Independence War 2: Edge of Chaos

" "Here, on the very rim of known space- justice is a long way away...""

- Cal

Independence War 2: Edge of Chaos is a space combat simulator, and the sequel to the original Independence War (1997). Developed by Particle Systems Ltd and published by Infogrames, the game was released to critical acclaim 2001. Unfortunately, it was not a financial success.

The game's plot concerns prepubescent Cal Johnson, who lives in the remote Badlands Cluster, and whose father is fatally indebted to ruthless industrialist Caleb Mass. After Cal's father is murdered, the boy falls into the care of Jefferson Clay (an AI echo of a dead Navy captain). Unfortunately, his juvenile attempts at piracy soon result in him being thrown in prison for fifteen years. By the time Cal escapes, Maas has risen to a position of supreme corporate power, and unpleasant things are happening around the Badlands cluster...

While the original I-War was a relatively straightforward military campaign, Edge of Chaos put its emphasis on training and exploration, incorporating an enormous sandbox world. Gameplay revolves around combat, piracy and trade. Like its predecessor, the game is especially notable for featuring realistic Newtonian physics.

This game provides examples of:

 * Ace Pilot: Cal.
 * Artificial Atmospheric Actions: NPC ships travel between L-Points on cargo runs, hover around bases, attack marauders, etc.
 * Asteroid Miners: Cal's father.
 * Asteroid Thicket: Many of them, some with habitat/bases attached to large rocks. The game's Instant Action mode is composed of nothing more than an asteroid belt and an L-Point.
 * Attack Drone: The player can buy various turrets to defend their ship. Some of these turrets (controlled by other characters) can be detached to function as independent units.
 * Casual Interstellar Travel
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive: Maas, of the Maas Corporation.
 * Critical Existence Failure
 * Deadpan Snarker: Cal, Jaffs, and especially Clay.
 * Deflector Shields: A special kind of shield can be purchased, which makes ramming ultra-deadly.
 * An Entrepreneur Is You: Once stolen, cargo can be traded, or forged into ammunition.
 * Escort Mission
 * The Federation
 * Harder Than Hard: Getting used to the tricky control system and tough Newtonian physics would be easier if the player didn't start out in an unwieldy tug.
 * Justified Tutorial: Clay teaching kid Cal.
 * Law Enforcement Inc: All the ports police themselves. Maas Corp facilities have a lot of police.
 * Left Hanging
 * MacGuffin: The alien artefact.
 * Macross Missile Massacre: A common battle tactic.
 * Mega Corp: The Maas Corporation, among others.
 * Mooks: The Mauruders.
 * Oh Crap: When the aliens begin doing their thing.
 * Point Defenseless: Averted. A useful point defence device is available.
 * Portal Network: The L-Points.
 * Randomly Drops: Averted. Players have to intimidate passing cargo ships into abandoning their goods. There is no particular need to destroy them.
 * Ramming Always Works: It does if you have a military grade aggressor shield.
 * Sci Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: Averted. A fair amount of the game is spent travelling.
 * Space Clouds: Lucretia's Base is located in one for most of the game.
 * Space Is an Ocean
 * Space Pirates: Mauruders.
 * Space Fighter: Unusually for the genre, the player mostly controls medium-sized patrol ships. Actual fighters are often seen as enemy escorts, and their small size and high speed makes them a nightmare to deal with.
 * Space Mines: And sentry platforms.
 * Space Pirates: Those damn Marauders.
 * Space Police: Various port security officers, who will hold grudges. Also, the Sheriff in Firefrost.
 * Starfish Aliens:
 * Subsystem Damage
 * Super Persistent Missile: Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep beep beep beep beep beep!
 * Take Your Time: There's really no rush to complete any of the missions.
 * Two D Space: Averted. Things are very three dimensional.
 * Used Future:
 * We Will Spend Credits in The Future:
 * Wide Open Sandbox: Although not a lot tends to be happening in non-mission specific areas.