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Feb 8th, 2008 at 17:21:36 - Galactic Civilizations II (PC) |
GAMEPLAY
Continuing to play Gal Civ 2 I'm gaining an appreciation for some of the options it offers the player above and beyond the typical 4x strategy game. For one I particularly like the ability to coerce other colonies to join your race with out using direct force.
Visually the game is quite pleasant to look at, graphics aren't spectacular by any means but get the job done and add to the over all vibe of the game.
I still enjoy the light hearted humor that comes through in various parts of the game (for example when researching a new type of engine, you are told that space is 'really really really really big').
Economic side of the game also interesting as trade with other races can make up a significant portion of your races income, and when you go to war, you lose that income, making the decision to go to war or not considerably more complicated.
My favorite part of the game was designing my space fleet. In addition to visually customizing your ships, you choose their weapon load outs as well. This isn't merely eye candy as how you load out your ship affects how well it fights others.
On a negative side, the time commitment for this game, even after you learn the basics, is quite considerable. This is not a game that is well suited to playing 15 minutes here and there as there is simply too much going on at any given point during the game. This can be alleviated to a limited degree by choosing easier difficulties and smaller maps, but ultimately is still an issue.
I also was initially excited by the diplomacy model as it seemed to offer a lot more options than the typical diplomatic system found in 4x games like civilization and master of orion. But after a while it seemed really superficial and really didn't have too much an influence besides trading technology and declaring wars, much like any other game in the genre.
DESIGN
First some points that I feel give the game a leg up over the typical strategy game of this genre:
Nice variety of options in how you go about taking over the galaxy, do you go for brute force conquering? Or for a more subtle political or cultural victory by coercing other races into joining your dominion.
Full customization of ships is fun and integral to game play, and gives the player more of a sense that this really is “their” race that they are playing.
Economics add extra flavor and dimension to war declaring. Used to just be a choice of “Can I beat their fleets” this adds the worry of “Can I afford it long term?”
And now some Negatives:
Steep learning curve and large time commitment. Not possible to really have a quick game, and is frustrating to learn initially due to a lack of a good tutorial in game. Lots of trial and error, and generally getting the crap kicked out of me in early games.
Buggy, I had a few random crashes here and there.
Diplomatic system could use work, all those choices on the screen really don't amount to much in the long term.
Interface is slightly clunky on big maps, hard to see whats going when zoomed out, and constantly panning around the map when zoomed in.
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Feb 8th, 2008 at 13:29:49 - Galactic Civilizations II (PC) |
SUMMARY
Galactic Civilizations II is a 4x (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit and eXterminate) style turn based strategy game. The player takes control of one a number of preset alien civilizations (or customizes his or her own) and controls the economy, military, and research of their chosen side as they see fit in order to conquer the galaxy.
GAMEPLAY
Right from the start the game hits you with its depth and complexity when you are merely choosing (or customizing) your choice of race. There are many variables to consider and the choices are not trivial. Each race has certain advantages and disadvantages, some have better economics ratings (get more money per turn) while have rebellious or mercenary natures (hard to keep happy, might defect to another side). And this is just a few of the myriad of possibilities available to the player.
Upon actually starting the game, you quickly become busy with the ins and outs of managing a galactic empire, sending out ships to create new colonies, allocating research, building upgrades on individual planets etc. Its obviously a very engrossing game with a large number of tasks that can be done on any individual turn.
For me personally the game is fun to play and time flies due to how much there is to do each turn, and the variety of methods to expand. Do you attempt to woo an opposing colony over by making yourself seem culturally superior, do you conquer them by brute force, incite a war between two sides and pick up the pieces?
It is initially quite a daunting game due to its complexity and learning curve, and I spent many hours and games trying and failing miserably even on the lower difficulty levels.
The story while present in the campaign mode (which I do not focus on) is present, but not particularly engaging. Its really standard fare, galactic war, looming threat to everyone coming, etc etc. It is worth noting that the game does have a fun and whimsical light hearted sense of humor that does add some to the over all vibe of the game, despite its lack luster story.
From the social stand point, this game really doesn't have much going for it. Its single player only, cant really be any sort of a party game, and difficult to compare your game to another due to its inherent complexity.
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Jan 24th, 2008 at 22:58:07 - Gradius 3 (SNES) |
GAME PLAY
Continuing on with gameplay, my emotional state during the game was mostly neutral, or frustration. This had to do with the steep learning curve and difficulty of the game.
On the social front, I can see this being an okay party game, as it is easy to get into a game quickly, and fast paced. I also would be impressed with anyone who gets far into the game (personally) and could see it as a sort of one-upping your friends style competition. That said however, the game required my full concentration to play, so I cant for see any banter really between persons while playing this game.
The powerup system is neat, but later on I can forsee it being frustrating as some sections would be FAR easier with powerups, and each death forces you to start over as far as your weapon powers are concerned.
My over all opinion though is that this game is a fun shooter, and has a few innovative elements, but otherwise is fairly unremarkable and predictable in its gameplay.
DESIGN
The primary innovation in this game is the ability to select a weapon set prior to starting the game. This allows the user greater flexibility in playing style, and adds an element of management to how they utilize the power ups. EG does the user take speed boosts right off, or save them to get missiles a little later for a specific boss/enemy coming up.
That said, otherwise the game is a remarkably generic shooter really lacking in creativity. Visuals are standard fare for the time era it was released in, as are the enemies and style of play. EG dodging enemies that shoot at you, some shoot straight ahead, travel in packs, etc etc. In my opinion it could really have used more color, the visuals were quite drab.
Music was nothing to write home about, seemed neither interesting or complimentary to game play, but nor did it irritate.
A final note is difficulty, the game was very difficult for a novice like myself to approach. This could be alleviated somewhat by perhaps having a player avatar that could take multiple hits, or a slower "ramp up" in terms of number of enemies and game play challenges.
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Jan 24th, 2008 at 22:05:01 - Gradius 3 (SNES) |
SUMMARY
Gradius 3 is a side scrolling space shooter whereby the play controls a ship that contains a number of weapons (selected prior to starting) that can be used as one gets power-ups while playing.
GAME PLAY
NOTE: It has been a VERY long time since ive played a shooter of this type, so that must be taken into account in my opinions and view on the game.
As with most simple shooters of this type, the story is essentially throw away in my opinion. Stereotypical save the universe from some evil, only you can do it, blah blah. Not particularly engaging, but I cant really fault it, the story is not integral to game play in any sense.
Gameplay is fun, but a bit confusing at first with the power up system, as it seems you sort of "spend" power ups to activate your weapons and upgrade them. I also notice that the game is quite difficult to a rank novice like myself. I died multiple times before even getting halfway through the first level. Also annoying having to use powerups to speed up your ship beyond its incredibly slow starting speed, seems unnecessary.
The main innovation in this game appears to be its system of choosing weapons to use pre-game, and managing power ups through out. I shall elaborate more after some more playing on how this affects gameplay.
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