OT: Game You Bought

[Atrocities]

Have you ever bought a game that you were really excited to get yet after playing it for a bit you realize that it was really dissapointing?

In the Last year I have boughten several games that had promis of being good games yet all turned out to be very unentertaining.

Soldier of Forturn II - Just really a big let down. The first game was far more fun and even looked better.

Jedi Night II (Jedi Outcast) Not a bad game, but it lacked something important; heart. When I played the game I just got the feeling that I was playing a game that had an abandond feel to it. It looked great, and seemed to have a good story, but overall it just was not that thrilling. They should do a game that pre-dates the original Dark Forces.

Civilization III - Ok, I bought into this game's hype and was dismally disapointed. The game just lacked good UI design and features that should have been included were not.

Unreal II - Another dismal sequal of a fine game. It was heavily scripted and when you managed to go off script, which happned often, the game would just linger on the level you were on and do nothing leaving you to wonder around aimlessly for hours. I really hated this game.

SimCity 4 - Oh brother, here is one that just really hurts. I loved the previous SimCity games and found them all to be greatly entertaining. However, this latest Version, although full of great graphics and some good game ideas, has a lot of flaws. I hate having to put out fires every few seconds and alway be running my city in the red. Old tactics don't work, as you must amase a huge tax base early on or run your city, with few manicipal buildings, right into bankruptcy. The game lacks the ability to turn off random fire events, therefore your always, despite how many fire departments you have, putting out fires. The game has no difficulty settings so it feels as if you are always on high difficulty. In essance the game is more like a chore to play than fun. To top it off, the dumbarse that run the SimCity 4 web site have no feedback emails so you can tell them that the GD website has done something to your account that is rather unfriendly. Adding to the aggervation is the fact that you cannot post at their crapy arse forums and again, no one to complain to for help.

Masters Of Orion - Well this one has been hashed to death. Needless to say it needs a lot of work.

GalCiv - Well I really do like this game, but found it to be boring after a few games. I simply could not get back into it as the game play is same each and every game. I love the look and feel of the game, and would recommend it to any one, but buyer be warned, after playing SEIV, you might find this game rather boring.

I am left to wonder if all of the game developers now a days are too busy worring about the bottom line to really be concerned with the quality of their games. It seems like there are no more original games coming out, just rehashed old crap with more promises of great game play than one can shake a stick at. In the end they go gold and are bought up and more often than not, returned by disatsified customers.

I have a few games that I am looking forward to and I hope that they deliver on game play but I do have my reservations.

Elite Force II - Played the demo and found it to be the same old same old, but who cares, I get to fire a phaser at people so 'make it so.'

Tribes Vengance - Long ways off.

Doom III - Holding my breath

Duke Nukem 3d - Just about given up on this one

Stars Supernova - I have given up on this one.

Past this I have no idea what is coming out that I might be interested in.

[General Woundwort]

The second edition of Reach for the Stars fits into this Category. I was on my "sabbatical" from SEIV at the time and saw RFTS on sale (yes, I ignored the first warning sign, but mea culpa ). I thought, why not, and bought it. Well, I didn't know it, but SEIV had ruined me as far as my expectations for being able to work with a game. Rearranging the given shipsets and scrolling percentage changes for environment and agressiveness was OK, but you didn't have much else to distinguish the various opponents (or your own race). And there was little else to flavor the game besides that. The combats looked neat, but just didn't have the same appeal as SEIV tactical - after awhile it just got boring watching two lines of ships blow each other up. The scrolling galaxy map looked nice, though. Good graphics. But gonzo graphics don't equate to keeping your attention ala replay value. And SEIV delivers that in spades, despite the "primitive" graphics.

Another nominee I'll spend less time on is Starships Unlimited - Divided Galaxies. STUN had some interesting aspects, but in all honesty, the combat system was a royal pain - especially when you tried to fight things other than neutral planets' automated defenses. I gave up on STUN even quicker than on RFTS.

[ June 15, 2003, 21:59: Message edited by: General Woundwort ]

[minipol]

I'm looking forward to Lord Of The Realms III (Sierra), Trench and The Road From Sumter to Appomattox IV
(both these are from Adanac )
That's about it.

[dbt1949]

[minipol]

dbt1949, you really *REALLY* like smillies don't you

[Fyron]

I really like Rise of Nations. It is a real time game, but it is not quite a RTS game. It is hard to explain, and the demo is 170 MBs.