Smugglers 3

Smugglers 3 hearkens back to an earlier generation of 4X space exploration and conquest games. In a way, it's the sort of game I might have played on my old Apple II--but of course much prettier graphics.

You're a starship captain during an interstellar civil war, belonging to one of four factions in the war. Your primary activities involve trading (including smuggling illegal goods, if you so choose); accepting combat missions in support of your faction; or becoming a pirate and attacking planets. As usual in games like this, you start off with a tiny ship, and progress is mainly in the form of earning enough money and rising in rank so that you can get bigger and better ships.

It's primarily a point and click game; the screen shows planets in your system and jumpgates to nearby systems. You travel by selecting a planet and double-clicking on it. Trading means opening a window and selecting a good--the price of that good on nearby planets is showsn on the screen, which at least eliminates the tedium of many similar games that require you to explore to find out prices elsewhere. Accepting a combat mission requires you to dock and visit the governor, while buying equipment takes you to the shipyard.

In short, this is a game that could be carried in text, but is dressed up by very nicely painted static graphics. There's nothing like action here; even combat is a matter of choosing the range to your opponent you wish to maintain, and selecting what weapons or defensive equipment to use each turn.

Where Smugglers 3 shines, however, is in the over-arching story of the war, reported to you periodically. As you become powerful enough to participate meaningfully in the war (by, e.g., capturing enemy planets), you get a real sense of being involved in and having a real impact on a star-spanning conflict.

Also available: Smugglers 3 Expansion

The Developer Says:

In the third part of the award winning Smugglers series you can play a greedy trader, an ambitious bounty hunter, a ruthless pirate, a mix of those or one of many other professions. Backed up by a crew of different kinds of crewmen (like droids or mercenaries) you can visit more than 75 planets in 25 systems in your attempt to gain favors with one of the four factions in the known galaxy. You can be promoted, receive medals and campaign ribbons, and upgrade one of the 19 available ships from a great set of different equipment parts. It will be necessary to engage in space and crew combat against the four different factions in the game and even to conquer whole planets.

• 25 star systems with over 75 planets. Visit your favorite planets or discover some new systems. New and beautiful planet art.
  
• Four different factions all with completetly different uniforms and medals (depending on your success you can pin rank signs, ribbons and medals on your proud chest).
  
• Improved trade systems (War, supply and demand influence the prices).
  
• Non-linear war and campaign system. You can influence the war - actually it is up to you to win it by capturing whole sectors. But until you have that powerful ships its an exciting way.
  
• Special locations spawning on the map (like hidden treasures, spy ships, VIP traders, alien artefacts...).
  
• Improved planet attack system: Fight against waves of enemy ships and afterwards decide to plunder the planet or conquer it for your country!
  
• All new combat system.
  
• New music track, background music/sounds in the game, Sounds FX.
  

Reviews:
"The Game is a treat for sci-fi fans... 4 1/2 stars (out of 5)".
   - Game Tunnel