Space Rangers 2: Rise of the Dominators

Space Rangers 2 sets you in a universe that's in the middle of an enormous war, and guess what? Your side has no formal military to protect itself. As you find out quickly a race of robots called Dominators has begun attacking and to date has taken over half of the territory that used to be yours. Not that long ago, Intelligence revealed that the Dominators use large network hubs to control their troops and after locating one, the majority of the military available was sent to destroy it. Unfortunately, that mission failed miserably and now all that's left to defend against the Dominators is mercenaries called Space Rangers.

So what makes Space Rangers 2 great? Well for me it's the entire package which comes together for dynamic and well balanced gameplay. First there's the Freelancer type of universe roaming and mercenary mission selection. Basically you'll have freedom to travel to 18 different sectors across the galaxy and select different missions, upgrade components or buy new ships, and sell any loot you captured on your missions.

The gameplay also makes an impact. Instead of the flight simulator gameplay found in Freelancer however, Space Rangers 2 offers two distinct gameplay approaches depending on if you're in space or on land. In space, the action is turn based as battles can in planned out and carefully executed while land battles are RTS and offer enough variety to keep things interesting for a long time. Both styles offer many different options and enhancements, either different ship components to improve performance or new robot components for flexible land battles. Often strategies are created and changed depending on the components available.

The graphics and audio aren't going to blow you away however. They're good, but more detail and a larger variation of music tracks would have an immediate impact.

The only major short falls for Space Rangers 2 is the lack of a cohesive plot or storyline and the fact that there is a lot to get comfortable with. Following a storyline always makes the game more interesting and personalizes the experience.

Space Rangers 2 successfully brings together a number of different genres and blends them into a game that will stay on your PC for some time. There's a ton of things to do but don't give up on it too early. It may take a couple of times playing before the full scope and possibilities of the game is clear.