Space Siege

There are very few games that I played and the re-played. This is one of them. The interface is easy and manipulating the character a breeze. There are many ways to win this game, hence the interesting re-playability. There are two upgrade paths: Human and Cybernetic. However, you can mix both and thus the possibilities are exponential. Granted, winning the game is much more difficult if you stick with the Human upgrade path but the cut scene in the end is also much more interesting... The game play is well balanced and, with a little strategy, it is easy to survive all missions safe for the "boss" sections where you will probably need more than one try to succeed. From my point of view though, it only raised my interest as I got a lot of satisfaction in finally nabbing the right strategy (That will greatly vary depending on the upgrade path you have chosen as I said before). Granted the story line is not the best ever and somewhat predictable but, in this genre, it is pretty well secondary. As for not being able to look at the ceiling or the floor... why would I care? This is not like the first person shooter we've been accustomed to in the last five years or so with nothing much beside "awesome graphics". This is a game for those that are old enough to remember the Crusader series: OK the guy had a weird red costume and the background story was lame but that was true mayhem and absolute fun. Same here. Definitely a keeper.

To be fair, 90% of these reviews I've read, don't give an honest opinion on the game. At least half of them seem to be outright trolling the game without real reason. They say the graphics are bad, they say the controls are bad, they say the gameplay is bad. They don't really give a true, honest reason behind half of it. it's like they played the game for 20 minutes and said "Yeah, this ****." Well, let me be one of the first to say, no, this game does not ****. The graphics are pretty decent for the time, remember kiddies, this game was released a few years ago. I mean, with the carnage, the ragdoll effects. The graphics aren't that bad, I think the negative reviewers simply got this game in hopes of playing a Mass Effect-style Action RPG. Which this is not. This is essentially a straight out, third-person action RPG, much like the old point and click games, such as Diablo. And it's made by a company who has been successful in the past with the Dungeon Siege Series, though, those games themselves are pretty under-rated and generally obscure these days. Now, onto plot, and gameplay. As I said, the gameplay is pretty simple point and click, and is an aquired taste by nostalgic gamers, such as myself. The skills and such, are numerous and hard to juggle, but once you have a decent strategy in mind, and most of them unlocked, it gets simpler to control. My only qualm is the control of your side-kick, a robot, named HR-V, which can honestly be compared to the control of pets on the popular MMORPGs, though using the F-keys is a bit annoying. Otherwise, the combat, and the gameplay are pretty good. And I can only hope that Gas Powered Games use what they learned here, in future games, and better themselves. The graphics, as I stated prior, are pretty decent for the time. Bloody. Gorey. With the Ragdoll effect for items, and most dead bodies that aren't the human corpses lying around in the backdrop. The backgrounds and such could use some work, but they fit the theme. I mean, if you're surviving on a ship, you don't want to see catacombs, or whatnot. Though the lack of blinky lights, and such leave a somewhat wanting feeling, but again, the game takes place 7.5 weeks after the main enemy attacks, so the ship wouldn't be rusted, or falling apart, either. As for the storyline, it's a general run of the mill type thing you see in most sci-fi movies that take place on a ship, though for reviewing sake, I won't spoil anything. Though, if you're like me, you will find it at least amusing at the most, even if it's not groundbreaking, or filled with so many thrilling twists. It's a good story, nonetheless. A nice take on the general theme, in my opinion. As for combat, and such? Like I said, it's point and click. The skills are numerous, and hard to juggle, but it's easy to get the handle on for casual gamers. In closing, this game isn't horrible. It's not amazing, but it's not horrible either. It's on par with what they were trying to do, and actually quite enjoyable if you play it for longer then twenty minutes. The cybernetic implants were an interesting way to go in terms of a 'moral' slider, and the quick way you can swap between a gun and a laser-sword is always fun when you get surrounded by a horde of evil space-crabs. And the music and voice acting are actually quite good, for a game that's so under-rated. All I can say, is don't judge it by appearance, give it a try and really explore the features before shrugging it off. And you might be surprised.