The year is 2385 and galactic worlds
are starved, their economy and trade connections ruined. Once, when the Madorian race
produced FTL (Faster Than Light) engines for inter-galactic spaceships, the galaxy was
prospering. But Madorians disappeared, taking away their inventions and causing galactic
life and wealth to stall. Finally, FTL travel was once again made possible and the five
remaining races (you representing one of them) joined in a rush to gain financial
dominance over the vast galactic community. Can you outmanage the competitor races and
build the best cosmic trading empire? A game with very accurately presented data, Space Bucks is done in
100% SVGA. The introduction is a nice computer-generated sequence, and throughout the game
once in a while on a stale map-screen there appear boxes with news-report-like movie
sequences, which add an extra good look to the visual presentation of the game. All your
virtual managerial operations in Space Bucks take place while one of two cosmic musical
compositions is pleasing your ears. You can toggle between the compositions, digitized
speech and sound effects, which are few but enough to indicate your major actions in the
gaming process.
Management of the numerous buttons, indicators and arrows in Space
Bucks requires a mouse. The game window itself is smaller than the screen and is centered,
leaving the Windows environment around it uncovered, which somewhat interferes with the
player's in-the-game perception. Generally, the impression of some extremely complex
cockpit is created, where you might be sitting by the computer monitors in your starbase
and "switching the screens" when another frame or chart appears in the game. At
the top of the game window you'll find the option menus, from which you are able to load,
save, or start a new game, as well as go to the Bank, the Stock Market, and your
enterprise maintenance/evaluation screens.
The majority of indicators on the main screens are
symbolized by some object (red cross for medicine, hamburger for food, etc.), and at first
it may seem extremely hard to remember the exact meaning of each. A Quick Reference Card
(QRC) is provided to help the player in the beginning, along with the mouse Info Bar at
the bottom of the screen, which gives a quick summary of an aimed symbol's feature. I
found it somewhat difficult to read any text in the game, primarily due to a surprisingly
small font size, thought it didn't take me too long to adapt to this peculiarity.
The game environment represents a variety of data screens and maps,
putting you in charge of everything: from the number of "space bucks" per share
of your stock to deciding what planet will become your next target market. Space Bucks is
a game of thought and careful management of available resources. You start with a starport
on your home planet and one ship. Your goal is to expand your enterprise. The right
decision would be to settle on other planets. But nothing is easy in our life, so why
should it be any different in galactic trade? Can you afford the aliens' planet's rent
requests? Do they really want your toxic waste facilities on their land and will they
prefer the quality of your weapons to that of others sellers? Another whole issue is your
inter-planetary fleet, and you will have to consider such real-life details as ship
models, weapons, hull type, shields, cargo capacity, engine technology, range... but those
are only the first steps. There is limited time for you to build your empire - until the
year 2500, and the clock is running. Yes, everything is at least twice as complicated in
the game, and that is why Space Bucks represents a futuristic trading-company sim that is
as real as modern business gets today. This is a serious game is for those wishing to
spend months dealing with 3 difficulty levels, 5 alien civilizations, 12 planet and 12
starport structure types, and an infinity of executive decisions. One careless mistake may
be fatal for your enterprise! Not button-pressing speed or visual eyeball-tearing effects,
but mind and wits are the weapons that bring superiority and fame in Space Bucks.
Pros: An original idea, and more factors
affecting the game process than one could consider, make this game a challenge.
Cons: The procedures and controls may be a
bit too complex. The text is somewhat difficult to read. There are no sound volume
controls. Some gamers may not like the way minimum action and special effects is balanced
by maximum concentration on tax returns. And, unfortunately, I am one of them.
--Andrew Morozov |