Battlecruiser Generations/Universal Combat Ships

The latest Derek Smart space sim is out the gates and on store shelves now. Originally entitled BattleCruiser Generations, it has been prediscounted to $19.99 with the new name Universal Combat. The game features regular spaceflight and lots of exploration, and even lets you go down to planets for first person combat. A lot of previous games in the series have sounded good on paper with tons of neat features and great freedom, but have also been plagued by occasional bugs and other problems. "Other problems" is a bit of an understatement when you look a bit closer. The infamous Mr. Smart is engaged in yet another episodic outburst over this release. He has sued to halt the publisher from releasing the game and outlined a bunch of reasons why Dreamcatcher Interactive is a mean company. As usual, this behavior has overshadowed the actual game, which has gotten pretty good initial impressions so far. It looks neat, and for $19.99 it's probably a good buy for people looking for a real epic game that touches on many different sci-fi aspects and genres together.

If you curious about the latest legal flare-up, Smart has put together a little manifesto against his publisher here.

When I sign a contract, it is to do three basic things.
1. Develop the game as signed on
2. Support the game
3. Provide the marketing materials, manuals etc
4. Deliver the game