Get to it!

I think that NPCs should be the support class (which is why they were made).

Like Phasy said, you made the game on a smaller screen. (meaning you took away from the action of playing it as the character).

I’m not trying to bash, but I am now finding this not as cool as the earlier videos, showing you interacting with everything, instead of controlling another character through a monitor.

I know this isn’t my game, and I don’t want to be mean (honestly) but I think the game has pretty much lost its coolness feature. It looks more like a variant on C&C (I hate that game now).

I’m sorry to say, but I’m turned off by this game now. It doesn’t look fun at all, in my opinion. I see this game going in the wrong direction.

But it’s your game and you are free to do what you want.

If you decide not to change back, I do have a couple of suggestions that you could implement to make the game still appeal to more audiences.

A) The game has to have more darkened, less lighted rooms, some ships have to be pretty creepy (and it has to be visible to us as the player that the NPC is freaked out). Creaky doors, dripping pipes, long dark hallways, etc. Abandon’d facilities would be great to explore. Have a little bit of scary-ness in the game. Just so that the player will keep going.
B) What was good about games like Halo, was that there was a huge plot twist that refocused the game. In Halo, it was the introduction of the Flood (sequel games over capitalized on them though) as an enemy. Maybe if we find out that there is someone above the chain of command who is actually corrupt or something (hopefully you will catch what I am hinting at)
C) At some point, we should be able to create multiple users we can command.
D) Don’t make space battles like C&C matches. I believe the space battles will be better if the user gets to actually fly around and shoot.

I also recommend that you look at Valve’s GDC notes on Storylines.

Also, it would be necessary to explain why exactly we are supporting the NPC as well as how we can see the camera feeds in other places. I’m pretty sure that you don’t magically have access to every camera in the world.

Again, this is your game and not mine, you are able to do what you want on it. But please remember your audience, and try to appeal to all of them.

Another thing, playtest. If gamers can’t remember the story by the end of the game chapter, your story sucks. Stories must be memorable and enjoyable.

Your little inspirations sound pretty similar to how I’m inspired by things. It’s those brief glances you catch, of something entirely different and mundane, that just grab your imagination and run with it for a little bit. They just… STRIKE you. I once was struggling to come up with an interesting design for a starship for an old mod I was working on… and finally inspiration struck, in the form of a glance of my bathtowel hanging on a peg on the wall…!

From what I’ve gathered, the FPS-RPG-NPC system sounds a bit like in Republic Commando…?