[NutButter]

I loved SE4. The graphics were fair but the game is the best in its class if strategy and tactics are what you are looking for.

Starfury is just too prehistoric for me. The graphics are way under par with today's programming and hardware capabilities. Nice attempt, but not good enough.

Too many responses to critics of this game rely on the modders. Who thinks their will be a huge modding community, anyway? Sure, their will be some, but at the SE4 level? Will it take 2 or 3 generations of improvements to get the modders motivated? And why does the modding community make it a better game? Shouldn't it come out of the gates a winner and then move to excellency (uhum, SE4)? Cow dung will look and smell like cow dung. I'm not going to wait for a bunch of chemists to change its aroma or appearance before its acceptable to me - it never will be! Starfury isn't cow dung, but I think you get the point.

SE4 was genious - Starfury has that ambition, but lacks severely. But even without comparison, it desperately lacks good gameplay on its own.

Thanks to this forum, I avoided the purchase and went with Freelancer. Not only did I save a few bucks, but am having a great time playing the game. The graphics are a feast to the eyes and the gameplay is simple and fun. Though not as complex as SE4 (and a different genre altogether), it works for me.