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12 Jun 04
Sorry, I didn't get a chance to do a highlight yesterday. Strangely, I did spend a great deal of the national day of mourning wactching the ceremonies for President Reagan. Whether you agreed with all his policies or not, it was a fitting and touching tribute to a great leader. Rest in Peace, Dutch.
I spent most of my web time yesterday fighting to get the image viewing software to work. It's still not perfect, but it is running now. I've put up some screenshots for Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders, Kohan II, Evil Genius, the new Hidden and Dangerous 2 Expansion, and Empire Earth 2. So enjoy them. Check them out Here.
Drop me a line if you experience any problems.
Jason
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10 Jun 04
Interesting times in the gaming community. Probably the most interesting thing recently has been the buzz surrounding ESPN NFL 2005. Now Sega has taken its sports line to the point where it only competes with EA for supremacy. While there are occasional exceptions, they go head to head in most sports with reviews keeping them close.
The problem is that EA has a monster called Madden. Madden makes more money each year than most companies can dream about. Madden is partly about the man, partly about the consistency of the game quality and partly about the history. It's one of the oldest continuous franchises around. Each year they put out a better product (than the year before), and each year they crush Sega's ESPN football.
This year Sega and Take Two have signed a distribution deal that promises great things for the ESPN line. What was confusing was that the division they were using to publish the games was their budget division. Then just yesterday EB games and Gamestop updated their preorders for ESPN NFL 2005 to reflect a price of $19.99.
There are a couple of interesting forces at work here. First is the competition between Sega and EA. At this price point, many people can justify picking up either both games (especially if EA drops their price) or, if EA stands pat, many people will give ESPN a try at the lower price to see if they can fill their football gaming needs that much more inexpensively. Unless EA matches or undercuts the price, Sega should see huge increases in units sold. Many Sega fans believe that once gamers try ESPN they'll be hooked.
EA has some pressure to deal with as well. They have shareholders who've gotten used to the huge profits that Madden brings in each year. Unlike Sega, they don't have as much room to grow since they already dominate the NFL market. Matching the price cut for them would be losing a lot of money. Chances are good they'll throw consumers some sort of bone whether it's a smaller price cut or making the "collector's edition" the standard.
Next there's the problem of sports game in general. Have you ever tried to trade in a sports game at the end of the season. If they'll even take it, it will be for mere pennies. Sports games hold no value. They're the disposable commodity of the gaming industry. Many sports fans are upset that they are required to pay full price each year for what many see as a glorified roster update. While many features are often added, they're spread across many areas including some that many gamers never use such as online or franchise mode. Usually this complaining is less when there's a new engine or, even better, at the launch of a new console. The fact is that many gamers would be happy with roster updates each year. So no value retention combined with not enough perceived value for gamers puts price pressures on sports games. This move will only add to that pressure.
Finally, there's the game market's own pressures. The market has grown so large that value priced titles can bring in significant revenues. Crave (the publisher) has recently gone this route. It just makes sense that it's easier to get the consumer to part with a twenty than it is to get them to part with a fifty. There aren't that many truly AAA titles out there each year. That puts pressure on the other titles to justify the expenditure. Sony added to this pressure by putting out quality first party titles for $39.99. Also at the end of the console's first life cycle, as prices drop more people get in. If a twenty dollar price drop can get people to buy a console, what you do think a thirty dollar price drop will do for selling games to those people. It'll be interesting to see what happens.
Today's game is a bit unusual. It's a truck driving sim with a cargo management game built in. It's Rig 'N Roll (official site) from Softlab NSK. Can you not only out drive your competition, but out manage them? Be careful who you drive into the ground. They still haven't found Jimmy Hoffa.
Jason
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9 Jun 04
A couple of quick site notes. You might want to check out the forums again. Raydude has started a new story based on a B-17 board game. If it's only half as good as his previous work, it'll still be a must read. Also, don't forget to vote in the current poll. We're asking what RTS you think will be making the biggest splash this year. I've opened the polls so everyone can vote member or not. Let's hear what you think. Check it out on the News section of the site.
Back to Full Spectrum Warrior. First the good. They've made it into an interesting game. There's a good story story involved. You get to know your men. Your team plays an important role in the events unfolding, but always as part of the team. You get to see armor and special forces units as well as more mundane things like choppers and Hummers.
The graphics more than do the job. They're not perfect including some clipping problems, but they significantly up the immersion factor. The sights of battle are all around you. From bullet holes to craters to collapsed buildings, it looks like a war zone. The men can be recognized by sight or by equipment. The hud is generally minimal and doesn't detract from the feeling of being there.
The sound is probably the greatest strength. There's some repetition of lines, but when team leaders are giving the same movement orders over and over again, that's to be expected. The weapons, vehicles and explosions all sound authentic. Admittedly there is some license taken with the volume as weapons are a touch louder and explosions muted, but it's still better than most movies. The character's voices are well done. Commands have a suitable military twang. The bullets whizzing by are probably the most overdone, but they increase the immersion factor so much that it's not only forgivable, but to be praised.
Now the negative. The controls are good, but could be better. Sometimes it's impossibly difficult to move the cursor where you want it in the formation you want. It messes up enough to be noticed, but not enough to get in the way of gameplay. Pathing also has some problems. Occasionally a team member will go the wrong way around an object. This increases their exposure to fire. While the game doesn't penalize you for it (at least on normal), the Army would.
Finally there are a few situations where the game does get too puzzly. There's only one way that works and it's not always the way that makes the most sense. There are also a few things that only happen after a team hits a trigger point. If you try solve the problem yourself, you might just die again and again.
Overall, I'm really enjoying the game. Somehow I thought I'd be a little better at it right off the bat, but one I got a handle on things, I've really fallen for this game. If you understand what this game is about and you're still interested, I highly recommend it.
Today's game is completely different. I'm sure many people have heard about it from Gone Gold, but it's good enough to deserve another mention. It's Bontago (official site) from Digipen. Yes, it's a balancing game. It's a game about playing with blocks. Don't let that fool you any more than it did with Tetris.
Jason
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8 Jun 04
Ok, back to impressions of Full Spectrum Warrior. It's kind of amazing really. You read some of the reviews and they love it for its innovation. Others slam it for the same reason. Some reviews (and reviewers) clearly wanted or expected a different game.
You knew there would be trouble when people were arguing over what genre it belonged in. People expecting certain things from those genres might be disappointed. That's why I used the term Tactical Action Game. Which coincidentally was what the developers ended up using. It's basically about tactically maneuvering two fire teams. If you go in with those expectations, I don't think you'll be let down.
First impressions are that they have turned the simulator into a game. Some of the simulator features they showed in the early videos were removed from the game portion. What they added was plot and personality. From the time you're introduced to your fire teams and all through the parts of the game I've played, you get to know your men. The developers made a concerted effort to make you care about them. Largely they've succeeded.
After that, I noticed that there was a certain feel of authenticity to the game. The chatter, movement, weapons, hand signals and tactics all had the feel of the real world and the US Army. Your team comes off as both professional and real people.
Final initial impression was the excitement level. The elements I've already discussed combine with atmosphere and bullets zinging by to get your adrenaline pumping. You really want to take out the tangos even if it's just to keep them from firing at your men. There are plenty of "oh, shoot!" moments when you peek around the corner to find a BMP or a tank or entrenched machine gun nests or RPG gunners. The great thing is that I'm about halfway through the game and that level of excitement hasn't dropped. Occasionally, you get bogged down if you keep making mistakes, but usually you recognize what you did wrong and fix it.
I'll try to wrap up my impressions of FSW tomorrow. Maybe next week I'll have some impressions on the full Army version that shipped with the game. I can tell you right now that if you're into tactics, and don't mind trying to implement them under virtual fire, it's a must buy.
Today's game is a little lighter fare. In fact, it's a remake of an old classic. It's Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown (official site) from Cinemaware. I think my favorite old Cinemaware game was Rocket Ranger. Anyway, defender of the crown has you combining brief action sequences, building up characters RPG style and trying to strategically control England. It's available now for the PC, PS2 and Xbox.
Jason
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7 Jun 04
I wanted to talk briefly about my impressions of Full Spectrum Warrior today, but I'm pushing that back to tomorrow. As I'm sure the world has heard President Ronald Reagan passed away this weekend at the age of 93. With his death coming so close to the sixtieth anniversary of D-Day, it's hard not to reflect on struggle for freedom around the world. It's amazing to remember how one man's faith and optimism changed the world.
I remember reading a European preview of Full Spectrum Warrior. Some people commented that while the gameplay looked interesting, they were worried about it being too patriotic and pro US. To me that seems silly now. Ronald Reagan knew that despite its flaws the United States is a great country filled with great people. He just gave a wry little laugh as Iran called us the great satan.
I remember the hysteria that occurred whenever Reagan would stand up and confront communism. Some people were convinced that he was marching the world toward doomsday. In fact, I recall the "doomsday clock" perpetually hovered at 11:59 during his presidency. Yet in one of his first speeches as President he presented his vision of freedom for the world and that communism would be relegated to the ash heap of history. How right he was.
Thankfully, the news has also shown Reagan's speech on the 40th anniversary of D-Day. He spoke of the value of freedom. He said that the men knew why they risked death on the beaches of Normandy. He reminded us that any country fighting in the cause of freedom was worth dying for. Reagan loved this country. He said, "with God’s help, America’s greatest chapter is still to be written, for the best is yet to come.”
No game today. The Reagan family has asked that in lieu of flowers donations be made to the Ronald Reagan Memorial Fund.
Jason
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© Talk Strategy 2004
