RED LEMON IN LIQUIDATION

Click here to read about the financial woes of Red Lemon, the developer of the Farscape computer game.

FARSCAPE GOES GOLD

July 27, 2002: Simon & Schuster Interactive has announced that Farscape: The Game has gone gold, meaning that the game is complete and is being prepared for retail distribution. The publisher says that the game should start shipping to retail stores sometime next week.

Farscape is played from an isometric perspective, and the gameplay is designed to emphasize cooperation between the various characters in players' control. Six of the show's actors have contributed voice work for the game.

The release date for the game is August 7th.

REVIEWS OF THE FARSCAPE PC GAME

May 27, 2002: Gamespot tries out the new Farscape computer game. Author Jason Bergman says there are some fun twists in the game. He likes it and tells why in his article Farscape Impressions.

May 19, 2002: There's an interesting review of the beta version of the Farscape PC game written by John Callaham. In general, he likes the game but he's not too happy with Ben Browder's vocal performance. Read the article  for yourself at Homelan.

GAMES MAGAZINE COVER

The not-yet-published Farscape game is featured on the cover of Computer Games magazine for their December issue. According to their website, "The Sci-Fi Channel's excellent series is the basis for Red Lemon's next PC game. With a great premise, full support from the studio, and a lot of lessons from the Braveheart fiasco, the developer has some nifty stuff in store for gamers and fans alike."

The magazine is just appearing on the shelves now and has several pages about the game and quite a few pictures of the game screens. Alan McDairmant, Senior Producer for Red Lemon studios, gives out quite a bit of information about how the game is structured and talks about some of its features.

Some of the game screens

GAME CONCEPT IMAGES

RPG UPDATE

March 4, 2003: If you've been playing the Farscape Role-Playing Game, you might want to check out Alderac's website. They've recently set up a Farscape Discussion Forum and have added loads of new downloads and game enhancements.  Among them are 19 new lifeforms, 10 new planets and 19 adventure hooks.

farscape VIDEO GAME REVIEW

October 2, 2002:  Amid the fun yet tame sci-fi shows on television, like the various incarnations of Star Trek, there's been one science fiction series to arrive in the past few years that's actually edgy and hip: Farscape. One of the Sci Fi channel's flagship shows, Farscape is a real breed apart. Its sexy, brooding lead characters strut around in black leather and are just as likely to fire off one-liners and sexual innuendoes as pulse pistol blasts. It's true that some of the show's convoluted episodes make little sense even to dedicated fans, but you can always count on Farscape being cool. Ironically, the developers of Farscape the Game have managed to create something that not only lacks the show's trademark vibe and colorful atmosphere, but also lacks just about any redeeming qualities at all.

Farscape the Game was originally under development by Red Lemon (maker of the notoriously poor Braveheart tie-in game), but developer Visual Sciences took over the helm part way through the project. Even with two developers working on Farscape, little good has come of it. You know there's trouble when the game takes forever to boot and sometimes won't boot at all. Things get even worse when you dutifully start out the game with the tutorial, only to find that it just involves making a little character run around a bare room while you read the same text on screen that you find in the printed manual. Oh, and you get to shoot a drone. Now that's entertainment.

Click here to read the rest of the review

FARSCAPE GAME SHIPS

August 9, 2002: Simon & Schuster has announced that Farscape has started shipping and will be available at US retailers this weekend.

farscape: The Game

August 1, 2002: Can't wait for the new Farscape: The Game to come to town? How about trying a demo version? The game itself will be available in the middle of August, but Newscape learned that there is a demo version available for downloading. 

The demo download is huge, a whopping 63.6MB, and it can be downloaded from two different sites: 3D Gamers and Blue's News 

Farscape The Game: War and Peacekeepers is a fully 3D team-based action action game. You can play as each of 6 characters or as a team of up to 3 at once, as you use each of their unique skills such as combat, stealth, negotiation, and spiritual, to regain control of Moya, the living ship which has been overtaken by the evil Peacekeepers. Travel through a wide variety of highly detailed 3D environments including subterranean, desert, jungle and ruined cities, as you engage in combat involving a variety of strange new creatures and a plot full of twists and turns. Collect a massive variety of weapons as you progress through the 26 missions.

From 3D Gamers website:Our heroes are stranded on a desolate planet in a far off corner of the universe, caught between warring native factions and the deadly Peacekeepers. A chilling mystery shrouds a hideous threat to galactic stability and the crew of Moya has to uncover the clues to stop it... before time runs out.

The game combines extensive character interaction and fast paced combat in a third-person environment. Gamers control major Farscape characters with varying complimentary skills to solve a variety of inter-connected challenges. This all takes place in a visual rich setting, reflective of the hit TV show.

Farscape rpg arrives in july

May 6, 2002: The long awaited (very long awaited) Farscape Role Playing Game is nearly here! Because of contractual difficulties, the original date for release had been put back several times. 

The Farscape game will have at least 3 sourcebooks available . The price will be probably around $18.00 each.

Predator & Prey: Sourcebook #1 Includes in depth review of key Farscape races & their enemies.

Uncharted Territories: Sourcebook #2 Explores the mysteries of new planets & races.   

FarTech: Sourcebook #3 Explores the Farscape universe with this equipment & vehicle guide 

One of the games is written by Keith R.A. DeCandido, the author of two of the Farscape novels, House of Cards and an as yet unpublished  novel coming in summer 2002

From AEG's website: That's right! Sci-Fi Network's hottest television series is now an RPG! Play in a world of villainous Peacekeepers, mysterious aliens, and renegade prisoners in stolen Leviathans. This 320-page, full-color hard-bound book is full of information on the people, places and things of the Farscape universe, and utilizes the innovative D20 System.

FARSCAPE COMPUTER GAME NEWS

There are also two new interviews about the Farscape computer game that make interesting reading. The first with Red Lemon senior producer Alan McDairmant at Gamespot. They've given us seven new screens to drool over while we're waiting for the game to be released. They've also told us the game's title: Farscape: War and Peacekeepers

The second interview is at The Adrenaline Vault and is with both Diane Strack, senior producer of Simon & Schuster, and Alan McDairmant, senior producer of Red Lemon. They also have a whole bunch of new screens.

There's another article about the Farscape game at Firing Squad.  They tell us that the game is due for release in May.

Here's an excerpt from the article:

Weapons and Enemies:
There are three different classes of weapon in the game, those that do damage based on physical, chemical, and energy ammunition. The different player characters and enemies will have varying resistances and weaknesses to the three kinds of weapons. This variation adds a certain amount of strategy in terms of which weapons you want to be carrying. It's also notable that each of the weapons in Farscape will have a secondary fire mode, a feature popularized in the first person shooter genre. Many of the same alien species you saw in the show will be in the Farscape game, as well as 16 brand new races and 40 new critter types. Again, the creative freedom allowed to the Red Lemon team enables them to give more variety in the monsters you'll face. 

There's a even more  new information about the upcoming Farscape game at Gamespot.com. There are five new screen shots, a preview article, and a trailer plus 4 huge movies (up to 12 Mg) of the game in action to download for a fee.  

Here's a sample from  the article:

A common problem for developers trying to adapt a well-known property into a game is that the company holding property isn't very flexible and won't let the development team expand on the license. Interestingly, that hasn't been the case for Red Lemon, the team currently working on the upcoming Diablo-like RPG based on Farscape, a popular sci-fi show in which an astronaut named John Crichton is caught in a wormhole during an experiment on his ship and is sent off to another galaxy. Red Lemon has not only been able to create a story by piecing elements of different Farscape episodes together, but it has also added 16 new alien races and around 40 new creatures that have never been seen in the Farscape universe. Of course, Farscape fans can also expect to see some familiar faces and locations. The storyline in Farscape takes place around the end of season one. Moya--an enormous organic ship where all of the main characters reside--has been attacked by a squad of peacekeepers, scattering its crew. As John Crichton, you have to find five other members of the crew and try to get back to Moya.

Red Lemon wanted to make Farscape as simple and accessible as possible so that both fans and newcomers to the Farscape universe wouldn't be intimidated. With that in mind, the game has been structured as an action RPG similar to Diablo--only now you can actually move while your characters are firing weapons. This is quite important because battles can become so hectic that you almost have to strafe and constantly move around to survive. An auto-lock on system has been incorporated as well, making it even easier to take advantage of a character's ability to avoid an enemy attack.

At the bottom of the screen, you'll find individual portraits of characters currently in your team, which can support up to three characters at once. Whenever you want to give orders or get basic information on a specific character, you simply click on that character's portrait. It's important to keep in mind that the characters can be told to stay behind, which is an incredibly helpful option for characters that can't really defend themselves, like Rygel--a self-centered alien character--who doesn't have access to any weapons.

You'll be able to strafe while firing your weapon.

D'Argo on Moya

The portrait area also lets you access the inventory where weapons and other items are located. Each weapon has been color-coded to indicate the type of damage that it can deliver to an enemy. Farscape's gameplay also involves the search for weapons that are more effective against certain species of enemies. Generally, you'll be able to secure such weapons and additional items by trading with NPCs scattered throughout the game--enemies will leave only shells, furs, and similar types of items behind.

Inventory Toolbox 

While there's plenty of run-and-gun-style action in Farscape, a large portion of the game revolves around puzzles and your ability to recognize the special abilities of each character--abilities that could possibly be used to solve them.

To read more of the article, go to Gamespot's website.