The Kerbal’s need to get to Mun and the periapsis isn’t
close to be aligned properly so you can do a prograde burn. What. The. Hell.
You’re most likely as confused as I was when I first started. Welcome to Kerbal
Space Program, a game/sim that allows
you to design/build/fly rockets and aircraft. I have barely touched the surface
of this game but I thought it needed a quick and dirty write up for Warp9,
ASAP.
The premise seems simple until you actually try to build a
rocket and get the thing off the ground, and once you do get off the ground
will you have enough fuel and power to get into orbit around Kerbin (Earth). A
strong word of advice make: use of the tutorials either in game or on YouTube
and/or the forums. The program uses Newtonian physics so if your craft is out
of balance on liftoff for example your Kerbals will die a most unfortunate
death
.
I’m still not sure whether to call it a game or a space
simulator. For now let’s go with game
because Kerbals look like the guys from
Mars Attacks. Either way the game is still very much under development and last
I checked version 0.23 is available. The cost of the program is $27 and that
entitles you to all future updates an almost completed “career” mode and a
“sandbox” mode. Career mode works to some extent but sandbox is fully
operational so you can travel the known universe to the limit of your skills.
Feel free to build simple ship to simply orbit the planet,
travel to Mun (moon) and build an outpost, or get creative and build your own
international space station to complete experiments, etc. This article would go
on for pages and pages if I tried to explain all the engines, fuel tanks,
rockets, and components available to help you build the baddest space craft
this side of Moho.
So who does this game appeal to? Well anyone with an
imagination really. If you are of a certain age and remember the Oregon Trail
this could be considered the new version of that. I could see this being used
in schools. It’s great fun if you have kids that are into Minecraft, it’s great
if you ever wanted to be an astronaut, it’s great if you think you’re the next
version of Capt. James T. Kirk. The sense of accomplishment is awesome once you
see your first rocket in orbit over Kerbin. You immediately want to go and
build bigger and better!
Even better you do not need an uber powerful PC to run KSP.
Minimum specs: 2.0ghz dual core/4gb RAM/512mb video card/1gb of HD
space/XP/Vista/7/8/Intel based mac running OSX 10.6+. If you are any type of
gamer your PC should run this just fine!
Let’s send
this review into orbit with my likes/dislikes:
· Basic flight controls. If you have ever played a FPS for the PC, you’re good to go
· Difficulty factor. The learning curve for me has been pretty steep and I like that.
· The depth. If you can dream it you can build it. It doesn’t mean it fly though.
· The price. $27 is great.
· The forums.
What I Don’t Like:
· Difficulty, yea I said I liked that part as well but it can be damn frustrating after taking 20 minutes or more to build something and have it go boom on the Launchpad.
· The names of planets/stars, etc. It’s creative but let’s just call it the moon (Mun).
I’m going to rate this 9/10 as the game isn’t finished and updates are still forthcoming will hopefully continue but like anything this project could end. For the $27 get yourself a copy, visit the forums and build a rocket!
