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ToggleFar Gate provides an alternative perspective on the nature of expansive space-themed undertakings. Jacob Vicero plays the major character in this story, a smuggler who is sucked into something more than an adventure. He is compelled to engage in a three-way battle to establish colonies on planets within the Proxima Centauri system. Due to the desire for colonization by two other extraterrestrial races in addition to humans, everything is extremely tough. Standard strategic mechanics serve as the foundation for Far Gate’s gameplay. This involves resizing the map, relocating things, and—above all—allocating resources.
Every ship has a distinct set of features and a particular area of specialization, therefore it is important to familiarize yourself with them before a combat. Asteroids are the primary source of resources. Although not designed for combat, separate units that can quickly handle a huge amount of material are meant for their collection and processing. The UI is the only inconvenient thing. Tables displaying information about ships, their conditions, and other minor indicators are physically placed on the screen. It would be best if you made a concerted effort to not miss the sequence of events on the map to click on them and obtain more information.
About the interface, it is worth mentioning that it is a little peculiar. A spaceship or base facility built has to be built for one of 10 squads with a limited number of members. You can rearrange these as you see fit, but you must always designate a starting lineup. Although the concept isn’t horrible, it does require some getting used to. Initially, novice players may unintentionally add tugs or resource-gathering pods to their battle fleets. The fact that each squad is limited to a certain amount of units, forcing massive fleets to be divided among multiple squads, is perhaps the biggest annoyance.
The interface panels have a unique feature whereby they fold back into the screen when not in use. Please observe this in action by checking the screens. These folded panels swing forward into view when the mouse is moved over them; they resemble the barn-door devices used on theater spotlights to limit the beam. To ensure that they are always visible, they can be locked forward. Though not perfect, the system isn’t quite as cumbersome as it seems. Yes, you can use a more conventional approach by locking all four of the panels forward, but doing so will cost you a lot of screen real estate.
artificial intelligence? Sure, it’s definitely there, but it’s not precisely in the “intelligent” range. The majority of the opposing forces you encounter can be easily lured into ambushes or subdued by sheer force of numbers. Overcoming the highly planned events and attacks is the struggle; Far Gate sometimes feels more like a puzzle game than an RTS. The bugs are more annoying than these points, though. Indeed, Far Gate has a few select ones. Our favorite is the one that will abruptly and ceremoniously drop you to the desktop without even displaying an error notice. We discovered that it’s a good idea to save before doing anything that starts a cut-scene because these are particularly prone to issues.
It’s unfortunate that Far Gate has these issues. The plot is captivating, and the cutscenes, when they function, are interesting because of some excellent voice acting (yes, a game with superb voice acting—god knows, there aren’t enough of those around). Despite the flaws and other issues, the objectives are also sufficiently varied to keep players interested in the game for a while. For a while, the game is largely enjoyable nearly despite itself. However, it is competing with some very good stuff and lacks Homeworld’s user-friendliness and mood. Real space enthusiasts might find it entertaining until (if? when?)
