For example, the green, red, and yellow gems don’t power magic, but they do power very similar special abilities like a cloaking device or enemy shield disruptor (the colors correspond to computer, weapons, and engine-based powers). Damage is done not by matching skulls, but by lining up very similar black tiles with numbers on them corresponding to the amount of damage they can do.
Blue tiles actually do have a different purpose: Each spaceship has energy shields, which must be whittled down before you can do damage to their actual hit points, and blue tiles replenish these shields. Additionally, there are two colors that relate directly to the story: new, silver tiles give you better intel, and purple tiles are now used to fuel psi powers. Full details on those are still to come, but they’ll have an effect on your interactions with other people/life forms. These two tile types together seem to replace the experience points system from the first game, as we’re told traditional character levels have actually been discarded.
Also relevant to the story is an entirely new diplomacy system, which will keep track of who likes and hates you in the galaxy (depending upon decisions you make during the game) and mold the action accordingly. For instance, if a certain alien race likes you, they’ll let you pass through their territory unmolested. If they don’t, they’ll try to make like Luke Skywalker to the Death Star and blow you away.
Details are still vague on the story itself, but we do know that four megacorporations rule the galaxy and one of them has greedily gotten into something that could destroy galactic civilization. It’s your job to figure out what exactly happened and to then stop it. Normally, we’d say that sounds like too big a job to get done with a bunch of hex tiles - but after saving the kingdom with a bag full of marbles in Puzzle Quest, all we have to say is, "Bring it ON!"
Feb 25, 2008
