Games That Time Forgot
Shamus wonders why some games don't get the franchise they deserve
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Shamus wonders why some games don't get the franchise they deserve
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Games That Time Forgot
- Thread starter Shamus Young
- Start date
I didn't play the original but played the hell out of starflight 2.
But star control 2 still has a place in my heart as one of the greatest games ever made. The writing was funny and insightful, the universe was well developed and vibrant and decisions actually had consequences.
And it was really really fun.
X-COM had a good run. TFTD refined the formula and if you have it a chance you will see Apocalypse did a really good job with the turn based/realtime transition. Not to mention the awesome destructible environments.
But star control 2 still has a place in my heart as one of the greatest games ever made. The writing was funny and insightful, the universe was well developed and vibrant and decisions actually had consequences.
And it was really really fun.
X-COM had a good run. TFTD refined the formula and if you have it a chance you will see Apocalypse did a really good job with the turn based/realtime transition. Not to mention the awesome destructible environments.
This seems to be the industries main move at the moment, and it's something we've all talked about before. The Industry's main fears are complex and unforgiving.Shamus Young said:
Bioshock took the super-harsh System Shock, gave it a nice coat of paint, dipped it in Atlas Shrugged and made it almost impossible to fail.
And complexity has been steadily been reduced as far as possible. Even in MMO-RPGs, there are "set builds" to max DPS, which reduces the play experience to "use spell on bad guy".
Tagging back to the old "Deaths need to mean something", it'd be good if the Industry understood that while their main audience like a pick-up-and-go, there's a lot of money to be made on slightly tougher games. Super Meat Boy sold well, Chime sold well, and while neither are complex, they are unforgiving. Complexity doesn't always need a huge manual, as Civilisation 5 shows, but SimCity/The Sims show how much interest there is in complex life management simulations. I'm willing to bet that The Sims even gives Call of Duty pause for thought in the money stakes.
But no-one's gone into it, even after the success of the above games and others like Syndicate,the Tycoon series, Vampire, Dungeon Keeper.
Hell, even Dope Wars is a fun little waste of time and it's a lot more complex and unforgiving than most of the Triple As. Possibly not the greatest subject matter, but change it to sweets or lemonade and you could sell it on the App Store.
One of the reasons I enjoyed the Mako sessions of Mass Effect is that they kind of felt like a modernized version of the whole planetside landing/exploring/resource gathering of the Starflight series.
Now I need to dust off my Amiga again to give the games a whirl...
Now I need to dust off my Amiga again to give the games a whirl...
I'll die happy if they ever make a proper sequel to Crusader: No Remorse
I never got Crusader: No Regret and I've always . . . . well regretted that.
I never got Crusader: No Regret and I've always . . . . well regretted that.
Oh Descent! My dad used to play the first two with me 
(that and Quakes I and II, and BGII). Good memories fosho. My favorite part was blowing the reactor and flying out the escape-shoot, and that sweet cut-scene that played when you did. I've tryed a couple times to beat Descent II again, but it's hard to get back into those old games.
(that and Quakes I and II, and BGII). Good memories fosho. My favorite part was blowing the reactor and flying out the escape-shoot, and that sweet cut-scene that played when you did. I've tryed a couple times to beat Descent II again, but it's hard to get back into those old games.
Star Control 2 ranks as the best game of all time, as far as I'm concerned. Starflight 2 is not far behind (I didn't play first one until many years later).
I badly miss the entire space exploration genre. The closest we've got in many, many years have been primarily flight sims, and that just misses the point.
I badly miss the entire space exploration genre. The closest we've got in many, many years have been primarily flight sims, and that just misses the point.
Though I never played it personally, your description of Starflight seems like it would be right up Mojang's alley for their next game. It sounds like a sci-fi space themed version of Minecraft, and that sounds like nothing short of life-devastating awesomeness.
You also might be interested in UFO: The Two Sides, a more faithful remake of the original that's essentially just a high res update from the original game. Pretty far along into development too, missing city textures which makes Terror missions nearly impossible and the pedia isn't up yet, but everything else works perfectly!
Freespace is actually a spinoff series from Descent if you didn't know. The first game is named Descent: Freespace, and it's technically a continuation of Descents story. Kinda like Tribes was a spinoff of the old Starsiege and Earthsiege games.
Sometimes the spinoff become more popular and well known that their originators. Go figure!
NLS said:
Sometimes the spinoff become more popular and well known that their originators. Go figure!
Great article and loads of great suggestions so far. for anyone who liked Magic Carpet you should check out Sacrifice: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacrifice_%28video_game%29
It's a crime this never caught on
It's a crime this never caught on
Damn, now I gotta fish up our old copy of Decent 2. First game to ever give me serious vertigo/headaches. Great stuff, that. Fortunately a couple decades of gaming have boosted my tolerance for crazy 3D action awesomeness.
FreeSpace 2 went Open Source some years ago and has spawned tons of high-quality mods and total conversions. One of the more prominent examples is the Babylon 5 Project.Irridium said:
I'm still hoping for a successor to the series. The ending to the game was incredibly well done (I got blown to bits by the supernova while heroically defending a medical transport) and one of the rare occasions where mankind simply lost. In my opinion, this game is the pinnacle of space simulators up to this day.
Anyways, really nice article. If someone hasn't played UFO: Alien Invasion, I'd highly recommend it. The game runs very stable and offers lots of features in its current build. Only downside is that it's still in development.
Magic Carpet with a contemporary engine ... oh, sweet dreams ...