It's certainly not about the story, which is terrible in that slightly loveable way of poorly localized Eastern European games. Your character's name is K-Ron. Not spelled that way, but it doesn’t matter, since that's what you'll hear. K-Ron. The folks doing the Xbox 360 port have a nice sense of self-awareness with some of the achievements. When your annoying sidekick is kidnapped and can no longer provide background chatter, the story-based achievement is called "How Quiet". And when you resolve that particular story arc, the achievement is "Oh No, She's Back". But again, you're not playing for the story.

You’re playing to fly across the galaxy in the cool ship that you're building. It’s a long, easy stellar road trip. The scenery unfolds gradually, with occasional changes in space station architecture and maybe a new enemy ship folded into the mix or another laser color. This universe has a colorful slightly cartoon look, a nice change of pace from the traditional dark and washed-out bleak of contemporary sci-fi. And even though the gameplay can be repetitive, this isn't necessarily a liability. It goes with the territory. Kick back and fly a few missions and then come back tomorrow. Because you know what else was repetitive? Elite, Privateer, Freelancer, and so forth.

And now here is that same basic gameplay, working just fine on a console system. It can be tough getting used to the short throw of the analog stick if you're a joystick guy. There's a fair bit of futzing around with the d-pad and radial menus, which are a minor hassle in the heat of battle. And good lord, it's a pain in the afterburner managing the map, whether it's comparing supplies to demands, finding the nearest pirate gang, or just figuring out the goofy name of whatever system where you're parked. Otherwise, this adaptation to the gamepad works about as well as can be expected, considering there's nothing to sap the feeling of being in a spaceship cockpit quite so thoroughly as clutching a gamepad. But Darkstar One on the Xbox 360 isn't the way to relive the golden era of joysticks and keyboards. Those days are gone and you're on the couch now, taking what you can get. Be glad it's as good a game as Darkstar One.