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Its staggering speed can be used as a powerful weapon itself, allowing the aircraft to not only break into firing range before the enemy has time to counter, but also outfly missiles that have locked onto it once the fighter reaches top speed. "A supersonic stealth fighter with extraordinary high-speed flight capabilities that set it apart from other aircraft. It also features two nose-mounted pulse lasers, one on either side of the cockpit. The DarkStar has two internal weapon bays which can store air-to-air missiles or small-diameter bombs. The cockpit's airspeed indicator uses Mach as its unit of measurement, as a testament to the aircraft's high speed.
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The cockpit glass appears to be a one-way mirror the middle cockpit window cannot be seen through from outside the aircraft. The DarkStar's cockpit is small and difficult to see out of.
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Its small vertical stabilizers are all-moving, rotating the entire control surface when yawing rather than using a traditional rudder. These engines provide the DarkStar with an incredible top speed that exceeds Mach 5 (6,125 km/h 3,806 mph) with additional tuning parts, the DarkStar can reach speeds of 3,500 knots (6,500 km/h 4,000 mph), surpassing the MiG-31B Foxhound and making it the fastest aircraft in Ace Combat 7. It possesses large air intakes that power massive scramjet engines beneath the craft. Many of these are positively awe-inspiring.The DarkStar is a small stealth aircraft with stubby wings and a large lifting-body fuselage.
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Not only is this a far more logical choice (what purpose is there for being in deep space anyway?), but it allows them to include gorgeous planetary systems in the background. Space still looks fairly boring, but most areas exist near planets and moons. Do you see huge colorful gas clouds when you look up at night? Well, it's most likely you wouldn't in space either.ĭarkStar One side steps this issue almost entirely. None of those things are realistic, since those things don't usually emit visible light. Most space games, like Star Trek Online, try to beautify the landscape by injecting stellar nebulae and huge colorful clouds of gas off in the distance. When it comes time to perform the landing, you actually fly into a dock in the side of the ship rather than just seeing a cutscene.Īt least it never gets visually boring though, which, like gameplay, is a tough hurdle considering space is generally an incomprehensibly enormous empty blackness. From the moment you launch, everything is similar to real life, right down to the moments you have to radio the control tower for permission to land. To the developer's credit, though, they do a lot to keep that immersion intact. You're going to have to be a huge space buff in order to be immersed in the experience enough that you don't notice how boring it all is. All you can do is fly around and shoot pirates or search for asteroids carrying artifacts in this vast expanse of nothingness. Space is almost entirely empty, with nothing to do or interact with. The major problem with DarkStar One is a problem inherent with any game that takes place primarily in space.
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Your ship can also be morphed and upgraded by finding artifacts in nearby space.Īll of this sounds good, and for the most part, it is. You do this by spending money you earn on missions and from destroying pirates. This ship can be constantly upgraded to facilitate new weapons systems, armor, and all sorts of doodads and knickknacks. You're fighting in a very special starfighter called the DarkStar One, a gift to you from your late father. You'll travel from planet to planet trying to find work, trade items, follow mysteries, all the while fighting off pirates. The main gameplay is about dogfighting in space. However, that doesn't mean you'll spend all of your time clicking random objects. Whether you'll enjoy it is another matter entirely.Īt its heart, DarkStar One is an adventure game in space. You'll never find anything else like it on this system. Posterity alone is a good enough reason to check out this game, which is so utterly unique in the Xbox 360 library.
#Darkstar one gameplay Pc#
The space dog-fighting and adventuring genre that was so popular back then with games like Freelancer has long since died out, and its legacy forgotten by all but the most dedicated PC gamers.įast forward to 2010, and the Xbox 360 library contains not a single entry in this genre until DarkStar One was released. Playing DarkStar One: Broken Alliance is like opening up a time capsule from 2003-4 planted by the PC gaming community.
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