A Review: Babylon 5: I've Found Her, PC 2003
Babylon 5: I've Found Her is a completely fan-made game by a group of skilled and dedicated Babylon 5 TV series fans. Everything in this game was made by fans with no studio involvement and was meant to be a teaser or demo for a game that never came. Instead, it was released as an open-source mod for people to play, with a complete and ready-to-go campaign and supposedly 6-7 hours of gameplay. The development was halted part way through as the developer Sierra was planning to release their own game set in the Babylon 5 universe. Things once again picked up after Sierra abandoned their game, and the assets and engine were then adapted for this game.
I wanted to love this game so much, and I really did. I have no idea about the Babylon 5 universe and have never seen a single episode of it, so I knew that I would have no idea about what was going on or why. I also knew that this was a fan-made game using the framework of a scrapped Sierra title and not an actual, true game as such. So I knew that I couldn't expect much in terms of anything, but I was still disappointed. The play is quite rough around the edges, and the missions have little to no balance. With some being a literal cakewalk and others having me restart more times than I cared to count, there were problems with scripting to the point that some enemies couldn't be killed until the correct in-game time. Meaning that more than once I was attacking something that was invulnerable until a certain time had elapsed. This was hell at some points, as my ship would be blasted into space debris because I was attacking the 'wrong' things. There was also nowhere near 6-7 hours of gameplay. Maybe six if you really took your time, but no more, unless you count the constant restarts, that is. Also, I found that this game was boring in between fights, with a lot of flying around and going from point A to point B with nothing going on, not even communication chatter. The whole game felt empty and lifeless, like a flight sim with minimal content set in space. It also annoyed me that I had to complete the tutorial even though I already knew what I was doing. I thought that the lack of a skip option was infuriating, though, if I think about it now, this could have been a purposeful choice to add time to the game so that it reached that golden '6-7 hours of gameplay'. I wanted to love this game, and I really tried to, but there just isn't enough of it to get into, and there never will be. The group that made this game has long since disbanded and is no longer maintaining the game's website either. I wondered at the closing screen of this game just what could have been.
Visually, this game looked really good for a 2003 home-made title, with richly coloured and detailed environments. Worlds, asteroids, and other objects looked amazing, and the ships were also stunning. I loved the effort that was put into how this game looked; it really showed the level of care and dedication the team had. The user interface was clean and very easy to understand, with the option to modify it as you saw fit. This game looked great for the time; it's as simple as that.
Overall, this was a great demo, but I do not think that it should have been released as a full game at all, or even as it is now. It is painfully clear that so much is missing, and it is a shame that I will never know what this title could have been.
3/10 – Played With A Grumpy Face!
Signed Off – Leonardo – PSJ
I wanted to love this game so much, and I really did. I have no idea about the Babylon 5 universe and have never seen a single episode of it, so I knew that I would have no idea about what was going on or why. I also knew that this was a fan-made game using the framework of a scrapped Sierra title and not an actual, true game as such. So I knew that I couldn't expect much in terms of anything, but I was still disappointed. The play is quite rough around the edges, and the missions have little to no balance. With some being a literal cakewalk and others having me restart more times than I cared to count, there were problems with scripting to the point that some enemies couldn't be killed until the correct in-game time. Meaning that more than once I was attacking something that was invulnerable until a certain time had elapsed. This was hell at some points, as my ship would be blasted into space debris because I was attacking the 'wrong' things. There was also nowhere near 6-7 hours of gameplay. Maybe six if you really took your time, but no more, unless you count the constant restarts, that is. Also, I found that this game was boring in between fights, with a lot of flying around and going from point A to point B with nothing going on, not even communication chatter. The whole game felt empty and lifeless, like a flight sim with minimal content set in space. It also annoyed me that I had to complete the tutorial even though I already knew what I was doing. I thought that the lack of a skip option was infuriating, though, if I think about it now, this could have been a purposeful choice to add time to the game so that it reached that golden '6-7 hours of gameplay'. I wanted to love this game, and I really tried to, but there just isn't enough of it to get into, and there never will be. The group that made this game has long since disbanded and is no longer maintaining the game's website either. I wondered at the closing screen of this game just what could have been.
Visually, this game looked really good for a 2003 home-made title, with richly coloured and detailed environments. Worlds, asteroids, and other objects looked amazing, and the ships were also stunning. I loved the effort that was put into how this game looked; it really showed the level of care and dedication the team had. The user interface was clean and very easy to understand, with the option to modify it as you saw fit. This game looked great for the time; it's as simple as that.
Overall, this was a great demo, but I do not think that it should have been released as a full game at all, or even as it is now. It is painfully clear that so much is missing, and it is a shame that I will never know what this title could have been.
3/10 – Played With A Grumpy Face!
Signed Off – Leonardo – PSJ
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