Vast and empty expanses

No, the topic isn’t about what’s going on in my head (although that description is close), it’s about space. The final frontier. The uncharted territory. The rest of the universe for the human race, a mere speck of life in the milky way.

There are quite a lot of games that play off in space or has something to do with space and alien worlds. I guess a reason for that would be because of the unknowiness (that’s a word for the 2009 dictionary right there) of space. It allows developers free reign on the story they want to weave. And for the most part, it works well. But some games should have been kept from escaping out of the earthly atmosphere, for the story just doesn’t gel well enough.

Surprised I was then (and a bit apprehensive), when I heard the next hack-n-slash game from Gas-Powered Games that will run under the “_____-Siege” banner, was going to space. I was (and am) a huge fan of the Dungeon Siege series. I spent hours upon hours playing the game attempting to finish it man-alone with no party and no pack-mule. It was a fun and engaging game. So what could space offer this series ?

I followed the development of the game closely and salvaged any information on it that I could. And the news was pleasant, to say the least. Space Siege promised to be a new innovation on the old hack-n-slash mechanics. So I promptly downloaded the demo when it was released a few days ago and I set out to see first-hand if the game would match the news.

And the short answer would be, yes it does. The first thing I noticed while playing, was how “clean” the game looks. It could have been the settings I was running it on, but I didn’t have so much as a hint of any jaggy edges, texture artifacts or graphical glitches. The game looks and feels solid. Which makes it a joy to play. Also, the control system is not overly complicated and access to everything is laid out in a neat manner which is easy to learn.

Combat is handled in a straight-forward manner (hold down fire button while pointing at enemy) and the player’s special abilities are useful in tight quarters. Some of the abilities result in an interaction between player and enemy models a la cinema flair style, which is rarely seen in hack-n-slash games. It’s a neat little touch that gives the game it’s own personality. It remains to be seen how the special abilities scale up when the character advances levels. So too will the core of the game play. Where the player needs to decide if he / she wishes to upgrade their character with cybernetic enhancements at the cost of humanity.

Playing through the demo, it’s not clear if there are any consequences in which path the player decides to take. So it will be interesting to see how this mechanic is brought into play.

The story I cannot comment on much for the demo is quite short, but so far it seems to be a promising plot. Enough to make me want the game now =)

The game is set for release on the 22nd of August. A date you should mark on your calendar if this type of game is up your alley. It looks to bring some new ideas to the table and offer a fresh breath of life to the Siege series of games. It’s a game I’m definitely looking forward to playing.