The desire to make money through the trade of goods is as old as history itself. From the earliest days mankind has tried to provide goods that others want in exchange for goods they desire as well as money and other forms of wealth so it’s natural to assume this desire will follow us to the stars. The game Space Trader allows players to be an interstellar merchant and go out and make a fortune through trade in the future.

Space Trader is a first person game about trading for profit in the future. It’s also a first person shooter at times as many of the game missions require hunting down dead beats and collecting bounties.

Play of the game revolves around accomplishing set goals within a set game time limit to complete a quest. How you accomplish the goal is normally through the buying and selling of valuable trade goods but there are also options for unscrupulous trade of illegal items.

When you begin the game you are a merchant with no ship and little prospects of getting one anytime soon. After talking to people around the trade hub you find hat someone may be willing to lend you the money to buy a ship but you have to pay the money back and are subject to carrying out missions for them.

You also learn that if you fail they will call the loan due and you will lose all, and that they are not altogether honest. Talking to people in each trade hub will help you find items, get work and establish trade contacts for both legal goods as well as the illegal variety.

You can tell which merchants are which as they have blue dollar signs over legal merchants and red dollar signs over crooks. Honest merchants won’t buy contraband nor will dishonest merchants be interested in the honest goods you carry. Learning who wants what and where is how to build up a successful trade route but it’s not the only way to make money.

You will also find trade goods scattered around the trade hubs and people will be willing to hire you for missions like getting rare items or bounties on criminals. The bounty hunter game is a sub game that activates when you ask a bar tender if he has any work for you, he may offer contracts to capture people with prices on their heads.

If you accept the deal you are transported to a new location such as a ship or a train station and you are now in a first person shooter environment. You start with a light pistol but you can find better weapons, power ups and excess trade goods lying all around you arcade style. You can only carry a limited amount of trade goods so make sure to sell excess goods quickly. You will battle with a few thugs and finally the person who you are hunting, if you win you get the money, if they escape or you die you get less, but dying has no other consequence.

The overall look of the game is quite nice and the controls and interface work smoothly. Suitable music is provided and a selection of voiceovers is decent even though one is an annoying whiner. As with many money quest games a mission can be somewhat dull while you repeat the same things looking for cash but it isn’t too bad.

Overall Space Trader is a decent game at an affordable price that should be a fun few hours for anyone. It isn’t a ground breaker like Halo or a resource hog but it gets you where you are going and keeps you interested along the way.

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