When I was first given my review copy for Star Ruler just over a week ago I knew that I was in for a big game. Like Victoria II before it, I understood that this was going to be a hugely epic strategy game that was going to take far more time than I had to accurately review the game in its entirety. That’s why, like with Victoria II, I’ll simply be going over the main concepts of the game and explaining what’s good and bad about each, as opposed to exploring every nook and cranny which would probably require a few months of playing.

For those that don’t know Star Ruler is the newest 4X strategy game from indie developers Blind Mind Studios. 4X translates into: explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate. Games like Civilization, Europa Universalis, Masters of Orion, and Galactic Civilizations are all prime examples of 4X games. The singular caveat with Star Ruler is that, unlike Civilization (the most popular 4X game), Star Ruler plays in real time, not turns. This is quite rare for the genre.

Beyond that, however, Star Ruler seems to play like a pretty standard 4X game. So, without further adieu, let’s hit the review.

Gameplay

Starting off playing Star Ruler is a daunting task. There’s no doubt about it. If you’ve never played a 4X game prior, Star Ruler probably isn’t a good one to start with. If you consider yourself a seasoned veteran, on the other hand, well then jump on in. Luckily for everybody, the developers did include a tutorial. One that will walk you through the basics as you start your game  as opposed to simply giving you a block of text to read.

Unfortunately, while the game does come with a tutorial, it’s far from a perfect one. While the game’s tutorial does go over the basics of what the game has to offer and how to manage your solar empire, beyond that it offers nothing. For example, while it will explain how to build your own ship and what the various components do, it doesn’t explain combat or how to manage a combat scenario. These are things that sent me to the game’s forums which, luckily enough, are filled with videos and helpful players who were able to explain some of the things the tutorial skimped out on.

Speaking of building your own ship, this is probably my favorite part about Star Ruler. The game has a very unique “ship builder” that allows for you to truly customize everything about your ship. You’re basically given a big bubble to put components in (power generator, hull, thrusters, weapons, etc.) from there you can make them bigger or smaller depending on your needs. You can also attach them to other components to add different affects. In the end, to the right of the ship making menu you’ll see a series of red and green numbers. All of these numbers — except for fuel usage — has to be green to ensure that you’ve got a structurally sound ship that can be built and flown. Supposedly, and I haven’t done this so keep that in mind, you can build a ship the size of a planet, a la Death Star. Just something to think about.

Additionally, the game’s combat is just about as epic as you’d expect. While it’s pretty much a simple numbers game, it’s really cool to see all your ships fly in, in real time, and mass attack another fleet. In my first combat experience, I had my capital ship,  a few cruisers, a few dreadnoughts, and about 20-30 fighters. Seeing them all swarm in to take out my enemy’s fleet was an awesome sight to behold.

Of course, what would a 4X game be without technology. Researching new technologies so you can make better things and create bigger ships is what space-based 4X games are all about and Star Ruler is no different. While the technology trees seem standard enough, what’s really important is how you go about acquiring them. In a game like Civilization, for example, you’d have to wait ‘x’ amount of turns before you could learn a new technology. However, seeing as how Star Ruler has no turns (real time, remember?) it instead takes a matter of minutes. At the top left of the screen, you’ll have a time indicator ticking down to your next development. It’s a simple and easy process that I actually prefer over waiting an ‘x’ amount of turns.

And then we have our diplomacy. Again, this is a staple of the 4X genre and I don’t believe any 4X game would be complete were there not some form of diplomacy. Unfortunately, this is the major area where I feel Star Ruler just doesn’t get it. While everything is intact — sign peace treaties, trade treaties, etc. — there are some oddities that don’t really make sense. For example, if you set up a peace treaty, but not set a time limit to that peace treaty you and that other civilization are now at peace forever. There’s no breaking this treaty and you can never go to war ever again. Additionally, and this may be more cosmetic than anything else, but no nation has any sort of avatar that speak for them, it’s all text. This makes it exceedingly difficult to remember whose who, which can be slightly annoying.

Now, while those may be the main components there is still one thing I have yet to go over, the colonizing of other planets. When you first begin your game in Star Ruler you’ll instantly realize the scope the game has to offer. This is a big galaxy with tons of planets to explore. Luckily, the computer makes it all pretty easy to handle. As you will start in your own solar system with numerous planets, all you will have to do is simply build a colony ship and the computer will take over the rest, immediately colonizing the most appropriate planet nearest you. If you want to pick your planet then it’s as simple as finding the plnet, right clicking it, and selecting “colonize” which will then place priority on that planet.

Managing a planet is equally as easy. Since this game is in real time, you’re going to thank god for the “planetary governor” option that each planet has. This means that the computer AI will take over a planet and build it up accordingly. While you can’t tell it to focus on one thing, or another — which is unfortunate — it does seem to be pretty smart. Also, should you start construction on a new ship from your menu (not a specific planet), the computer will automatically pick which planet would be most suitable for building that ship the fastest.

Style

I’m sure you’ve probably already gathered this based on my gameplay review, but it bears repeating: Star Ruler is a gorgeous game. Planets look fantastic and each rotate on their own axis around a star. Each star looks incredibly daunting as well, with enough realism that it’s breathtaking. Star Ruler is a beautiful game to behold and one that any amateur astronomy fan love to poke around in.

The music and side effects, however, aren’t nearly as good as the visuals. That’s not to say their bad. They’re just mostly nonexistent and what is there doesn’t really leave a solid memory.

Story

As with any 4X game the story is left up to you to create. That is to say, there really is no story line in Star Ruler. You start your own civilization and create what you will out of it. That’s it.

Other

Star Ruler is a hugely epic game, but one that is also largely unpolished. There are a few quirks with the game that can make it kind of tedious to play (like the inability to view things from an isometric camera). Still though, this is going to be a game that matures over time as the developers release patches and  updates to make the game more solid. You have to keep in mind that this game was developed by an indie studio and what they’ve created with their limited resources is absolutely astonishing.

Star Ruler is available right now from GamersGate, Impulse, and Direct2Drive for about $25. If you’re looking for that new space-based 4X game, then you could probably do worse than Star Ruler.

[Star Ruler]