History Main / SpaceRangers

The scale of its WideOpenSandbox defies description. Seriously.

Although released for the Russian market, which consistently shows more interest in slower, smarter games, Space Rangers 2 did surprisingly well in the West for its genre. This is despite an entirely inconsistent quality of translation, which left some texts almost undecipherable (and some quests ridiculously difficult to complete). Both games were eventually released as a complete box set known in Europe under the name ''Space Rangers: Reboot'', which contained both the original and ''Rise of the Dominators'' combined with the expansion pack. Don't be fooled too much by the name, though. In America, ''Space Rangers: Reboot'' refers only to the expansion pack. Both games used to be on {{Steam}}, and 2 also used to be available on Website/GOGDotCom, but both versions were taken off of both services by the publisher for reasons that may or may not be related to a half-official-half-fanmade [[UpdatedRerelease HD remake]] that was released on the Russian region of Steam in March 2013. As a result, especially once the English translation of the HD remake is finished, obtaining any of the pre-HD games legally outside of Russia is very difficult.

Although released for the Russian market, which consistently shows more interest in slower, smarter games, Space Rangers 2 did surprisingly well in the West for its genre. This is despite an entirely inconsistent quality of translation, which left some texts almost undecipherable (and some quests ridiculously difficult to complete). Both games were eventually released as a complete box set known in Europe under the name ''Space Rangers: Reboot'', which contained both the original and ''Rise of the Dominators'' combined with the expansion pack. Don't be fooled too much by the name, though. In America, ''Space Rangers: Reboot'' refers only to the expansion pack. Both games used to be on {{Steam}}, and 2 also used to be available on Website/GOGDotCom, but both versions were taken off of both services by the publisher for reasons that may or may not be related to a half-official-half-fanmade [[UpdatedRerelease HD remake]]. Thus, obtaining any of these games legally outside of Russia is very difficult.

Although released for the Russian market, which consistently shows more interest in slower, smarter games, Space Rangers 2 did surprisingly well in the West for its genre. This is despite an entirely inconsistent quality of translation, which left some texts almost undecipherable (and some quests ridiculously difficult to complete). Both games were eventually released as a complete box set known in Europe under the name ''Space Rangers: Reboot'', which contained both the original and ''Rise of the Dominators'' combined with the expansion pack. Don't be fooled too much by the name, though. In America, ''Space Rangers: Reboot'' refers only to the expansion pack. Both games used to be on {{Steam}}, and 2 also used to be available on Website/GOGDotCom, but they were ultimately pulled out of the lists. Thus, obtaining any of these games legally outside of Russia is very difficult.

On the whole, Space Rangers is played as a top-down, [[TurnBasedTactics turn-based tactical game]] coupled with considerable RPGElements. You fly your ship from star to star, planet to planet, fighting the enemy (whoever you choose it to be at any given time), upgrading your ship, trading cargo, and so forth. Everything is done using a simple point-and-click interface. However, at many points in the game, gameplay changes radically, incorporating mini-games that are very different from this style. Major diplomatic quests require playing text-based mini-adventures (some of which are remarkably complex). Wormholes take you to another dimension which plays like a classic ShootEmUp. The second game even features a rudimentary RealTimeStrategy mini-game with [[HumongousMecha giant robots for units]] (inspired by ZXSpectrum game ''Nether Earth''). Overall it's no surprise ThatOtherWiki classifies it as a "Multi Genre" game. Of course, since the game is extremely open-ended, no one forces you to play any of these if they do not suit your style.

Not to be confused with the short-lived 1993 television series of the same name, or with PowerRangersInSpace.

Although released for the Russian market, which consistently shows more interest in slower, smarter games, Space Rangers 2 did surprisingly well in the West for its genre. This is despite an entirely inconsistent quality of translation, which left some texts almost undecipherable (and some quests ridiculously difficult to complete). Both games were eventually released as a complete box set known in Europe under the name ''Space Rangers: Reboot'', which contained both the original and ''Rise of the Dominators'' combined with the expansion pack. Don't be fooled too much by the name, though. In America, ''Space Rangers: Reboot'' refers only to the expansion pack. Both games used to be on {{Steam}}, and 2 also used to be available on Website/{{GOG.com}}, but they were ultimately pulled out of the lists. Thus, obtaining any of these games legally outside of Russia is very difficult.

Although released for the Russian market, which consistently shows more interest in slower, smarter games, Space Rangers 2 did surprisingly well in the West for its genre. This is despite an entirely inconsistent quality of translation, which left some texts almost undecipherable (and some quests ridiculously difficult to complete). Both games were eventually released as a complete box set known in Europe under the name ''Space Rangers: Reboot'', which contained both the original and ''Rise of the Dominators'' combined with the expansion pack. Don't be fooled too much by the name, though. In America, ''Space Rangers: Reboot'' refers only to the expansion pack.

* TalkingTheMonsterToDead: The player can choose to do this to one of the 3 main bosses.

** The weight of Turbo Gravirs and IMHOs dropped by Dominator ships is increased in Reboot (each weigh at least 100) after veteran players found it too easy to rock 4-5 of them as early as 4 years into a game even in 200% difficulty.

** One space-disease causes the player to hallucinate images of spaceships/bases/etc that are not there. Don't be surprised if you see {{Babylon5}} or the [[StarWars Death Star]] hanging around in a star system you just entered.
** Astrodroids from ''StarWars'' are back and explicitly named droids, even though they look different.

* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: Maloqs are red, Pelengs are green, Faeyans are pink, Gaalians are yellow - and so are their ships and planets. Humans' planets and ships are dark blue.

* UnusableEnemyEquipment: When you destroy another ship, some of its equipment is dropped intact. Klissans/Dominators often drop equipment that is only useful to them (like parts from their computer systems or inner workings) and largely useless to the player. Fortunately, these items can still be sold -- and science stations pay extremely well for them.

* [[spoiler:WeCouldHaveAvoidedAllThis]]: In the first game, [[spoiler:the Klissans think that Coalition spaceships are a race of machines, and that the pilots are actually viruses that have infected those poor ships. What the Coalition thinks is a war for survival is actually a massive humanitarian effort (for lack of a better word) on the part of the Klissans. Had the Klissans been able to understand this confusion, there would be no war]].

* ObviousRulePatch[=/=]AntiGrinding: Using a [[SummonBiggerFish Transfactor Beacon]] now gives you radiation sickness. It's an incurable disease that lasts a couple months (likely the more you use those the longer it lasts) and dramatically reduces any [[ExperiencePoints experience]] you receive. This change came as a response to an exploit where, once you get a cool enough ship, you can load it with [[HerdHittingAttack vertixes, IMHO-9000s and resonators]] and destroy entire crowds of enemies very quickly. Getting a load of Transfactor Beacons and summoning huge clouds of enemies used to be an insanely effective way of [[LevelGrinding experience farming]].
** The weight of Turbo Gravirs and IMHOs dropped by Dominator ships is increased in Reboot (each weigh at least 120) after veteran players found it too easy to rock 4-5 of them as early as 4-5 years into a game even in 200% difficulty.
* OurOrcsAreDifferent: The Maloqs definitely have a lot of the traits of the "Blizzard orcs" archetype (personality-wise), although this time they are not in conflict with humans.

* OurWormholesAreDifferent[=/=]BlindJump: Black holes. Maybe not so blind, if you diligently read the news.
* RandomDrop: Semi-averted. You can usually scan enemy ships to see what kind of equipment they have. However when their ships explode what is salvageable depends on how lucky you are.

* SpaceIsNoisy

* RuleOfFun: The game obviously runs on this trope.

* SpaceIsCold: Look at the intro. Look at peleng's face near the end.

* AliensSpeakingEnglish: Averted with the Klissans and the Dominators, as you need to acquire and use special programs to talk with them at all. Played straight with the other Coalition races.

* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: Maloqs are red, Pelends are green, Faeyans are pink, Gaalians are yellow - and so are their ships and planets. Humans planets and ships are dark blue.

* OurOrcsAreDifferent: Maloqs. They are about as orky as it gets.

* CriticalEncumbranceFailure: Just one unit of excess cargo and your ship isn't going anywhere.

* SpiritualSuccessor: to ''Star Wars'' (not the behemoth franchise, but a small indie game no one except the developers have heard about). The enemies were going to be named Klings in homage to it, but this was changed to avoid similarity to StarTrek.

* {{Whoring}}: Since it is (or used to be) essentially a competitive game - with a table of records, tournaments and such - you have to do this at times. Many exploits have been fixed, though Transfactor Beacons are still quite effective if you need lots of money and enemies to kill (even though the game isn't "farm lots of beacons and kill enemies, rinse, repeat" anymore).

** Most text-quests can be considered to be games within the game, since they are almost entirely disconnected from the main game (having their own, fully self-contained plots). But one quest that stands out in this regard is one where you are hired to pay a ransom for the release of some guy who got into debt with a local crime gang. This text quest plays out as a miniature game of Space Rangers - except in multiple choice form. You get a truck which you drive around between locations on the map, buying and selling goods, avoiding motor gangs, upgrading your equipment and running into all sorts of random encounters and mini-quests.