Echelon looks to be a promising addition to the latter genre, combining most of the elements that make a flight sim great with the characteristics of futuristic, fast space combat. Echelon is one of the latest coming releases from Buka Entertainment , a small Russian company with an established history in the gaming biz. Established in 1993, Buka has served as the Russian partner to such companies as Acclaim, Electronic Arts, and Interplay, to name a few. Bethesda Softworks , who is publishing the title in the United States, provided GameSpy with a pre-alpha of Echelon so that we could see what they had in store for us. A massive backstory, a huge fleet of ships, and a nice mix of realism with science fiction are just some of the features you can expect.
Echelon has a massive amount of backstory supporting the game.
The opening cinematics are epic, relaying to the player a history that spans over 200 years, from 2113 to 2351. Approximately 100 years after civil war and secessions have debilitated the Federation, it begins to rebuild again, sending new colonies to new, uninhabited planets. In 2320, a new civilization of humanoids calling themselves the Vellians makes contact with humanity. The Vellians are actually descendants of an old colony that had split from the Federation long ago. After signing a treaty with the Federation, the Vellians build large portal-like space stations near Federation planets in order to make trading easier.