Starpoint Gemini - Impressions @ RPS

Rock, Paper, Shotgun has some early impressions of Starpoint Gemini from Jim Rossignol:

Your capacities in the world are a mixture of the nature of the ship you are in, and the character you play, and the range of possibilities for that combination is enormous. There are fifty ships in total, and each of these can fitted out with a huge range of modules – sensors, shields, grapples, blasters, railguns, torpedos, mining equipment, and on and on. A host of menus provide you with the capacity to fiddle with all kinds of variables and aspects of your craft. This variety should give you a hint of the kind of game Starpoint Gemini is trying to be: a real-time space captain RPG, essentially. Combat reflects this level of complexity by being a tactical game of naval-style positional engagement. Getting the enemies on the optimal side of your shields, and avoiding being blasted to bits because you were outflanked, is at the heart of the fighting part of the game. There’s a strong whiff of Star Trek in the options here – having to send power to shields, or engines, and so on. This is very much a game about you being at the helm of a complex starship, and that theme is reflected throughout the possible activities that the game presents you with. For example, you can occasionally scan, board, and loot a derelict spacecraft. This all happens with you watching your starship, but a little video of your crew exploring the ship and find the cargo plays out in the corner of the screen. You are not alone.