Diaspora: Shattered Armistice, the Freespace-powered, Battlestar Galactica-based space combat sim, is out the tube and looking hot.
It’s been awhile since Battlestar Galactica ended its run, but game development takes time, especially when it’s an amateur, fan-powered project. But after four years in development, Diaspora: Shattered Armistice is finally here, and amateur or not it looks very impressive. Powered by the Freespace 2 engine, which may very well be the most remarkably durable game engine of all time, Diaspora puts players behind the stick of the Viper MK VII, the MK VIIe strike variant and the Raptor in massive battles against the rampaging Cylon forces.
The single-player campaign takes place alongside the events told in the Battlestar Galactica pilot, as the Battlestar Theseus, cut off from the rest of the Colonial fleet, struggles to survive and fight back. Everything is voiced acted, and the game boasts an all-new, original soundtrack inspired by the show; despite the age of the engine, it looks great too, with resolutions as high as you care to go and plenty of eye-candy options on tap. Multiplayer is supported, allowing gamers to go head-to-head as either Colonials or Cylons, and in case that’s not enough, a full-blown mission editor is included too.
I’ve played through the first few missions, and my experience thus far has been nothing short of fantastic. It’s immediately recognizable as Freespace, but it looks and sounds and feels like something lifted straight out of the hit BSG remake. The biggest flaws, like so many other fan-made games, are bad voice acting and occasionally clunky writing, but in every other way it’s absolutely pro; it’s still the early hours of the “Fall of Man” but so far, this looks like the Battlestar Galactica game we should’ve had years ago.
Diaspora: Shattered Armistice is available now for Windows and Linux-based PCs, and the Mac. More information, download links and even a remastered soundtrack can all be found at hard-light.net. If you’re a Battlestar fan or any kind of joystick jockey, you don’t want to miss it.
Thanks to TheBlackKnight for the tip.
