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Space Siege:

I picked up Space Siege on Friday for a bit of weekend gaming. Released in August 2008 Space Siege was a highly anticipated space based RPG from the creators of Dungeon Siege. The fact that I found a six month old game for €7.99 in the bargain bin of my local game shop should tell you that it didn't exactly live up to that anticipation. Reviews were generally awful with players being even more negative than the professional critics.

I can see why it disappointed people. People who expected Dungeon Siege in Space were disappointed. People who expected a simple but engrossing rpg with a wide range of character development options and a superbly intuitive control interface were dissapointed. The game is simple alright but character development is so linear it is hardly fair to call it an rpg and the interface is awkward rather than intuitive.

I guess if I had paid €50 for the game on Steam I would have been pissed off too but I didn't. I got it for €7.99 and that makes a world of difference. I didn't care if I got bored after a couple of hours play. As it happens the game kept me entertained for a whole week end. There is fun to be had in there. Apart from a few boss fights the game is very easy and you can just wade into mobs with guns blazing but far more fun is to be had if you try to avoid deaths altogether. Plan fights and make use of the many upgrades and options. In particular choose how you use your robot sidekick. I kitted mine out as a tank (upgrading the robot before I upgraded myself) and sent him in to mop up aggro while DPSed the mobs one by one. Slower than just wading in but altogether more satisfying.

So .. if you can pick up a copy for €7.99 I reccommend it. I don't reccommend spending €50 for it on Steam though.

Comments

Anonymous said…
lol... Space Siege is OUT?

Amazing, I knew it was on its way but had no idea it had actually shipped.

Wasn't that interested in it, really, but anything Gas Powered Games is working on deserves some notice, at least.
mbp said…
Hi Tipa, I think the Gas Powered Games connection actually hurt the game because expectations were too high. If this had been released at a lower price point by some obscure Russian studio I think it would have been praised as an enjoyable romp with some rough edges. As a full price release from a major studio it could only disappoint.

Do you know that Dunegon Siege was my first ever fantasy CRPG? Prior to that I was mainly into shooters and space games. I remember the campaign being quite long. I got bored and left the game for two years before coming back to finish it. Nevertheless Dungeon Siege started me off on a slippery slope that led me through single player RPGS like Morrowind, Arx Fatalis and Div Div before ultimately bringing me to to World of Warcraft and MMORPGs.

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