3030 Deathwar Redux - A Space Odyssey

Review

How hard is it to spread your wings as a successful scavenger in 3030? From where I am sitting, it seems to be quite challenging. Take a look at this fellow who goes by the name of John Falcon. An astute operator who travels the galaxy in search of abandoned spaceships and their cargo. Let me tell you, John is one of the best in the business of retrieving goods from derelicts. With a healthy intergalactic bank account of two million credits, he came across the best deal in the galaxy . . . a stunning vessel with great firepower, speed, and the ability to hold a huge cargo, all for only two million credits (a third of its value)!  After this unbelievable purchase, John kept moving from one derelict to another until his cargo hold was full. Upon docking at the nearest station to refuel his vessel and sell its cargo, he was told by an officer that the deal of the galaxy was, in fact, a stolen ship and has to be impounded. Here you go John, take these 1500 credits, a crappy two seater vessel and this package to be delivered to the next solar system! Welcome to 3030 Dearthwar Redux – A Space Odyssey!   

3030 Deathwear Redux – A Space Odyssey is a sci-fi action /adventure game where you take control of John Falcon, who sold a stolen ship and has to restart his wealth from scratch. The question is, which way will he choose to get there?

At the station where his new vessel was seized, John will become aware of the disappearance of a large ship named the Largo, which was carrying an extremely valuable cargo. He will also learn of the restriction imposed upon all scavengers by a local pirate lord, to not attempt to retrieve the Largo’s cargo, or face certain death!

It’s a bit much for John to absorb all of this at once, but nonetheless he wants to get back on his feet as soon as possible. At each of the stations, he will be able to pick up work through the job station (delivering parcels, taking down pirates, taking pictures of an unknown planet and others). All of these jobs will earn him credits if he successfully completes them. Bear in mind that some of these jobs will have a time limit attached to them and the countdown will start as soon as he accepts them. The other point is that you can only have four active jobs at any given time. By using the trade console, John will be able to buy or sell goods (prices of goods vary in each station), buy new ships if he has enough dough, upgrade or repair his vessel, and also refuelling it. Or he can just head up to the bar and chat with other characters!

When he is done at the station, he’ll be able to explore the current solar system, or he’ll be on his way to complete a job. Every time he discovers a solar system, John will be able to open the system map and identify the position of the stations, as well as the location of abandoned ships. The derelict will be represented by a purple dot before he goes through it, and will turn green after visiting it. The moving green dots are friendly vessels (freighters, traders etc.) and the red ones are pirates. Most of his first jobs will be within the first solar system, but soon after they will spread into unknown systems. Not to worry, a green arrow will show him where to go within the galaxy map.  Beware of the nebulas and its storms, which can heavily damage his vessel when passing through them. He can become aware of the storms within nebulas if he discovers discs containing storm data, which are usually found on derelicts.

As soon as John’s vessel hovers over an abandoned vessel, he will automatically be in his space suit and start to explore the ship. With the help of a scanner, John will be able to locate possible survivors (receiving a big reward), R.I.P members (receiving a small reward), valuable goods (adding credit to your bank account), junk (waste of space) and crates (good to sell at stations). He will encounter some strange alien lifeforms but they are really easy to kill.

Pirates are another kettle of fish; John needs to defeat small pirates first in order to get a shot at the big ones. He’ll need a ship with a large arsenal to increase his chance of winning these fights.

Great Pixel art accompanied by a superb soundtrack. In terms of controls, you can either use the keyboard and mouse, keyboard only or play with your gamepad. This game has plenty of content and offers plenty of re-playability. The only things that took me a bit of time to get use to is the interface, and it can be repetitive too. Apart from that, it’s a pretty cool game!