Gamma World: Alpha Mutation - First Look @ GameSpot

Oh boy…I was stunnd when I saw this preview at GameSpot - a Gamma World game based on the PnP property? Unfortunately, the preview doesn't provide much excitement as Atari and Bedlam seem to be following an even more action-oriented route than they did with Daggerdale:

In Alpha Mutation you'll assume the role of a hero created by combining any two of six different origins. Only two of the origins are being disclosed at present, and so the hero that we got to see in action was, amusingly, part radioactive man and part yeti. We're told that characters in Alpha Mutation will wield lots of different powers (known as alpha mutations) and that you'll get to customize their skill trees as you progress through the game, but during the demo all we really saw used were various ranged and melee weapons. These included some pretty conventional looking firearms as well as clearly more-advanced omegatech guns that, because they're so powerful, have a finite supply of ammo. Melee weapons included a baseball bat and a parking meter.
We didn't get to see much in the way of role-playing during the demo. Rather, what we saw looked a lot like a traditional third-person shooter; the hero was battling his way through the remains of a subway station and targeting enemies using a zoomed-in view, as well as shooting from the hip. Those enemies included small groups of flying guardbots, humanoids, and a handful of the anthropomorphic rodents known as hoops. Regardless of their shape and size, most of the enemies simply headed straight for the player, which made the demo feel like a glorified shooting range, but we were assured that the AI is still very much a work-in-progress. The demo ended when the hero encountered a small alien-looking creature known simply as a visitor.

More information.

BAH!

I've been wanting a Gamma World game since forever and THIS is what I get?

Well, maybe they learned something from Daggerdale and this will be good & sell a million copies so I get a real Gamma World rpg before I die.

I can haz 2 brainz?

Sounds like a shameful waste of excellent source material. Does anyone make decent games anymore? When are Dead State and Age of Decadence coming out?

As I always said : We live in an Age Of Action.

The announcement passed by on GameBanshee a few days back, if you missed it.

I've never even heard of of Gamma World, and a quick Google check tells me it's been around since 1978. Weird…

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
As I always said : We live in an Age Of Action.

Action is needed in games. Actions are basic material for a video games.

Now clearly, action in RPG is narrowed to action as fighting in a war, combat.

Would be better to call the games combat RPGs rather than action RPG as action can cover walking, eating, reading a newspaper…

I honestly wouldn't mind an actiony rpg-lite Gamma World game if it had plenty of mutations.

Whatever this turns out to be it's not really the same setting anyway…they're just using the Gamma World name for whatever reason. I wouldn't mind that either though if you didn't have to choose between a few pre-set mutants to play.

To me Gamma World is a very advanced (25th century) post-apocalyptic setting with tons of mutations:

http://netflames-rpg-bunker.us/GammaWorld/mutation.htm

If I remember correctly each character could have from 0-4 or so of each group (and they were also found in npcs/enemies of course). Obviously not all of them would translate into a video game…but there sure are alot that would. There's just so much variety and potential combinations that it'd be hard to do it justice in a video game.

Originally Posted by ChienAboyeur
Action is needed in games. Actions are basic material for a video games.

No.

Just look at TOEE, at PS:T.

Saying so is as if you would say that action is needed for a good movie - that action is the basis for movies.

Is there action in "Modern Times" by Charles Chaplin ? Is there action in "Schindler' List" ? Is there action in "2001 A Space Oddyssey" ? Is there action in E.T. ? Is there action in 12 Angry Men ?

Yes, there is action in all given examples. Chaplin dancing around is action.

You make to me the impression as if you don't want to see what I mean.

Originally Posted by ChienAboyeur
Yes, there is action in all given examples. Chaplin dancing around is action.

You are doing semantics (again). The usual definition of action movie would be a movie mainly consisting of fighting, car chases etc. Dancing is surely not usually seen as making something an action movie. And it is similar for Action-RPGs, obviously.

Why don't you discuss about Alrik's points instead about different definitions?

Probably because I posted that before:

Action is needed in games. Actions are basic material for a video games.

Now clearly, action in RPG is narrowed to action as fighting in a war, combat.

Would be better to call the games combat RPGs rather than action RPG as action can cover walking, eating, reading a newspaper…

The comparison to movies is overdue: the relationship between action made in a movie by actors independently of the watcher is fundamentally different from the relationship between a player and the characters in a video game.

Why bring comparison to a field for a feature that does not support it?
In a video game, a player acts through an avatar in a game environment. In front of a movie, a watcher watchs actors act.

Action is basic material for video games. Determining the kind of action a gameworld allows is essential part of game design. The action rate is a metric for certain kind of games (APM) Narrowing action to the meaning fighting in war, combat on basis the movies sector does the same is irrelevant.

Not only does it have 1st person view but you can both hack AND slash in it.
Truly we live in the future.

Originally Posted by bkrueger
You are doing semantics (again). The usual definition of action movie would be a movie mainly consisting of fighting, car chases etc. Dancing is surely not usually seen as making something an action movie. And it is similar for Action-RPGs, obviously.

Why don't you discuss about Alrik's points instead about different definitions?

Thank you. You say exactly what I had meant.

I do NOT mean "action" in the definition of "the action that's innate to any deed, because a deed cannot be performed without the element of action in it", so to say,

I'm meaning "action" in the definition of "an action movie", for example, so to say.

Originally Posted by ChienAboyeur
Action is basic material for video games. Determining the kind of action a gameworld allows is essential part of game design. The action rate is a metric for certain kind of games (APM) Narrowing action to the meaning fighting in war, combat on basis the movies sector does the same is irrelevant.

You just don't get what I mean, do you ?
Or are you willfully not deciding to understand what I mean ?

Gamma World? Holy freeholies, I haven't read that name since the ads for it in Dragon Magazine. I never bought it or knew anyone who played it, but it should be interesting to see what they come up with.

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
You just don't get what I mean, do you ?
Or are you willfully not deciding to understand what I mean ?

I am returning the questions.

Action is needed in games. Actions are basic material for a video games.

Now clearly, action in RPG is narrowed to action as fighting in a war, combat.

Would be better to call the games combat RPGs rather than action RPG as action can cover walking, eating, reading a newspaper…

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/action
ac·tion   
[ak-shuhn]

–noun
1.
the process or state of acting or of being active: The machine is not in action now.
2.
something done or performed; act; deed.

–adjective
20.
characterized by brisk or dynamic action: an action car; an action melodrama.

Action by itself is a noun. Action used to describe a type of something is an adjective. The meaning of the latter is much more narrow and specific.

Everyone (except ChienAboyeur apparently) knows that the term "action" in an "action RPG" refers to the combat, specifically fast paced, real time combat. It is unnecessary to say 'an action-oriented combat RPG' because that is understood just like it is understood that a "turn based RPG" is a turn based combat RPG. Obviously we are not talking about turn based exploring and herb gathering. That the combat is the defining factor is inherently understood.

Thank you.