Space Siege (PC): How To Kill A Franchise

Eurogamer wrote:...It [Space Siege] is, however, a genuine failure, perhaps even a spectacular one. It could do serious damage to Taylor and Gas Powered Game's once-golden reputation, and I pray it's just a one-off blip. With the Supreme Commander games apparently alienating as many players as they charmed, I suspect much hinges on the upcoming, self-published Demigod.

Space Siege's timing is fascinating, however - releasing just prior to Too Human on Xbox 360, it's hard not to draw comparisons, not least because TH's original plot dealt with very similar subject matter (its title is pretty meaningless since the story switched to Thor-in-space). And also because anyone who thinks TH is a disaster really should play this (and, if it isn't too impolitic to do so, I'd include Eurogamer's TH reviewer amongst those people). While riddled with design disasters, Too Human seems like an action-RPG holy grail by comparison to this startling mess. Better yet, play Shadowgrounds: Survivor instead of the both of 'em.

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?ar ... 336&page=2

PC Advisor wrote:...All this could easily have been forgiven if only the gameplay of Space Siege was up to the task. Games like Diablo and Dungeon Siege, which gave birth to Space Siege, would set you loose in detailed environments with tons of interesting loot and character skills serving as an addictive incentive to keep playing.

All Space Siege had to do was just copy this formula; that's all it had to do. Literally. Just be Diablo in space. That's it. But instead, it's a shallow imitation with none of the fun.

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/inde ... wid=102971

Oh dear. :lol:

I love a good failure, it always makes the final reviews so much more entertaining! This was a game that looked borked from the start, tbh - what was once promised as 'Dungeon Siege in space' (not a bad idea), has emerged an idiotic, retarded RPG-lite disaster. That's what you get for not sticking to a winning formula, for trying to 'widen the demographic'. Instead of all the Dungeon Siege Siege fans (like me - I have all of the DS games + all expansions) buying into your new 'property', now you'll get none.

Nice going, Gas Powered Games. :lol:

I heard about this a while ago and even then when all they has was an outline of ideas I had a feeling this was a car crash waiting to happen. The core mechanics for the series were dumbed down (still playable but extremely simple) anyway and by the looks of things this takes that process even further. Also this system was built for fantasy worlds and just never works on any other environment so space is just taking the piss.

Raze

I'd heard bad things about this, so when Zombitedesade told me he'd buy it, I warned him off.
"But it's just Dungeon Siege in space!" he said. "There's literally no way it could be bad."
"You'll see," I replied. AND NOW HE WILL.

The demo was bloody awful. Completely devoid of anything that could be considered fun, and filled with broken ideas.

Raze wrote:I'd heard bad things about this, so when Zombitedesade told me he'd buy it, I warned him off.
"But it's just Dungeon Siege in space!" he said. "There's literally no way it could be bad."
"You'll see," I replied. AND NOW HE WILL.

But Dungeon Siege is terrible too.

It gets worse... this, from the comments in reply to 1up.com's scathing review...

...As someone who worked on Space Siege, I can say that you hit the nail on the head. The project was mismanaged from its earliest days, and almost half the dev team was laid off to hide managerial failings. The remaining developers (all talented individuals) were left with a heavier workload and low morale. All they wanted to do was polish the turd and move on to the next project. **It would be wrong to conclude that Chris Taylor's game design mojo is damaged because of Space Siege. He barely had anything to do with it. He just made the mistake of usurping credit for it, for marketing purposes. Sega was also to blame. They insisted on too short a schedule and too low a budget for what they wanted the game to be. Put it this way: as bad as the game is, it's still released about 6 months late against the original schedule.

http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3169347

Strangely, GamesTM gave it a glowing preview only a few issues ago, even going so far as to suggest it might do right, what Too Human did wrong.

I don't see how it being rushed and badly managed makes it "worse". That's good news, as I'd hate for the truth to be that the guys only have the ability to remake Total Annihilation until the end of time.

TheTurnipKing wrote:
Raze wrote:I'd heard bad things about this, so when Zombitedesade told me he'd buy it, I warned him off.
"But it's just Dungeon Siege in space!" he said. "There's literally no way it could be bad."
"You'll see," I replied. AND NOW HE WILL.

But Dungeon Siege is terrible too.

DS games are not terrible, they took the Diablo esq style of battering enemies and picking up goodies very well.
DS2 was not maybe as good as DS1 but it was ok.
I have the PSP incarnation too but its in my collection not finished some where.......... :oops:

Raze

TheTurnipKing wrote:
Raze wrote:I'd heard bad things about this, so when Zombitedesade told me he'd buy it, I warned him off.
"But it's just Dungeon Siege in space!" he said. "There's literally no way it could be bad."
"You'll see," I replied. AND NOW HE WILL.

But Dungeon Siege is terrible too.

It's one of only 3 games he's ever liked though, the other two being Turok (PC) and an obscure JRPG called Super Divine Balloon FanTasTicTank Extreme Undiscovery. I couldn't take Dungeon Siege away from him. If he weren't working down a lift shaft right now, he'd probably be here to defend Space Siege to the death.

Read about this in a magazine today in Asda. Sounded a bit naff.

Space Siege (PC): How To Kill A Franchise

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