Space Siege reviewed by RPG Watch and ComputerGames.ro
Space Siege reviewed by RPG Watch and ComputerGames.ro
Review - posted by Elwro on Tue 9 September 2008, 23:50:56
Tags: Gas Powered Games; Space SiegeMichael "txa1265" J. Anderson has written a review of Space Siege for RPG Watch. Instead of playing the game, read the long, informative and nicely-written text. It won't be of any surprise to anyone that the review doesn't give an exactly stellar opinion on the game. Here's a snippet:
Message to Captain: Hire a New Safety Officer
One of the coolest things to do when entering a new area is assess where all of the flammable and explosive things are in the room, wait for enemies to start pouring in, then blow stuff up. When everything is dead, go around and see if there are any extra containers around to blow up and explode them too - because often there are hidden caches in the crates and barrels.
But stop for a second and think about it - you are on your own ship, with the last remnants of humanity, and you are going from room to room blowing up everything in sight? That makes absolutely no sense! In fact, one of the many data pads you find scattered around mentions this very thing - suggesting that they better clean up all of the explosive materials scattered around the ship. But even allowing that the place would be a mess based on having to launch very quickly to escape the alien attack, the huge quantity of explosives in every area of the ship is just absurd. Crates and exploding barrels are high on the frequent 'overused & braindead game mechanics that have to go' lists...but apparently the next time someone makes one of those lists they will have a new 'poster child'!
Of course, there is a reason for all of this - it is loads of fun to blow up stuff and take out enemies along the way. Add in a cool physics engine and it is even better. But the problem is that it only carries things so far.Barrels seem to be the bane of cRPGs in general. If they're not remotely detonable explosives, they are an ubiquitous source of loot.
Space Siege isn't a terrible game...but it might as well be. I promised to compare the game to similar games such as Alien Shooter Vengeance and Shadowgrounds: Survivor, but I am not sure to what extent that even matters at this point. Suffice it to say that Space Siege is inferior to those games in every way - including as a RPG.Considering that Alien Shooter is a cheap and helluva fun title, I guess that Space Siege should better be priced as a budget game.
So much for the long RPGWatch review. If that's not enough for you, there's also a piece by Viracocha at ComputerGames.ro, giving the game a score of 60/100.
There’s also the possibility to enhance yourself using cybernetic parts, like legs and arms, which give you some nice stats and modify the look of the main character, from human to "kick ass robot from the future". The problem is that this form of customization brings penalties from a story point of view: depending on how many cybernetic implants you have, your humanity level will decrease, and if you install more than 2 you’ll unlock the "bad" ending instead of the "good" ending.
Loosely translated, this feature can be interpreted like this: if I choose to customize my character with the only form of… well, customization available in the game, because I’m bored out of my skull, I’m being punished for it and the reason for that is some sort of vague "moral" reason, which doesn’t really mean anything in the grand scheme of things. It’s really not very nice to be smacked in the head for trying to add a bit of flavor to my insipid space marine.Yes, but life just isn't fair. You make a choice, you gotta live with it. You may think morality doesn't mean anything in the grand scheme of things, but this doesn't change the simple fact that, on a deep ontological level, the world just wasn't made in such a way to allow happiness for non-pure humans.
Thanks Bossman!
Spotted at: RPG Watch
Message to Captain: Hire a New Safety Officer
One of the coolest things to do when entering a new area is assess where all of the flammable and explosive things are in the room, wait for enemies to start pouring in, then blow stuff up. When everything is dead, go around and see if there are any extra containers around to blow up and explode them too - because often there are hidden caches in the crates and barrels.
But stop for a second and think about it - you are on your own ship, with the last remnants of humanity, and you are going from room to room blowing up everything in sight? That makes absolutely no sense! In fact, one of the many data pads you find scattered around mentions this very thing - suggesting that they better clean up all of the explosive materials scattered around the ship. But even allowing that the place would be a mess based on having to launch very quickly to escape the alien attack, the huge quantity of explosives in every area of the ship is just absurd. Crates and exploding barrels are high on the frequent 'overused & braindead game mechanics that have to go' lists...but apparently the next time someone makes one of those lists they will have a new 'poster child'!
Of course, there is a reason for all of this - it is loads of fun to blow up stuff and take out enemies along the way. Add in a cool physics engine and it is even better. But the problem is that it only carries things so far.
Space Siege isn't a terrible game...but it might as well be. I promised to compare the game to similar games such as Alien Shooter Vengeance and Shadowgrounds: Survivor, but I am not sure to what extent that even matters at this point. Suffice it to say that Space Siege is inferior to those games in every way - including as a RPG.
So much for the long RPGWatch review. If that's not enough for you, there's also a piece by Viracocha at ComputerGames.ro, giving the game a score of 60/100.
There’s also the possibility to enhance yourself using cybernetic parts, like legs and arms, which give you some nice stats and modify the look of the main character, from human to "kick ass robot from the future". The problem is that this form of customization brings penalties from a story point of view: depending on how many cybernetic implants you have, your humanity level will decrease, and if you install more than 2 you’ll unlock the "bad" ending instead of the "good" ending.
Loosely translated, this feature can be interpreted like this: if I choose to customize my character with the only form of… well, customization available in the game, because I’m bored out of my skull, I’m being punished for it and the reason for that is some sort of vague "moral" reason, which doesn’t really mean anything in the grand scheme of things. It’s really not very nice to be smacked in the head for trying to add a bit of flavor to my insipid space marine.
Thanks Bossman!
Spotted at: RPG Watch
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