DarkStar One [PC]

Ever wondered what happened to space combat games? Time was, you couldn't swing a cat in a game store without hitting three or four of them. Wing Commander, X-Wing, Freespace: All superb series, and all sadly fallen by the wayside. With the exception of Eve Online, which is hardly the same thing, and 2003's disappointing Freelancer, the last decade has been slim pickings for interstellar combat fans. But now publisher CDV Software Entertainment USA is looking for a renaissance by bringing us Darkstar One, which is probably the closest thing to the fondly remembered '90s space games that we've seen for ages.

It's got lengthy cutscenes, although they're 3D animated and don't feature live action. It's got the same sort of plot detail, although you can ignore it and go a-trading and a-pirate-hunting if you prefer. It's best played with a joystick, although it has Freelancer-style mouse controls that work just fine too. You can even take part in a few planet-based missions. In short, it's both a clear homage to the space combat games of years gone by and a 21st century, versatile, open-ended adventure.

Nowhere is that more obvious than in the graphics. Darkstar's world is the colorful, noisy outer space of the Star Wars movies, not the dark and sparsely realistic surroundings of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Either every system we visited in Darkstar is situated in the center of a riotously colorful nebula or the team is taking some liberties with the truth. Given the decidedly non-Newtonian nature of the spacecraft handling model, we suspect the latter.

The game opens as your character, a young man named Kayron, is bequeathed a rather unusual ship -- the eponymous Darkstar -- from his father. After a few short training missions and a little light combat, you're sent off into the world to earn your living, and ideally investigate the strange circumstances surrounding your father's death while you're at it. You can follow the story at more-or-less your own pace, just like in Freelancer.

Or, of course, you can ditch it altogether and go trading, Elite-style, if you prefer. The game's various star systems have their own imports and exports, so an unadventurous entrepreneur can make his living plying the standard trade routes quite happily. If you're more of a rakish Han Solo type, check out the lists of illegal goods in each system; you might find a lucrative drug-running operation, if you can stay out of the way of the local law enforcement.