Game Over Online ~ Nexus: The Jupiter Incident (c) Vivendi-Universal Games

Error SQL: select * from access_stats_201608 where id='444' and section='features'

Error SQL: insert into access_stats_201608 (id,hits,title,section,date_entered) values('444','1','Nexus: The Jupiter Incident (c) Vivendi-Universal Games','features','2005-02-20 03:47:31')

Home

News

Reviews

Gallery

Videos

Calendar

Blogs

Cheats

Demos

Contact Us

Nexus: The Jupiter Incident (c) Vivendi-Universal Games

Published: Sunday, February 20th, 2005 at 03:47 AM
Written By: Lawrence Wong

A long awaited return to space for most gaming fans on the PC, Nexus: The Jupiter Incident is being frequently classified by retailers as a real time strategy. A fleeting glance at the game and a quick minute at the controls and Nexus can feel a lot like Homeworld. Its freeform camera certainly pays homage to it. But given more time with the game, Nexus shapes up more to be a naval simulator set in space with its capital ships and fleet formations.

The genre itself isn’t tackled often enough. Starfleet Command is a game that comes to mind when playing Nexus. Independence War is another one. This title imitates none other, however, than Imperium Galactica as the game used to be under the name Imperium Galactica 3. These are games where you command ships that can range from simple frigates to behemoth battleships and are ones where you issue an order and you wait to have it carried out, versus the manic clicking and dragging found in your typical real time strategy title. You don’t just select everyone and send them to the far side of the universe in general vicinity of all enemy units.

The biggest hurdle for potential Nexus fans will be the interface. It’s split into several quadrants on the screen. The left hand list of ships is the one under your control. The right hand list consists of objects floating around in your immediate area. The upper part of the screen is devoted to targeting. There’s an information panel in the lower left hand corner and all the commands are laid out at the bottom. If my personal experience is of any indicator, Nexus will be shipping with a tutorial that will explain all of this as I had trouble just making my ships move in first five minutes. Again, it’s not Homeworld. You don’t just drag and select everything on screen and they move off somewhere.

Nexus is set at the turn of the next century in the 2100s. Apparently, space colonization and travel has advanced to the point where most of the solar system has experienced a human presence. These efforts, however, are headed up by corporations rather than governments. I guess such things are believable when you see the formation of Virgin Galactic. Assuming the role of Captain Marcus Cromwell, you’ll be embroiled in events that will bear significance on Earth and humanity.

In the single player portion of Nexus, the game is structured with linear missions. Cromwell is given a set of ships, including his own Stiletto, and he’s asked to solve certain obstacles. The variations come on the tactical level. The developers call the game a tactical fleet simulator (a TFS, although that’s the first I heard of the term). In one particular mission, you’re asked to hail friendly units for assistance but there’s a blockade. You can either try to disable the transmission jammers or disable key ships that are part of the blockade.

Like Starfleet Command, the game features ships outfitted with a complement of NPC crew. This crew can gain experience and improve. You’re allowed to command up to ten vessels. The fact that some ships can launch fighters can make the battlefields pretty intense.

Capitalizing on the Black Sun 3D graphics engine by developer Mithis, the game is graced with some impressive visuals. Particularly nice are the special effects; anything that involves the flicker of light such as stellar phenomena, beam weapons, engines, explosions, etc. It’s backed by some handy voicework too, including a female commentator who sounds a bit like the computer assistant in Command and Conquer.

Nexus has already been out for months in Europe so the player base for multiplayer should be well developed for the North American release of the game. I don’t think I’m letting any secret out that the campaigns involve conflicts with alien races. After all, as I recently heard on the soon to be defunct television show Star Trek: Enterprise, nothing gets humans more riled up than a common enemy they have to turn to face. These races, of which there are six of them, will have their ships and equipment featured in the multiplayer portion of the game.

A lot of the game will involve strategic use of your vessels as there’s no home base to flee to. Nor is there a building component in the game that will stamp hundreds of fodder units. A good deal of patience will be required. You can command ships to disable the shields of others, or target the hull, instruments and even stand afar using long range weapons. But these battles often take minutes, not seconds to finish. It should be a test for fans of strategy but may also inadvertently end up being a test of patience for the trigger happy.