My Captain, according to the backstory I drafted in my mind, is the best-of-the-best of the Broodax race; a race that’s devoured many a world in its quest for galactic domination. After accepting a mission for the neighboring Kadith, I spend some time carefully outfitting Captain Kreacher for his first planetside adventure. Besides the expected hats, helmets and packs, Kreacher could also use rocket packs and other goodies. My loathsome alien bug monster ultimately sports a fedora and a backpack because, well, it seems cute. I imagine the folks at Maxis are positively delighted.
Both the structure of the adventures, and the combat itself, seem to have a great deal in common with the average massively multiplayer game. The spaceport hub where I select adventures is populated with a host of non-player creatures — all of them bearing familiar-looking exclamation marks. Once I actually begin the adventure, I discover that fighting mostly consists of targeting an enemy with a click, then following with a few clicks on abilities like “Bite” or “Strike.” Also, like in MMOs, preparation is a virtue — my poor Broodax’s only weapon is its razor-sharp mandibles and the Strike ability, which makes it easy pickings when he gets surrounded. To even the odds, I’d need to do something like pick up one of the new plasma weapons lying around.