MAIN
NEWS

Resources
CHEATS
GALLERY
RELEASE DATES
BETA CENTER
LINKS
FORUM
GAMERS DATABASE

Downloads
DEMOS
PATCHES
GAME TOOLS
MAPS/SCENARIOS

SGO
ABOUT US
FAQ
FEEDBACK
HOSTING

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

REVIEWS

Interactive Magic is one of the few game companies that consistently churn's out software. Their track record unfortunately is marred with hit-or-miss products. They have hot titles like Warbirds, Capitalism Plus and Seven Kingdoms, as well as lesser-known dudes like Destiny (a bad Civ clone). The company itself is turning its sights towards the online multiplayer gaming crowd. In doing so, it creates games geared towards multiplayer first, single player second. As they make the genre round in order to have a little bit of everything for their online customers, they have created a 4X-strategy game called Malkari. But is the experience worth it?

Malkari is the name of the G2 main sequence star that hosts the habitable planet of Mestor. Unfortunately for the inhabitants of Mestor, a rogue star named Diantos is on a direct collision course towards the Malkari system. The inhabitants of Mestor tunnel deep into the planet’s crust to leave a myriad of scientific bases in order to restore their former glory after the apocalyptic changes have passed. In doing so, five guilds sprung up, all with their own ideas of how best to achieve this goal. These five feuding guilds are each sub divided into eight chapters, one of which you will represent. The damage Diantos causes’ is far worse than the scientists of mentor had anticipated. Their homeworld is torn asunder, chunks of rock caught up in a chaotic orbit around the Malkari star. To further complicate matters, Diantos gets caught in Malkari's gravitational pull, the two suns now creating a figure eight rotation for the roughly 150 asteroids left within the system. You are to take command of a chapter and lead your guild to victory against the others, or at lest help one of your chapter brethren to achieve the same.

Malkari represents a unique twist to the 4X-space strategy genre. Whereas others of its ilk contained a large galaxy full of star systems ripe for the taking, Malkari is represented with one system; one system that is comprised of two suns around which about roughly 150 asteroids orbit. These asteroids are all that remain of Mestor. As the game begins, you have the opportunity to pick which guild you will be a part of. Each guild has special abilities to give each a slightly different feel when playing them. The Blue Talon Corps have speedy ships, the Crimson Dawn have psychic attack weapons, the Diamond Cooperative are the middle of the road, the Emerald Combine have space mine technology and the Golden Order of Reason have powerful, albeit slow ships. Each guild is further divided into eight chapters who will attempt to work together in order to win. Winning is accomplished by achieving the most votes in a league council election for Imperator. Votes can be had by controlling asteroids. He who controls the most will win.

You begin the game with your home asteroid. You have an ATV construction facility, a few ATV’s and an orbital space station. The key to the ‘land map’, is creating and putting your ATV’s to work. ATV’s (asteroid terrain vehicles) come in four unit types, Mining, Combat, Power and Scientific. Mining are the primary ATV as they net you the four resource types required to build more ATV’s and star ships, and can also create storage facilities. The Combat ATV is used to defend your asteroids from ground assaults as well as attacking enemy ATV’s on their own turf. Scientific ATV’s can discover lost resources, set up a main base camp on a new asteroid and do minor terraforming. Power ATV’s create power to transfer to star ships orbiting the asteroid. That’s all there is to know. No other buildings or units are involved for the ground portion of the game; which helps keep micromanagement down when you are attempting to control upwards of twenty different asteroids. The simplified system also means the auto-manage feature (the AI) can handle the job.

You will also begin the game with a scout ship. This unit will go to neighboring asteroids and scan the surface. Upon completion you will be able to determine the size and make up of the ground space. You will than use a transport to bring your ATV’s here to mine and take over the asteroid. If an opposing force is on the asteroid, you will need to outnumber them with Combat ATV’s to take them out.

In addition to adding to your vote count, asteroids also provide research points. There are two main fields to research, Modules and Hulls. Each is further broken down into several categories that essentially are geared towards building bigger and better starships. Hulls include scouts, space stations, cruisers, transports and battleships. Modules are the sections that are put into a ship and include construction modules for space stations, weapons, shields, computers, power, propulsion, etc.

Star ships are built at your space stations. Besides the stock models offered, you are encouraged to build your own. Pick out a hull, and fill it with your choice of modules. Upon completion, star ships are used to scan asteroids, protect the space lanes from intruders and can blockade enemy asteroids.

Combat is automatically calculated by the computer, there is no tactical portion a la MOO2. This keeps the game streamlined and simple. Perfect for a multiplayer game. The thick rulebook even explains how combat is handled and gives the player the mathematical formula for determining the outcome. Your responsibility is creating the right mix and match of star ships in order to take out enemy fleets. Now build time is not exactly fast for the bigger guns and the travel time between asteroids is awfully long. What this means is do not expect large fleet engagements, at least not until late in the game.

The interface is easily navigable in Malkari. It offers goto screens at the top of your screen to jump to asteroids quickly. A window on the bottom explains last turns events. A simple click on the sentence will bring you to the location of the action. A window to your right gives you statistical info on units and the control panel at the bottom right is where you can easily navigate through varying screens to glean the information you need to win, like the research overlay, trade screens, etc.

The graphics are functional. The asteroids may be polygons, but the ships are flat 2D. The ground graphics leave something to be desired. As an online multiplayer game, the designers did not want simple eye candy creating lag.

As I’ve said before, Malkari was designed as a multiplayer game first, single player second. This has actually worked in the single player’s favor. By simplifying the gameplay, the AI is competent enough to provide a challenge. Now what works against Malkari is the choice of a turn-based format. With an abstract combat system and minor micromanagment, I am not sure why the creators wanted it turn-based. As a single player experience, it really doesn’t effect it either way. It’s online that we have problems. While you do have simultaneous turns and can set time limits, it doesn’t help when it takes your fleet fifteen turns to get to a neighboring asteroid. The only reason I see for turn-based was to provide the PBEM (play by email) feature.

Diplomacy is a thing of the past in Malkari. While online players can chat all they want, you can not trade resources except with those in your guild. Members of other guilds are always going to be the enemy. Opposing guild ships will always fire on each other when in the same area. This helps keep the atmosphere of the game and again simplifies things. Guild members will help each other, but not opposing guilds.

There is something refreshing about Malkari’s simplified system and yet unique with its game world. Picking the right asteroids to inhabit is important because while it may be next to your homeworld one turn, it could be flying far off the next. This can help by putting space stations in orbit around a fast moving asteroid and have it build ships. This way by the time it heads off into enemy territory, you have a sizable fleet with which to launch a surprise attack against your adversaries.

While I can not recommend Malkari to the casual game player, I will say it is for the hardcore 4X-strategy enthusiast. It is simple to pick up but difficult to master. The more you play it the more subtle you will see it is. While there was not too much hype on its release, Malkari is an excellent game and brings a new flavor to the genre.

If you like to comment on this review, please post a message at the forum.
Reviewed by A. Sage

Copyright © 1998 Strategy Gaming Online. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or in any medium without express permission of Strategy Gaming Online is prohibited.