Today's blog review: Black Prophecy, the most ground breaking MMO you've never heard of on The Good, the Bad and the Nitpicky.
Distributed by Gamigo and produced by Reakktor studios Black Prophecy is the world's first action space combat MMO. Unlike Eve Online you actually have to fly your space fighter and pull the trigger to fire at enemy ships. Set during a distant future humankind has traversed the stars and separated into three distinct species, Sapiens, Tyi and Genides. The Sapiens are normal, unaltered humans while the Tyi are cybernetic enhanced humans and the Genides are bio-engineered. You play the part of a Sapiens pilot who is thrust into interstellar intrigue when your colony ship is attacked. You rapidly become entwined in a political conspiracy that stops when a mysterious and extremely hostile alien race invades. When the battle is over you are forced to choose between joining the Tyi, the Genides or death.
The Good:
The Graphics: Black Prophecy is without a doubt the best looking sci-fi MMORPG on the market. The graphics really give you a treat at any level and even low end systems will be able to play Black Prophecy with ease. Towering space stations, enormous capital ships, planets that actually look planet sized and a host of other features give you a real sense of actually traveling through space. Although there is a fair amount of annoying pop-up with interactive objects most of the graphics are crisp and smooth and there is an incredible attention to detail. Instead of laser blasts, cannon fire and missiles flying out of hidden cannons in your cockpit's glove compartment your ship actually shows each weapon and it's location on your fighter. Enemy capital ships have a similar attention to detail with shield generators, cannons and other destructible objects shown clearly. No matter what kind of computer you have you're in for a graphical feast.
The Action: Black Prophecy blows most MMO's clear out of the water in terms of action oriented game play. Best of all Black Prophecy supports a gamepad so you can actually fly, target and shoot your enemies with total control. This creates a fast-paced combat system that will constantly keep you on your toes. Enemies fly very well against you and will dodge, weave and split up into groups to surround and pound you. Their shields and armor are relatively weak compared to yours though so you can take them down easily one on one but because they always fly in groups the challenge level is quite high, especially in your higher levels. With missions coming at you in three different ways there is never a shortage of bad guys to shoot at.
The Backdrop: The Universe of Black Prophecy is well written and expansive. The tensions between the three groups are very clearly defined and there is even an extensive history. Its obvious that the designers of Black Prophecy spent a great deal of time working on creating a believable backdrop for their story to take place in. Without giving too much away the Genides and Tyi were once the servants of humans, now known as Sapiens. Feeling that they were superior to Sapiens both Tyi and Genides started the species wars in order to earn their freedom. Now, not only are they free but both groups now subjugate the once dominant Sapiens with laws and bigotry.
Overall: Black Prophecy is over the top gorgeous and gives the player a great sense of what it must be like to actually fly in space. Coupled with non-stop action and total control the good score of Black Prophecy is a very well deserved 12.
The Bad:
The Bugs: Although Black Prophecy is F2P it has an amazingly frustrating assortment of bugs even for a F2P MMO. The gamepads barely work and require some kind of dead zone in order to be used at all. if you try to use a XBox 360 gamepad forget it. A long standing bug associated with them makes you loose control of the mouse. My Saitek Cyborg gamepad works well enough but the dead zone makes being accurate difficult. Not only that but audio bugs and graphical glitches run rampant throughout the game and the team at Reakktor studios doesn't seem to be in any hurry to fix them. For a game that is a gorgeous as this its a real shame that the graphics have to be marred with such easily fixable issues.
(FATAL FLAW) No Armor/Shield management: This is without a doubt the worst feature of any action game. While you are given repair drones and shield batteries they can't be used in combat when they're needed the most. Sure you can turn them on during battle but any hit from any weapon will interrupt them forcing you to either run away to a neutral hub or fight the battle to its inevitable explosive conclusion. Your explosion, not theirs. Reakktor and Gamigo have tried to soften the negative impact of this feature by making enemy swarms relatively easy to defeat but that's not the point. It would better for overall game play if this feature were done away with altogether.
No Main Storyline: Or at least not one that can be accessed easily. As of level 15 I still hadn't unlocked any main story missions even though I left the prologue at level 8. As far as I can tell the main story line has some kind of condition that is either a higher level than I currently am or some other kind of condition that the game doesn't make available (like pay for play or something else). After the well written prologue it would be a waste if this game has no storyline at all but as of this writing if it does, I haven't found it yet.
Granted this score is focused primarily on the armor/shield management feature. The reason is because that is a focal point of just about every other space combat game on the market both today and in years past. To buck that trend is dangerous and when you combine that feature with the rampant bugs and lack of a main story Black Prophecy earns a Bad score of -8.
The Nitpicky:
Too Many Missions: Side missions, dynamic missions, war zones, instances, main story quests there is just too damn much to do in Black Prophecy. You could easily get caught in one hub for days on end and still not have done everything (and that's without the main story line as well!). Sure this gives the game good replay value and makes leveling up before moving on to the next area relatively easy but come on. You really can have too much of a good thing.
Ship/Character Customization: The best part of any role playing game is being able to create a character and make it unique to you. Its one of the reasons we play role playing games of all types and Black Prophecy delivers on this aspect like most other games can't. Designing a unique character is very easy and there are literally millions of combinations of features for your pilot. The same can not be said for you ship, however. Designing a custom ship is actually ridiculously hard as you level up and if you like certain types of parts you're going to be out of luck later on. In the end you end up with a ship that is a an uneven miss match of parts that looks more lopsided than dangerous.
PVE Arenas: These mislabeled areas are actually a haven for player hunters who enjoy nothing more than blasting other players to space dust. They are also a good place to hook up with someone from your own faction to take these player hunters down. The game actually gives bonus experience for killing other players so there is little incentive for player hunters to stop. Even though the PVE arenas are designed for group missions finding a group is pretty much impossible thanks to the game's low population. This doesn't mean the missions can't be done alone though and aren't just as much fun just don't be surprised if you get bushwhacked.
Side features can just as easily break a game as make it and in this case Black Prophecy is probably saved by them. The character creation, ship customization and mission variety really help Black Prophecy shine like a star. Nitpicky score is 3.
In Conclusion: Black Prophecy earns a final score of 7 thanks to its attention to detail, action oriented game play and mind boggling graphics. Its a shame that it has to be let down by bad features and inattentive game support. With some refinements, a few patches and a dedicated fan base Black Prophecy could easily be the break out MMO of the 2010's.
Distributed by Gamigo and produced by Reakktor studios Black Prophecy is the world's first action space combat MMO. Unlike Eve Online you actually have to fly your space fighter and pull the trigger to fire at enemy ships. Set during a distant future humankind has traversed the stars and separated into three distinct species, Sapiens, Tyi and Genides. The Sapiens are normal, unaltered humans while the Tyi are cybernetic enhanced humans and the Genides are bio-engineered. You play the part of a Sapiens pilot who is thrust into interstellar intrigue when your colony ship is attacked. You rapidly become entwined in a political conspiracy that stops when a mysterious and extremely hostile alien race invades. When the battle is over you are forced to choose between joining the Tyi, the Genides or death.
The Good:
The Graphics: Black Prophecy is without a doubt the best looking sci-fi MMORPG on the market. The graphics really give you a treat at any level and even low end systems will be able to play Black Prophecy with ease. Towering space stations, enormous capital ships, planets that actually look planet sized and a host of other features give you a real sense of actually traveling through space. Although there is a fair amount of annoying pop-up with interactive objects most of the graphics are crisp and smooth and there is an incredible attention to detail. Instead of laser blasts, cannon fire and missiles flying out of hidden cannons in your cockpit's glove compartment your ship actually shows each weapon and it's location on your fighter. Enemy capital ships have a similar attention to detail with shield generators, cannons and other destructible objects shown clearly. No matter what kind of computer you have you're in for a graphical feast.
The Action: Black Prophecy blows most MMO's clear out of the water in terms of action oriented game play. Best of all Black Prophecy supports a gamepad so you can actually fly, target and shoot your enemies with total control. This creates a fast-paced combat system that will constantly keep you on your toes. Enemies fly very well against you and will dodge, weave and split up into groups to surround and pound you. Their shields and armor are relatively weak compared to yours though so you can take them down easily one on one but because they always fly in groups the challenge level is quite high, especially in your higher levels. With missions coming at you in three different ways there is never a shortage of bad guys to shoot at.
The Backdrop: The Universe of Black Prophecy is well written and expansive. The tensions between the three groups are very clearly defined and there is even an extensive history. Its obvious that the designers of Black Prophecy spent a great deal of time working on creating a believable backdrop for their story to take place in. Without giving too much away the Genides and Tyi were once the servants of humans, now known as Sapiens. Feeling that they were superior to Sapiens both Tyi and Genides started the species wars in order to earn their freedom. Now, not only are they free but both groups now subjugate the once dominant Sapiens with laws and bigotry.
Overall: Black Prophecy is over the top gorgeous and gives the player a great sense of what it must be like to actually fly in space. Coupled with non-stop action and total control the good score of Black Prophecy is a very well deserved 12.
The Bad:
The Bugs: Although Black Prophecy is F2P it has an amazingly frustrating assortment of bugs even for a F2P MMO. The gamepads barely work and require some kind of dead zone in order to be used at all. if you try to use a XBox 360 gamepad forget it. A long standing bug associated with them makes you loose control of the mouse. My Saitek Cyborg gamepad works well enough but the dead zone makes being accurate difficult. Not only that but audio bugs and graphical glitches run rampant throughout the game and the team at Reakktor studios doesn't seem to be in any hurry to fix them. For a game that is a gorgeous as this its a real shame that the graphics have to be marred with such easily fixable issues.
(FATAL FLAW) No Armor/Shield management: This is without a doubt the worst feature of any action game. While you are given repair drones and shield batteries they can't be used in combat when they're needed the most. Sure you can turn them on during battle but any hit from any weapon will interrupt them forcing you to either run away to a neutral hub or fight the battle to its inevitable explosive conclusion. Your explosion, not theirs. Reakktor and Gamigo have tried to soften the negative impact of this feature by making enemy swarms relatively easy to defeat but that's not the point. It would better for overall game play if this feature were done away with altogether.
No Main Storyline: Or at least not one that can be accessed easily. As of level 15 I still hadn't unlocked any main story missions even though I left the prologue at level 8. As far as I can tell the main story line has some kind of condition that is either a higher level than I currently am or some other kind of condition that the game doesn't make available (like pay for play or something else). After the well written prologue it would be a waste if this game has no storyline at all but as of this writing if it does, I haven't found it yet.
Granted this score is focused primarily on the armor/shield management feature. The reason is because that is a focal point of just about every other space combat game on the market both today and in years past. To buck that trend is dangerous and when you combine that feature with the rampant bugs and lack of a main story Black Prophecy earns a Bad score of -8.
The Nitpicky:
Too Many Missions: Side missions, dynamic missions, war zones, instances, main story quests there is just too damn much to do in Black Prophecy. You could easily get caught in one hub for days on end and still not have done everything (and that's without the main story line as well!). Sure this gives the game good replay value and makes leveling up before moving on to the next area relatively easy but come on. You really can have too much of a good thing.
Ship/Character Customization: The best part of any role playing game is being able to create a character and make it unique to you. Its one of the reasons we play role playing games of all types and Black Prophecy delivers on this aspect like most other games can't. Designing a unique character is very easy and there are literally millions of combinations of features for your pilot. The same can not be said for you ship, however. Designing a custom ship is actually ridiculously hard as you level up and if you like certain types of parts you're going to be out of luck later on. In the end you end up with a ship that is a an uneven miss match of parts that looks more lopsided than dangerous.
PVE Arenas: These mislabeled areas are actually a haven for player hunters who enjoy nothing more than blasting other players to space dust. They are also a good place to hook up with someone from your own faction to take these player hunters down. The game actually gives bonus experience for killing other players so there is little incentive for player hunters to stop. Even though the PVE arenas are designed for group missions finding a group is pretty much impossible thanks to the game's low population. This doesn't mean the missions can't be done alone though and aren't just as much fun just don't be surprised if you get bushwhacked.
Side features can just as easily break a game as make it and in this case Black Prophecy is probably saved by them. The character creation, ship customization and mission variety really help Black Prophecy shine like a star. Nitpicky score is 3.
In Conclusion: Black Prophecy earns a final score of 7 thanks to its attention to detail, action oriented game play and mind boggling graphics. Its a shame that it has to be let down by bad features and inattentive game support. With some refinements, a few patches and a dedicated fan base Black Prophecy could easily be the break out MMO of the 2010's.
VIEW 6 of 6 COMMENTS
drusylla:
Yeah the avg temp for AZ during the summer (in the valley anyway) is around 115 I feel bad for all the heavily pregnant women here during the summer.
drusylla:
No I won't be heavily pregnant during the summer, thankfully. I'll be only 3-5 months pregnant during the summertime so it's a lot easier for me to manage. I'm talking the 7 month+ pregnant women.