Review Hefty 4-page Space Siege Review @ bit-tech

[DarkUnderlord]

Tags: Space Siege

Continuing today's theme of crappy products, <a href="http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2008/08/22/space-siege/1">Bit-Tech review Space Siege and reveal their dislike for tomato based produce</a>:
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<blockquote>Those of you who do know Chris for his previous work, or with an attention span that lasts more than just a couple of paragraphs, will have noted that this is the second Chris Taylor game to bear the naming format of ‘Something Siege’ and that’s with good reason. Though Space Siege isn’t a true sequel to Dungeon Siege in any way, shape or form, it is kind of a follow-up. A spiritual successor, if you will.
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The differences are many. Dungeon Siege was a colourful medieval romp with a hit and miss approach to gameplay. Space Siege is a generic hallway grindfest with a sci-fi theme plopped on top like a glaze of week-old ketchup – which is to say, no matter how much you like ketchup, you’ll probably find this mostly bland and tiresome.
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Still, the ingredient of this particular ketchup are; the Earth has been mostly destroyed by an alien race and you are an engineer on the last ship left, which also happens to get a small infestation of the aliens stowing-away on board. Oh, and tomato puree.
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Actually, the plot does thicken beyond that point as time goes on, much like the crust of dried tomato ketchup around the lid of an opened bottle. Though the game starts off with you fighting the alien Kerrak – and we’ll talk more about how awfully that’s handled on the next page – the game doesn’t stay that way for long.</blockquote>
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No wait, <a href="http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2008/08/22/space-siege/1">read the rest</a>. It gets worse.
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Spotted @ <a href="http://www.rpgwatch.com">RPGWatch</a>

 

[Mefi]

In the end we had to read the manual cover to cover, which isn’t an unexpected request of the designers, but one we doubt is going to be followed by the majority of players.

I'll lay money that's the first time they've ever read any manual from cover to cover for a review.

Sorry - I'm wondering how space siege differs fundamentally from dungeon siege? I mean yeah sf vs fantasy but I mean fundamentally - the whole screensaver boredom problems etc. So what makes space siege so much worse is that standing stock with a sword is ok but stand still with a laser is bad?

I've no doubt space siege stinks, but the review really is putting the bar a lot higher for it than any review ever did with dungeon siege.

 

[RK47]

Compared to Dungeon Siege, it's not standing still anymore at least from the demo I've played. There is no passive defense to determine hits landing or not, they incorporated active projectile dodging by granting players reflex dodging with key press to roll towards where the mouse pointer at. Example: Incoming laser bolt can be dodged by rolling to the left etc. Then you still have armor but it gives damage resistance.

It's not a bad feature at all, but the game lacked some variety and it showed with the boring environment and repetitive enemies. It felt like one of those top down shoot'em ups. But it's definitely much better than Dungeon Siege which only prompts you to 'Press H to Heal', in Space Siege you are only carrying 4 first aid maximum, that are available for replenishing in save points / random drops.

Oh also, you only get access to new weapons at certain points in the game, so that kinda screw up your spare parts spending plans as you wouldn't know what kind of weapon you'd get on your first playthrough.

Spare parts are the currency in the game, since the whole game takes place in a colony ship it made no sense for you to 'trade' for new gears, instead you are allowed to upgrade your weapons, armor and robot sidekick with parts you get from killing most enemies and smashing crates as well as other objects like computer consoles.

It's got potential but too bad it's mis advertised as an RPG. It could've been a fun multiplayer survival shooter just like that Alien Swarm mod and it'd draw more crowd in.

As for the story. Aliens blew earth. Humans escaped on ship with Robots. Shit happens. Robot vs Human vs Alien. Fight.

 

[Kingston]

And then one jams said ketchup bottle into one's ass and that's what playing Space Siege is like.

 

[Heresiarch]

I've heard the game is good if you play it as a Contra spin-off.

But it's still a fucking fail compared to Alien Shooter Vengeance.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

In the end we had to read the manual cover to cover, which isn’t an unexpected request of the designers, but one we doubt is going to be followed by the majority of players.

I'll lay money that's the first time they've ever read any manual from cover to cover for a review.

Sorry - I'm wondering how space siege differs fundamentally from dungeon siege? I mean yeah sf vs fantasy but I mean fundamentally - the whole screensaver boredom problems etc. So what makes space siege so much worse is that standing stock with a sword is ok but stand still with a laser is bad?

I've no doubt space siege stinks, but the review really is putting the bar a lot higher for it than any review ever did with dungeon siege.

Dungeon siege sucked, dungeon siege 2 didn't.

 

[J1M]

Spoilers via GFW:

The human's AI turns on them at the end.
Replacing your entire body including your brain with machine parts has no impact on the story.

Discuss.

 

[LCJr.]

So does the ketchup analogy continue through the entire review?

 

[Jabbapop]

what's wrong with ketchup? it adds a little pizazz to everything!

 

[Mefi]

Dungeon siege sucked, dungeon siege 2 didn't.

Fair enough, never bothered with dungeon siege 2 after 5 minutes with the original dungeon siege.

 

[thesheeep]

Spoilers via GFW:

The human's AI turns on them at the end.
Replacing your entire body including your brain with machine parts has no impact on the story.

Discuss.

No need to discuss. This game simply has no right to exist.

 

[Morbus]

Actually, DS2 was just barebly less sucky that DS1. Both of them suck, but at least you can finish DS2 without getting a brain embolism...

 

[J1M]

Stockholm syndrome. All of you DS likers, seriously.

 

[Micmu]

Sucktitude detected even by "reviewers"? So this probably means that Boll will not make Space Siege: The Moive, eh? Damn, I was really loking forward to it.

 

[MetalCraze]

Actually it can only mean that he will make the movie.

 

[Micmu]

Well, there certainly is a possibility. :shock:
But I remember Dung Siege(s) being praised by reviewers, especially 1 with bold words like: "this is the only RPG you wanna play right now!!!"

 

[DarkUnderlord]

The human's AI turns on them at the end.
Replacing your entire body including your brain with machine parts has no impact on the story.

You're not talking about the Eurogamer review are you?

I removed my brain because I was bored. I replaced my entire head with lump of glowing metal because there was nothing else to do. My legs are now pistons because it was the only decision I felt I had to make.

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Levelling up happens at pre-ordained plot points, new powers and weapons are similarly handed out at prescribed locations and all loot is composited into generic 'upgrade components'.

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It is, however, a genuine failure, perhaps even a spectacular one. It could do serious damage to Taylor and Gas Powered Game's once-golden reputation, and I pray it's just a one-off blip. With the Supreme Commander games apparently alienating as many players as they charmed, I suspect much hinges on the upcoming, self-published Demigod.

Discuss.

Did we really expect anything else from the maker of Dungeon Siege?