Review Harbinger Review at ELiTeD

[Mistress]

Tags: Harbinger

<a href="http://www.elited.net">ELiTeD</a> have also posted a <a href="http://www.elited.net/reviews/mar03/harbinger.shtml">review</a> of <a href="http://www.dreamcatchergames.com/dci/harbinger/index.html">Harbinger</a>. This one takes a totally different view to the last, in that they actually seemed to be quite pleased with the game. No score, but here's a taster:
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<blockquote>Harbinger was built on Silverback's in-house engine. Needless to say, the graphics are beautiful. Harbinger had a lot of care put into its texutes. Plenty of attention to detail can be found throughout the game, and not only in the graphics but the level builds as well. The sound complements each character and the Harbinger itself.
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All in all, Harbinger is well worth the money, and in my opinion this is definitely a steal at $29.99. You will be provided with many hours of gameplay and plenty of action. Role playing gamers are in for a real treat.</blockquote>
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Hmmmm.
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Also spotted over at <a href="http://www.bluesnews.com">Blue's</a>

 

[Rosh]

Role playing gamers are in for a real treat.

Stupid fucking cattle.

"D'hurrr! Stats = RPG!"

Please don't tell me "Teh Futare of Gmaeing is IjeeteD!" We need less roadkill on the information superhighway.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Role playing gamers are in for very little in this title. That's almost like saying that racing fans are in for a real treat with Harbinger because the game makes you move quickly.

 

[Spazmo]

Judging by the name, ELiTeD is designed to call every single game good in order to create more traffic for warez channels on IRC.

 

[Rosh]

In other words:

"By 11 Year-Olds, For 11 Year-Olds."

 

[Mistress]

Pretty much my thoughts to be honest. I haven't played the game, and I doubt I will, as from what i have seen and heard, it doesn't look great, or interesting to me.

The "role players are in for a treat" remark was what made me think "hmmmmm".

 

[Rosh]

The "role players are in for a treat" remark was what made me think "hmmmmm".

Really? Just that mild? It made me think "Holy shit, that kid is several evolutionary steps below an embryonic encephalopod."

 

[Spazmo]

Really? Just that mild? It made me think "Holy shit, that kid is several evolutionary steps below an embryonic encephalopod."

And that's why we love you, Rosh.

 

[triCritical]

In other words:

"By 11 Year-Olds, For 11 Year-Olds."

One thing I remember from being 11, I never saw a movie or a played a game I didn't like. Objection is something that is lacking in many youngsters, which explains why console games sell so well.

 

[Markman]

Hmm..played it.And finished it with Human.

Its fun, but its not all that.
No explosions, no fireweapons, no weapons at all with high rate of fire, no grenade launchers just some guns.I'm left wondering where did those 750 items go. I found maybe 20 different rifles during the game.Mines were cool(bug zappers rule).

Waaay to easy if you use right arms against right enemies(EMP against robots, electricity against bugs and so on). I died 3 times, twice was a pathfinding problem and last time at end boss level.
Story wasnt bad, like, if you play with Human you'll see how the Gladiator was created, theres some jokes too, and I loved Smiley.

Melee combat is useful only at the last 20% of the game where you pump yourself with 2X Adrenalin+WidowMaker and noone can touch you.

Its not a RPG its more Zax/Diablo mix, but with Zax you could move and shoot, here you're limited to a Shift-button.

So to sum it up....
Is it FUN? -Yes. If you know what you're playing. Its not the next Fallout.

But I can find atleast 20 things that can be improved.
Like, more different weapons, more skills, traps, better designed levels and so on....

7/10
Here's hoping for a sequel.

 

[Darkness40k]

hrm... the playstation is very big witha dults between 18 and 30, assuming mostly kids play consoles is mad. Alot of adults work on PCs all day at work, so have consoles at home.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Waaay to easy if you use right arms against right enemies(EMP against robots, electricity against bugs and so on). I died 3 times, twice was a pathfinding problem and last time at end boss level.

See, I got killed numerous times because of the pathfinding as a human, especially in the "junky" areas where there were so many things to get stuck on. I also had a few areas where I got hung on enemies and couldn't get away from them at all because I was hung on them. I think things like that would drop an X out of 10 score to just 6/10 just for those games if everything else was flawless.

 

[Markman]

Waaay to easy if you use right arms against right enemies(EMP against robots, electricity against bugs and so on). I died 3 times, twice was a pathfinding problem and last time at end boss level.

See, I got killed numerous times because of the pathfinding as a human, especially in the "junky" areas where there were so many things to get stuck on. I also had a few areas where I got hung on enemies and couldn't get away from them at all because I was hung on them. I think things like that would drop an X out of 10 score to just 6/10 just for those games if everything else was flawless.

Yea, he gets stuck alot, but I figured a way out of it, by just clicking the closest clear place he can run to.In Diablo, if you click on a place where he can't move he will still run in that direction, but in Harbinger dude will not move at all. Maybe they'll fix that in a patch. There's also a bug when trying to use a shortcut for mines, when pressing it, dude gets stuck, again.

I gave it a 7 cause I had fun with it. Cause I liked Smiley.Cause I thought that the game is over when it wasnt. Cause I actually finished it.Cause it didn't crash on me.
But, there's still room for improvement.

Few days ago I re-installed Divine Divinity, downloaded latest patch and started playing.
Upon exiting it gave me a BSOD. Again. How fun is that?

 

[Sol Invictus]

Harbinger is yet another game that I am consigning to the 'never having the misfortune of purchasing' box in my brain.

 

[Jack_Deth]

I would consider getting it as I know Dreamcatcher games have had a long period of bug fixes for their products they've released. The game SuperPower has been out for a year and really, most of what they can do with it has been fixed and I am anxiously waiting for SuperPower 2.

So I expect, if there are any "real" problems that are fixable which are detracting from this game, they will be fixed.

 

[Rosh]

I might consider it, if they had it playtested first. I tire of shithead developers that have no clue about development whilst leaving it to their consumers to tell them what the problems are.

On that note, I'm considering going back to DAC and check if EvoG got his head pulled out of his ass and figures that I retroactively addressed his "design" problems, even before he got snotty and "you don't know my deisng!!!!"

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Dreamcatcher is a great publisher. There's no question about that. I'm just not sure a patch alone can help this game be more than it is right now. It might make it less frustrating, by fixing the pathing problems, but there's a lot wrong elsewhere.. Especially for something calling itself a CRPG.

 

[Markman]

Well, thats the problem. It isn't really a RPG.
Its a topdown/arcade/shooter.
If anybody played Zax you know what you're getting here. Minus puzzles. And no keyboard movement.
I actually finished it so I wont complain about my 329 SEK.

To really improve it they need to do a sequel.
More skills.
More weapons.
Faster and more explosive action.
Better level design. Puzzles.
Pathfinding.
Maybe followers.
Maybe in some stand alone expansion, that really becomes a trend to do these days.