Space Siege (PC)

I liked it. There are things wrong with it but what it chooses to do is slick.

The problems begin if you buy it thinking it's an RPG because it isn't. This is a shooter with RPG-lite upgrade choices.

The original Dungeon Siege was a beautiful looking but eventually dull RPG that didn't know if it was Baldurs Gate or Diablo and fell uncomfortably between the two. Like it or not but Gas Powered haven't made the same mistake this time and Space Siege is definitely an action game. There's no active pause in game to issue orders, like in DS or BG, but there isn't even any of the gear-based inventory management or character classes of the awesome Diablo. There's no XP, with character points getting earned at pre-set points in the game.

I can see what they've decided to do here and while I don't 100% agree with their design choices I can at least see what they were aiming for. They've tried to create an action RPG for the casual player and it almost works. The trouble is it would work so much better as a plain top down shooter which makes the claustrophobic camera angles all the more bizarre. Years after the seamless open areas of Dungeon Siege we're back crawling through small levels, with loading screens, made up primarily of tight corridors. Your viewpoint varies from over the shoulder all the way up to over the shoulder from slightly higher up.

Had they pulled the camera all the way out and just put a fog of war over the unexplored areas it would make for a decent arcade shooter. The Xbox Live Arcade may even have been what inspired this game as there are a ton of shooters showing up there. They claim they haven't ruled out making a console version - perhaps that's where it will end up.

Upgrade choices are fairly meaningless and I don't think there's a lot of replay value. There's going to be little fundamental difference how you play the game regardless of cybernetic enhancements taken or upgrade choices made. Here's a hint - think carefully about upgrading any of your starter firearms, bearing in mind that throughout the game you're going to get new guns on a regular basis. The starter sword on the other hand is gold right from the get go.

I started out by saying I liked it but you might be hard pushed to see why after all that I've just said. Sometimes you just want to disengage your brain and blow up hordes of identical aliens (there's actually more variety in appearance, behaviour and weaknesses of the aliens, particularly as the game progresses, than some of these reviews have suggested).

If you can ignore preconceptions about its supposed RPG roots and accept it as a Sci-Fi shooter with a lot of strategically placed explosive barrels then I think you'll get a blast (sorry..) out of it. It is a short game and it's an easy game but I found it to be a fun game.

Being a fan of the "dungeon crawl" Dungeon Siege 2, I looked forward to Space Siege eagerly but upon playing it was disappointed on several fronts:

1. there's no team to build around you and balance to suit your tactics/whim. In Dungeon Siege 2 you'd have fighters, archers, wizards of different persuasions and various others all fighting together to give you an effective force against any foe, but you decided the mix and if you wanted a squad of all female necromancers then you could. Space Siege has you play one character (with robotic assistance) but doesn't allow you to really customise that character other than down a fighting or tech speciality.

2. there's no inventory to play with. Again, in Dungeon Siege 2 you'd fill half your inventory with really serious weapons and armour you couldn't use yet, hoping that one day you'd be powerful enough to wield it and cause some real damage. Space Siege doesn't even offer an inventory, let alone this kind of option.

3. no pause. Dungeon Siege 2 and Space Siege work in the same way, you click where you want to go or what you want to attack/interact with. However, in Dungeon Siege 2 you can pause the action and still interact with the characters, so whilst in the middle of a huge fight you can move your characters into better positions, take aim at the targets that really matter and plan your tactics. Space Siege doesn't have this option and it really jars when you've been used to it.

4. no big bangs. Space games usually have the advantage of really far-out, hi-tech weaponary which really makes stuff blow up. So far I haven't encountered the show stopping pyrotechnics which could so easily be included.

However, don't think this game is awful, it isn't - as a point and click sci-fi shooter it's quite enjoyable and you can get lost in it easily, I just can't help but feel it could have been so much more and that this was an opportunity missed.

If truth be told, being a huge fan of the original Dungeon Siege I was more eager to play SPACE SIEGE than any other game this summer. Hyped as the next creation of Chris Taylor and Gas Powered Games (both of DS fame), this was supposed to be the space age answer to the upcoming DIABLO 3. Well, all hell broke loose, that's for sure...

The story is tissue thin but this would not have been a real problem (after all, DS with its "simple peasant rising to the challenge to save the land" story was hardly...Shakespeare), if the game were to give immersion a chance. It does not. One never forgets that he is playing a video game. And the moment he might be caught in the action, the awkward controls will bring him back. I haven't seen such bad camera placement and panning ever since NEVERWINTER NIGHTS.

Graphics is where SS shines: creative and clear details everywhere. Environmental design is not: after a short while the next corridor looks exactly like all the previous ones. And this gives off the feeling of running in circles.

The game sounds are nothing to brag about either. The explosions and weapon discharges are well done, whereas the background music is good but nowhere near DS standards (I still use THAT theme as a ringtone).

There is no looting fun either. Dead enemies drop generic components which can be used to buy (equally generic) upgrades. No sets to complete, no unique items to find, no specially crafted weapons or armor to buy. As the game progresses cybernetic augmentations get available but as the in-game NTCs keep pointing out, there are added in expense to your character's humanity.

As to its length, it goes like the old Woody Allen joke on an elderly couple complaining about their rest home food: "oye, it is awful!", "I know - and such small portions".

Bottom line: if you expect a DUNGEON SIEGE in a futuristic setting you, well, that game is not out yet. Lacking an inventory and a class system, SS is hardly a cRPG; it is rather an isometric ThirdPerson shooter, similar to Shadowgrounds Survivor or ALIEN SHOOTER: VENGEANCE. And because these last two games do not pretend to be something they are not, in the end they are more enjoyable. If in the market for a space cRPG, try SPACE HACK instead.

A disappointment.