RPGWatch Feature: Space Siege Review

Michael Anderson takes a detailed look at Gas Powered Games' Space Siege and ponders why the future is so full of explosive barrels lying around space ships. Here's a sample:

The action-RPG genre has evolved around a few key elements: waves of enemies to kill, level-up schemes that feed skill trees to give you new ways to kill waves of enemies, and picking up cool loot that will allow you to more efficiently kill waves of enemies and gold to buy more loot. It is not the deepest of role-playing foundations to begin with, but it is largely satisfying when done well as in games like Titan Quest or Nox or even Dungeon Siege II. But imagine what would happen if you simplified those core elements even further? Would there even be anything left to allow a role-player to sink their teeth into?

No.

Read on for the full article, including coverage of multiplayer.
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Solid review, as always.

After reading this review, and a few others, I have decided to stay away from this game, at least untill I can get it as part of a bundle, or in the bargain bin. Back in the days, when I lacked games to play, I would probably have picked it up, but right now I have plenty to play, and a lot to look forward to.

That many words almost seem like too much honor for this game… Very solid analysis of course, thank you!

Yup we may as well simplify and "streamlining" the review a bit for those kind of games.

I wonder if GPG have finally pushed the envelope too far in the "let's dumb it down, no, DUMBER!! DUMEMR!!!!!11" department.

Action rpg junkie that I am, I had some curiosity about this game but no real intention of buying it after reading about the generic loot and various other 'streamlining'; this review just validates those feelings.

But when I got close to the end, rather than feeling regret or frustration at it being over too soon, I felt relief.

That's probably the saddest thing I've ever seen written about a game.

I think it's an nice experiment: How much can you dumb down and streamline the already streamiled genre of Action-RPGs ?

But apart from being an experiment, it is just … dumb.

I'm still curious how the sales might be, however.

Originally Posted by magerette
Action rpg junkie that I am

Same here. I have played just about every action rpg ever released. But this one doesn't even interest me.

Any word on the modability of it?

Perhaps it will redeem itself if used by some mod teams, like the original DS engine. Although in this case, I have a suspicion the Space Siege engine only supports interiors.

It really doesn't make much sense that he/they took it in this direction. After all, DS2 is what DS should have been 6 years ago as far as story elements go (minus the screensaver bit, of course). So why he/they dumbed it down instead of smarting it up is beyond me, unless SS2 will use the same graphics and gameplay and add the missing story. That would be consistent…

The real shame of where DS has gone is the fact that it was cutting edge graphics for an RPG in 2002. Even to the point where modders were making a big effort to use gmax to bring them over to NWN only to be stopped. GPG can't even seem to excel in that category anymore with this franchise.

Originally Posted by magerette
That's probably the saddest thing I've ever seen written about a game.

Especially from someone who has railed against short FPS since the MoHAA days and savors long RPG's …

Thanks for the kind words, all … and here is a thought:
- It is easy to spend words heaping praise on a great game.
- It is easy to spend words eviscerating a crappy game.
- It is the very average and unremarkable games that are a challenge to write interesting reviews about.

… and I'm finishing up playing Legend: Hand of God now … wish me luck!

May the Force be with you—or a good translator, anyway.

damn, there must be a way to boil it down a little bit. I like thorough and somewhat wordy reviews, but this was just a freakin marathon.

Especially w/ a mediocre title like this, i stopped caring like 15 paragraphs in. Im scrolling down lookin at the sea of text awaiting me, no thanks I got other things to do tonight

I liked the original Dungeon Siege. It had cool music, really nice classical atmosphere, some amusing NPCs and dialogue that didn't take itself too seriously, a real feeling of exploration and adventure, and a weird sort of relaxing charm.

When I played the sequel, I found the music brooding and forgettable, the atmosphere dark and hideous (with an awful, revolting new art style), NPCs taking their ugly selves and their silly world way too seriously, and a feeling of portal-hopping and fetch-questing instead of adventure. I'll admit the technicalities of the gameplay were improved since you had a bit more control over your character, but all of the charm was gone. It just didn't feel like Dungeon Siege.

I still don't think I'll play Space Siege though. I don't play hack-n-slashes where you can't make your own character or play multiplayer, so that tosses this one out before we even get into the details. Meh.