It has indeed finally hit alpha, but what does that mean for those of us who haven't preordered the game to receive immediate access? Well, now anyone can play the new public demo that takes you through one mission of the game. Miners War 2081 brings you into space and give you control of a space ship in first person as you fight your way through a gorgeous and mostly destructible universe. It is currently only on PC and gameplay feels a bit like Descent, or other first person space shooters, but it does have its own unique feel. One of the most interesting things I've experienced, so far, has been the destructible environments. If you see a large asteroid in front of you and decide that you want to go through it, instead of around it, you can happily use rockets or the mining tools to make your own tunnels. Take a look at this new video to see how you can interact with the environment.

I've reported once before on Miners Wars when I did a general overview, and I'm happy to say that it is quite a bit more interesting, fun and stable than it was last time I tried it. Then again, last time I tried it all they had was a tech demo, while this is a fully voiced mission.The mission is fairly long, and difficult, which is made more difficult by the lack of a save option or checkpoint system, so if you do die you have to start all the way over at the beginning of the mission. I must say that the similarity to Descent is accentuated in this mission, mainly because of how easy it is to get discombobulated and lose your way. Despite that, and the lack of a real tutorial, the mission is a bit of fun and it is impressive to see their homegrown VRAGE Engine coming together. Head on over to their website to try the demo yourself and thanks for checking it out.
Main Website: http://www.minerwars.com/index.aspx

-Written by Sean Cargle