Today,
Slitherine Limited released
Buzz Aldrin's Space Program Manager v0.7, Chapter 1, that covers the Moon Race Era. As the version number implies, it isn't a finished product, but from another hand, I got it for 19,99€. The online payment process is serious and you can get a very detailed copy of the transaction.
So I've been testing it a bit, and more than a bit in fact, and my overall impression is very good. It clearly seems to me that the educational value is more than great. The programs are very, very detailed and numerous. In 4 hours of play, I haven't got further than the first Mercury-Redstone unmanned test.
So here are my first thoughts about it :
Pros :
- Amazing historical accuracy of the programs and great 3D renders of them, which is very interesting for the early programs where photographs are extremely rare and of low quality.
- The spirit of the original "Race Into Space" is clearly present. The basics are the same. But it goes much more in-deep.
- Still the same stress during the launches, with those success/failure % !
- It is very easy to spend your budget in a wrong way and to get fired, so a long-term vision is clearly necessary. Right now you have no deadlines, but landing on the Moon in 1969 seems quite a feat to me.
- Real serious management game.
- Runs perfectly, provided you didn't bought your computer by an antique dealer.
- You start with the X-15, way back in 1955, and Mercury really seems a very advanced program at this time.
- The way mission control works. You have to assign (or can auto-assign) everyone in the Control Room. The most complex mission I did was a Mercury-Redstone unmanned test, and it took no less than 11 mission controllers. FIDO, GUIDO, Flight Surgeon, everyone is there. Now I don't know exactly how it impacts the success/failure ratio, but I must say I haven't read the manual, too.
- Still turn-based, 4 rounds by year.
- Works well in windowed mode.
- With 2 more episodes to come (Shuttle to now Space Stations Era and future Mars Exploration Era), the level of complexity is going to be really amazing.
- Nice soundtrack.
Cons :
- No carreer mode now, only a "Sandbox mode", which is a bit KSP-inspired, I find... Still, you get fired if you spend all your budget.
- Failures are not well implemented, I hope it will be fixed. No specific animations ; I failed 2 X-15 missions and the pilot always survived (well, in the both cases, the spaceplane was still attached to the B-52, so...). No details about what gone wrong, etc...
- Weird mix of American and Russian hardware. I must say I don't like too much that story of a "GSA" (Global Space Agency), but well, given how the AI was random in the original Race Into Space, I understand. I guess it's hard to make a credible AI in this kind of games. KSP eluded the problem too, until now. But the Cold War background was definitively fun in the original RIS.
- Which leads to no multiplayer. Which is a pity, because a turn-based game is perfect for hotseat or online gaming.
- Some lack of variety in the soundtrack.
- Of course, a lot of not-yet-implemented features, lacking descriptions, photographs or renders for personel faces, etc... That's not too nasty if there is a serious developpement line like in KSP.
The way I see it, this new game adds a very interesting perspective to the spaceflight topic. Orbiter is focused on the physics simulation. KSP is intended to be a fair mix between simulation and management. Buzz's Space Program Manager clearly focuses on in-depht management, strategy and planning. So between those 3 games, any space enthusiast is almost certain to find its poison !
The GSA spaceport at its very humble beginnings, in 1955...