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dkirschner's Kerbal Space Program (PC)
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| [November 6, 2018 11:50:57 PM]
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I was interested in and purchased this long ago, and have since become less interested in it. A few hours after messing around in its career mode, it's off my computer again. Kerbal Space Program (KSP) is a really impressive space program simulator. You tinker with building spacecraft and try to successfully launch them to fulfill whatever objective you have. In sandbox mode, you have access to all the ship parts, which snap together like Legos. This was intuitive; however, keeping the spacecraft from exploding is less so. I gather that the game takes a significant amount of time to understand the basics, and the physics are so realistic that it would probably help to understand the math.
In career mode, you can take contracts from corporations to test their rockets, collect science data, leave the atmosphere, and so on. I enjoyed the given goals, but admit to becoming frustrated for not being able to achieve one that seemed easy: deploy a parachute within a set altitude range and a set speed range. I could get the altitude, but I was always going too fast while within the altitude range. I used the worst rocket, and still I propelled myself too far, and came down too fast to deploy at the correct time. I tried to spin my craft wildly around to slow its ascent, but that didn't work either. I tried to arc my ascent, which also didn't work. Perhaps I need to be able to jettison the rocket engine, and there were coupling parts, which I assume allow you to detach parts in flight. I'm sure I'd figure it out with more tinkering, but three hours in and I couldn't get a parachute to open right. It's a little demoralizing!
Whenever you don't deploy the parachute, your spacecraft crashes, killing the Kerbal pilot. It's cute; anything the Kerbals do is cute. I tried to make my astronaut puke from spinning the spacecraft like an insane teacup, but he just smiled and enjoyed the ride. The NASA management sim is on point, but not so much the Kerbals' response to flight.
There's a whole host of things to manage aside from building and piloting spacecraft. You gain science points to spend on research (buying new parts), prestige (not sure what that does; public relations?), and money. You can recruit new Kerbals and they can level up after going on successful flights (purpose unknown). You can talk to your science intern, publicist, operations manager, and more to get funding or improve public opinion. It might sound like a lot, but everything seemed straightforward except for the actual know-how to build and fly the spacecraft. That seems to be where the depth is, and where one would get hundreds of hours from this game. It didn't grab me, and I've got other stuff I'd rather spend time playing than getting into a NASA sim. I had been planning to use this for a class to talk about games and education, and I'm glad I never followed through with that; I would have had to abandon ship.
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dkirschner's Kerbal Space Program (PC)
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Current Status: Stopped playing - Got Bored
GameLog started on: Tuesday 6 November, 2018
GameLog closed on: Tuesday 6 November, 2018 |
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