Reavers

I am a devout Firefly fan. It is in my opinion the greatest television show ever created and was wrongly canceled. For those of you who don't know Firefly, I'll give you just a little information on it. It is a science fiction western with a great cast of characters and a wonderfully upbeat mood despite grim circumstances. The crew of the Serenity travels through space getting whatever work they can to stay afloat, more often than not that work is criminal. The story is interesting and engaging, but where it really shines is in character development. You really get to know and love the characters.

This game has absolutely none of that charm. Every character gets a cameo and they even look pretty good, the ship has the same basic structure as the ship on the show, and the Reavers are an appropriate enemy to be concerned with, but... that's about it.

VISUALS (2.0)
This is a generous score I think and I am only giving it because the characters look pretty good. I appreciate the amount of time that must have been spent to make them all look as close as they do. They weren't perfect but near enough that I was happy with them. The ship rarely felt like the Serenity though. Other than the overall shape and placement of rooms, it did not look anywhere near close enough to be acceptable. The common room even had downward stairs pieces making up the back wall, presumably meant to be paneling or something. It did not work. Not at all. The engine room was decent and I almost felt it was the Serenity for the short time I was in there. One good thing. When you switch the characters you are controlling a picture of the character from the show is displayed for the transition screen. I liked this. Mostly because it reminded me that this was supposed to be a firefly game and secondly because it allowed me to compare the RPG character to the real ones they were based on.

AUDIO (1.0)
There was music. So that is a point I suppose. I appreciate that the music chosen for the game was part of the firefly music project and I like that credit was given for each song at the end screen, but the music did not feel like firefly either. The show had fantastic music and fit a particular feel. None of the songs in this game came close to capturing that. I believe I heard sound clips from the show at the gameover screens. It was an interesting touch and could have been good if it was used anywhere else or were the sound clips that matched the quotes. They were very quiet too, though I suppose that could be my computer, so I am not penalizing the game for that.

GAMEPLAY (0.5)
The characters do walk around and have some interaction with the environment. SO there is gameplay. However, it is the worst gameplay I have ever suffered through. I played the entire game despite it being nearly unplayable. Reavers roam the ships and if you come in contact with any of them you get an instant gameover. This could be ok if it weren't for the fact that there were so many of them, and sometimes seemed to be set to chase the character you control. To progress to the next stage in the game you answer trivia questions about the show. I got every answer right, but I can't imagine the frustration that a non-fan or even just a less obsessed fan would have, especially considering I found it so infuriating. The trivia wasn't even good. For example, at one point you are asked what episode a particular event occurred. Maybe it's just me, but I prefer when characters don't know that they are part of a show or game. It ruins the illusion to have questions like this. My biggest problem though is with the gameplay that wasn't there. The show is really about two things. 1) Gunfights. Tons of gun fights. This game doesn't have guns. It doesn't even have battles. Other games are great without battles because it fits the purpose of that game. A firefly game without battles is ridiculous though. 2) Spaceships and chases. Other than being inside of a spaceship it was hard to tell this was even a science fiction. At one point Wash takes the helm to pilot the ship and I thought maybe there would be something worthwhile, but I was wrong. No ships, no chases, no gunfights. Nothing Firefly about it.

STORY (2.0)
The game is short and has very little story. The ship is overrun by reavers, and you have to navigate the ship to get rid of them. That's it. It could have been enough though if we had seen the Reavers board the ship, if we had actually had to do something to fix the engine (Instead of more trivia), if we had piloted the ship through the Reaver fleet. If there had been more parts of the story we were involved in it would have been enough. I give it 2.0 because at least the storyline fits with the Firefly theme. Reavers onboard would be a real fantastic gaming adventure in anything other than this.

FINAL THOUGHTS
This game has some small amount of promise. Clean up the maps so they look like Serenity, add in battles and guns, give us some time to spend with the characters, and fix the music. After all that it might be a decent game at least worth giving a try. As it is, it's not worth even a glance.