Starscape

Although this game earns points for its engrossing story line and nice presentation, the stingy trial restriction takes it down a notch. Starscape is not your typical shoot-'em-up space game. Instead, you pilot your ship on a variety of missions to help save the spaceship Aegis and its crew. Some mission-based games such as this are tough to understand, but this program clearly spells out your orders so you know exactly what to do at all times. We really suggest watching the animated background story before playing the game, as it will greatly enhance the experience. The cartoon-style graphics are excellently rendered, and the graphics and sound effects are equally up to par. However, the downside to the polished design is that the program eats a lot of system memory and takes a while to install. Starscape offers a decent feature set, letting you adjust the audio, reconfigure the controls, and play in full-screen or window modes. Still, we think most users will wish for longer than a 20-minute trial period. All things considered, we think Starscape bests suits experienced role-playing gamers rather than more casual players.