Friendly forces in the area will often move to engage any enemy contacts of their own free will, but surprisingly the stations have no infrastructure of their own for defense, and you have to question how a sector dependent on trade could still function when pirates can freely swoop in and annihilate docked traders, often without any major repercussions. Granted, this is more of a “gameplay mechanics-versus-gameplay universe” debate, but there is no denying that it starts to feel somewhat tedious later on in the game when you always have to rush madly through the trade screens each time you dock, or run the risk of consistently get thwacked by missiles.
Fortunately, there are also quite a few places to hide, such as dense nebulas and other environmental anomalies (I even saw mention of a black hole), and astonishingly, it’s even possible to go down into a planetary atmosphere to engage in combat, or trade. The former is not very highly recommended however, since the gravity and subsequent extra thrust required drastically increased fuel consumption, and also resulted in reduced maneuverability. Still, the in-atmosphere navigation did add an incredible novelty to the game, even if it only provides a bare-bones environment to fly over (something I hope is expanded upon in the future). It would be nice to see a bit more of a serious effect on you ship from anomalies – having static fill some of my cockpit displays when entering a nebula, for example, would have been really cool and helped more convincingly convey the sense of radar interference.
Perhaps the biggest issue in Evochron Alliance is a lack of content, and not just in terms of ships, or enemy types, but rather in terms of interactive and productive scenarios for players to engage in. Certainly, there’s no question that it’s an incredibly cool novelty the first time you explore a nebula or planetary surface (or even the inside of an asteroid), but a lot of these things were one-time treats without too much of a reason to go back. And admittedly this is a problem that pretty much affects all types of free-form games after some time, where players eventually run out of things to do beyond endless trading, contract-completion, or combat, and Evochron Alliance sadly is no exception.
Gripes aside, Evochron Alliance provides a tremendous value for the price. For only $25 and a 22 MB download you get countless systems to explore, gameplay facilities to trade, fight, mine, and even engage in diplomacy with other ships. There is a campaign, complete with voice-acting to introduce each mission, and the graphics are fancy enough to make them pleasing to see in action (I especially approve of the 3D cockpit model). On top of all that, you even get multiplayer support and access to constant game updates for the future. It simply provides a lot of bang for your space simming gaming buck.
