoeuvrability, weapons and shields, in order to outflank enemies and deal the killing blow while staying protected. The Science officer scans attackers for shield vulnerabilities while Tactical puts down a barrage of torpedoes and the Comms officer attempts to negotiate surrender. Meanwhile, the captain tries to make sense of the chaos and keeps an eye on damage reports – there are only a few seconds between full shields and annihilation if you end up on the wrong end of a Dreadnought, so quick decisions are vital.
The only thing really missing from combat is 3D space; while the graphics are 3D, you can only move in two dimensions. Being able to duck under enemy ships as well as fly around them would make combat more interesting. We’re aware that this would be quite a programming feat, but open-source 3D space engines do exist, such as the Freespace 2 engine. Also, pressing the Escape key quits the game – clumsy keyboard use meant our engineer once quit the game mid-battle, so we’d prefer a ‘Are you sure’ confirmation to stop the ship losing a vital crew member at an inopportune time.
Artemis is one of the most enjoyable multiplayer games we’ve played, and we especially liked the social aspect – it’s more fun playing against people in the same room than online, and space battles were tense and amusing. 3D space would be a bonus, as would more variety in mission types, but the game is under heavy development and improving all the time.
| Details | |
|---|---|
| Price | £25 |
| Details | artemis.eochu.com |
| Rating | **** |
