Nexus: The Jupiter Incident

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Nexus: The Jupiter Incident
Developer(s)	Mithis Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Vivendi Universal HD Interactive
Engine	Black Sun Engine
Version	1.01
Platform(s)	Windows
Release date(s)	November 5, 2004
Genre(s)	Real-time tactics, Space combat simulator, Sci-fi
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: Teen (T)
Media	CD-ROM
Input methods	Keyboard Mouse

Nexus: The Jupiter incident is a science fiction themed real-time tactics computer game developed by the Hungarian based Mithis Entertainment. Nexus: The Jupiter Incident focuses on tactics and ship management instead of resource collection and base construction.

Gameplay and features

In each of the game's missions, the player is given a small number of large space ships (always less than 10, and sometimes just 1 or 2), along with accompanying fighters and bombers. The ships are large and cumbersome, and the battles between fleets protracted, giving the game a noted cinematic feel.^[1] Nexus uses the Blacksun Engine, made specifically for the game. Based on DirectX 9, it makes extensive use of vertex and pixel shaders, a parametric particle system, and other visual effects. The resulting visuals were widely lauded upon the game's release. While the game received positive reviews, it was criticized for its steep learning curve, trial and error gameplay, and poorly executed stealth missions.^[1]

Story

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At the dawn of the 22nd Century, the conquest of space and the colonization of the solar system is being monopolized by several huge and ambitious megacorporations. You play as Marcus Cromwell, an unwillingly-famous captain whose father, Richard Cromwell, the first spaceborn human, captained the colony ship Noah's Ark through a wormhole near Mars that was presumed destroyed when the wormhole collapsed. Cromwell sets out on the SpaceTech Heavy Corvette, the Stiletto, for Jupiter. The events that unfold will become known as "The Jupiter Incident", which, in turn, escalates into an intergalactic war for the survival of the universe.

Opposing fleets battle to the last in an asteroid field.

After several fairly simple missions (mostly designed as training missions to get the player acquainted with the game), Cromwell must infiltrate an abandoned but heavily-armed space station, Shukenja Beta, belonging to a rival corporation — the Kissaki Syndicate. Once the station is infiltrated, a Cruiser-sized ship of alien origin is discovered inside. The ship's logs indicate that the corporation has a hidden base behind Pluto. Normally, a trip to Pluto would take 4 years. However, the alien Cruiser, named Angelwing by the Kissaki, can make the trip in several weeks using its special IP Drive. After a short battle with the Syndicate fleet for the control of the Angelwing, Cromwell is given command of the cruiser and ordered to investigate the secret base. Upon arriving at Pluto, an artificial intelligence, named Angel, downloads herself into the Angelwing and commands Cromwell to escape from a strange entity - later known as a Mechanoid - through a nearby wormhole, the exact same wormhole at Mars. Cromwell finds himself in the Noah system populated by the colonists from Noah's Ark. The Noah Colony fights as a mercenary race for an advanced but peaceful alien race, called the Vardrags, against another powerful race, the bloodthirsty, reptilian Gorgs, and a local group of renegade Vardrag elites, known as the Raptors. Cromwell and the Angelwing are enlisted to first deal with the Raptors. After a successful raid at the Raptor's base, they are then enlisted again to fight against the Gorg Empire. In fights against the Gorg, the enigmatic and stealthy Ghosts occasionally appear to help the Angelwing. However, all the races would soon find themselves facing their greatest threat: a virulent race of nanomachines called the Mechanoids. Nothing seems capable of stopping the Mechanoid invasion, and soon both the Vardrag homeworld and Earth are overrun. Only an organic, insectile space-faring race, known as the energy-consuming Locusts, are immune to the Mechanoids. Armed with technology adapted from the Locusts, Cromwell and Angel are able to shut down and terminate the Mechanoids and end the invasion once and for all.

Sequel

A technical demonstration video for the sequel, Nexus: The Jupiter Incident 2, was "leaked" to the Internet sometime in 2006.^[2]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Gamespot Review
2. ^ Tech Demo

External links

• Nexus: The Jupiter Incident at MobyGames