Sol Invictus
Erudite
Tags: Master Creating; Restricted Area
The Game Industry News, or GIN for short, has posted a <A href=http://www.gamergod.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=201>surprisingly high scoring review</a> of Master Creating's Sci-fi themed blah blah blah Restricted Area, garnering (that's gathering, for you stupid folk) an impressive 4.5/5. Here's some of the good points:
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<blockquote>Restricted Area seems to take the best parts of several of my favorite games and puts them into a single product. The game should appeal to both role-players and action oriented gamers, which is an increasingly large market these days based on the number of products trying to appease them.
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The game is set in the distant future in a Blade Runner-like world where corporations have most of the power. They don’t have all the power, but a good deal of it. Like a good pen-and-paper <b>Shadowrun</b> or <b>Cyberpunk RPG</b>, you end up working for a series of Mr. Johnson’s who tempt you to do illegal things in a world without much law anyway, never give you their real name and know enough to never ask yours.
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Wasteland Barbeque!
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The interface is a top-down view, slightly offset so you are not gazing at people’s heads all the time. Monsters come at you in hoards on missions and you either have to blast them or cut them quickly. Anyone who has played <b>Diablo</b> will instantly recognize the play style.
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Like the original <b>Diablo</b>, you start the game in a small seedy section of town where you can’t use your weapons as this part of the game is setup for you to role-play and get missions. There is a weapons dealer, a cybergear dealer, a loan shark, a prostitute, a bum, a pilot, and guys in suits that offer you missions based on your reputation. As you complete missions you get a better reputation and are offered harder missions for more pay. Once you accept a mission, you can hire the pilot to fly you to the zone where the mission takes place.
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Outside the original part of town where you start, the world looks a lot like the famous <b>Fallout Series</b>. There are even vaults and a good mixture of old technology like clubs and new tech like plasma rifles. Inside dark abandoned factories and the like, your cursor acts like a portable flashlight. Whatever you point to is illuminated somewhat, which is a really cool effect that I highly enjoy. If you think you see something moving in the dark, you shine your light on it. If something is there, then you are ready to click the right mouse button to blow it away, just like having a light on the end of your gun.</blockquote>
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So, is it really a good game? There's lots of name dropping in the review. Anyway, it sounds interesting but I can't help but wonder if they were paid to write it by the publishers or felt compelled out of the goodness of their own hearts to help out a good but possibly underappreciated game (like Star Wolves and Prince of Qin), considering how early the review is.
The Game Industry News, or GIN for short, has posted a <A href=http://www.gamergod.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=201>surprisingly high scoring review</a> of Master Creating's Sci-fi themed blah blah blah Restricted Area, garnering (that's gathering, for you stupid folk) an impressive 4.5/5. Here's some of the good points:
<br>
<blockquote>Restricted Area seems to take the best parts of several of my favorite games and puts them into a single product. The game should appeal to both role-players and action oriented gamers, which is an increasingly large market these days based on the number of products trying to appease them.
<br>
<br>
The game is set in the distant future in a Blade Runner-like world where corporations have most of the power. They don’t have all the power, but a good deal of it. Like a good pen-and-paper <b>Shadowrun</b> or <b>Cyberpunk RPG</b>, you end up working for a series of Mr. Johnson’s who tempt you to do illegal things in a world without much law anyway, never give you their real name and know enough to never ask yours.
<br>
Wasteland Barbeque!
<br>
<br>
The interface is a top-down view, slightly offset so you are not gazing at people’s heads all the time. Monsters come at you in hoards on missions and you either have to blast them or cut them quickly. Anyone who has played <b>Diablo</b> will instantly recognize the play style.
<br>
<br>
Like the original <b>Diablo</b>, you start the game in a small seedy section of town where you can’t use your weapons as this part of the game is setup for you to role-play and get missions. There is a weapons dealer, a cybergear dealer, a loan shark, a prostitute, a bum, a pilot, and guys in suits that offer you missions based on your reputation. As you complete missions you get a better reputation and are offered harder missions for more pay. Once you accept a mission, you can hire the pilot to fly you to the zone where the mission takes place.
<br>
<br>
Outside the original part of town where you start, the world looks a lot like the famous <b>Fallout Series</b>. There are even vaults and a good mixture of old technology like clubs and new tech like plasma rifles. Inside dark abandoned factories and the like, your cursor acts like a portable flashlight. Whatever you point to is illuminated somewhat, which is a really cool effect that I highly enjoy. If you think you see something moving in the dark, you shine your light on it. If something is there, then you are ready to click the right mouse button to blow it away, just like having a light on the end of your gun.</blockquote>
<br>
So, is it really a good game? There's lots of name dropping in the review. Anyway, it sounds interesting but I can't help but wonder if they were paid to write it by the publishers or felt compelled out of the goodness of their own hearts to help out a good but possibly underappreciated game (like Star Wolves and Prince of Qin), considering how early the review is.