The Gamer's Quarter

[disneyland]

European press has been very understanding and appreciative of the game, its theme and its incomparable aesthetics, but it's a love/hate relationship with gaming subculture and the hate seems to be pouring from this forum. Don't let that deter you; Darwinia is a very cool game. It's strategy for those who normally don't like strategy: streamlined and intuitive, yet with objectives that are clearly defined. The presentation, with amazingly vibrant vector geometry, huge atmospheric *soundscapes, and a crunchy C64-powered electronic score by Trash80, is unlike anything else out there. The entire Darwinian colony remains intact in a persistent state, even if you jack out of a level midway through its completion, lending a surprising sense of organic progression to the proceedings. This is also a great chance to practice your drawing precision before Okami appears, as Darwinia uses an addictive symbol drawing system to summon units on screen; there's no overly complex interface to click through here and no tedious resource blocks to micromanage. There are, however, squads with addictive Robotron-like twitch laser controls and concussive grenades, and all firepower reacts to the world's satisfying and ubiquitous gravity and physics. Every unit can also be leveled-up, enhancing existing abilities or opening up all-new abilities (with new symbol gestures) that will be added to their repertoire. Perhaps most surprising is Darwinia’s storyline, as Dr. Sepulveda struggles to free his little civilization from an unknown virus. Traveling towards the source while discovering the depth of the doctor’s research in the self-fulfilling society of the Darwinians is fascinating.

You can try the demo althought to be fair, this small slice is a pale shade of Darwinia's full breadth and quality, with a limited tutorial and minimal storyline. Although plagued by some unit pathing hiccups, many feel that Darwinia is one of the year's most unique and alluring games. I tend to agree.

Edit: *up to 7.1 surround.

[dark steve]

That's not quite true. The mac version is slow as all hell, and for no damn reason as far as I can tell.

It's damn hard too, there's little room for error and it seems to me there's a ridiculous amount of micromanagement. I'm not sure I understand why this thing's been hyped so much. It's rather pretty though. Kind of reminds me of Souls in the System. Maybe someone can explain it to me.

[dessgeega]

it's pretty overrated.

introversion's first game, uplink, on the other hand...
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[Shapermc]

While it is neat looking, I am absolutly no good at these kind of games. I did read a few articles about it (I think it was GamesTM that did a pretty good job of writing it up) and was interested in it a while back, but the game is just not my style.

[dessgeega]

there was a small debate on media bias following diygames posting their review of the game.
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[disneyland]

[dessgeega]

[disneyland]

[dessgeega]

[ajutla]

I loved Uplink.

And I played Darwinia for three minutes and got bored.
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[dark steve]

Well I only played the demo which the developer lovingly provided for me, and I hate the damn game. There's little to no player feedback, it's extremely vague as to how to go about what you have to accomplish, and the mouse control is less than optimal for targeting to the point where combat feels kind of random. This is not acceptable when you can spend 30 minutes playing a mission only to discover you screwed it up beyond repair halfway through. We should have been done with crap like that years ago when sierra stopped making adventure games. HEY! Let's release a game that combines the mousework of lemmings with the precision of cannon fodder!

[disneyland]

Wow, you hate the game. That's awesome.

What other games did you hate in the last year?

[dark steve]

You started it, chuckles.

[disneyland]

It evoked discussion, at least. I suppose that's ok.

[aderack]

Not from me.

Outside of these two lines.
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[dark steve]

We knew that before you said it, though.

[ajutla]

Well, outside of those two lines.
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[SuperWes]

Now I guess the question to ask ourselves is whether it's more important to envoke discussion or meaningful discussion. BURN!

-Wes
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[Shapermc]

[dhex]

i concur, with 64.7% certainty.
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[Lackey]

I need to remember to buy this one.

I played the demo for hours straight, it had me in a kind of drunken trance-state which a game hasn't done for me in many months.

Its very absorbing, I find.
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| Little bird fighting against a bat sect game |

[Lackey]

Just to add to this...

I find it notable that both Uplink and Darwina cast the players themselves as the protagonists.

I mean its kind of eerie when you think about it, the simulation you're playing involves you as the main actor, not projection on another character. Of course there's a very strong element of fantasy, like I may play Uplink but I'm not a world class hacker, and Darwinia rests on the existance of its fictional world. Still, it nicely does away with the usual absurdity of usual strategy game interfaces by making your role clear: you're a person in front of a computer with a mouse in your hand ordering these units around.

Its an interesting concept anyway, I can't think of that many games that use it. Plus, it provides a tidy excuse for why the player is a detatched omniscient force who can instantly communicate with all his underlings.

Plus, the engineers look like recognizers.

POSTSCRIPT: I've only played the demo, but I found it very very easy compared to other strategy games. I mean you pretty much just click at enemies to kill them, there's very little maneuvering involved.
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| Little bird fighting against a bat sect game |

[dessgeega]

that's one of the nifty things about uplink. i've heard that some people, on first playing the game, were compelled to check if they were really online. i like this, though i think disbelief is far easier for the player to suspend in uplink (than darwinia), given the way the game is framed.

i havn't played the full darwinia, so i don't know if the "emails from the creator" in the demo/tutorial keep up at all throughout the game.
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[dark steve]

How positively WESTERN of it.

[dessgeega]

i was WAITING for that!
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[Lackey]

I wasn't.

What?
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| Little bird fighting against a bat sect game |

[dark steve]

I couldn't stand the tension.

Quick version is Eastern Design - You play a role, Western Design - You play yourself.

[Lackey]

That makes sense.

It means there's an awful lot of games that use 'Eastern' design elements though.

I mean, I wouldn't even say that the majority of Western games have you playing yourself. I guess you could say the Westernest ones do.
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| Little bird fighting against a bat sect game |

[dark steve]

It's what the pongism grid says, and on this I agree with it. Think about the glut of FPS games and empire-style strategy titles western studios make. Which is not to say that there hasn't always been a lot of cross pollination.

[Lackey]

Yeah, but strategy war-games are pretty much a PC/niche genre now, and FPS almost always have you playing a specific character in a specific plotline.

Besides which, the main gaming model which originated in the West (ie: the arcade tradition) began with, and continued to use, an avatar for the player character.

The "Western" ideal you speak of evolved mostly seperately, coming from table-top strategy and role-playing games when computers were completely in the domain of nerds.

The only place this dialectic really holds up is in regards to RPGs.
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| Little bird fighting against a bat sect game |

[dark steve]

I think the explicitly-stated protagonist thing in FPSs isn't as prevalent as you think. Did you character even have a name in Wolfenstien? Doom? System Shock? Even being Gordon Freeman in Half Life, he's completely without his own persona. I mean, you know your occupation and what you're doing there, but your character's soul is empty, so to speak.

And both "4E" and RTS games have always been quite strong, it's been more a question of interface that keeps them on a computer screen, I think. Those Sim games count too, and they sure aren't hurting for sales.

I'm not saying these things are hard and fast, but that there's a definite, noticeable slant.

[Mr. Mechanical]

[dark steve]

WHY DO YOU KNOW THAT?

You're killing me, smalls.

My point was, unless you read COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT FLAVOR TEXT IN THE MANUAL JUST TO HURT ME BECAUSE AS A CHILD YOU HAD NO FRIENDS these characters all embody a 'blank slate.'

[Lackey]

You are an American POW, escape prison, shoot nazis! I think its rather the action-oriented element of these games that preempts the character's role rather than a particular design philosophy. I'd speak further if I could think of any examples of Japanese FPSs at all.

And its not like the other Western action games, platformers, and what-not tried for a no-character setting. Many of them were bland, but that's another story alltogether.

A more valid thing to say I think, would be that the West has been more interested in simulation games. I like to think its a left-over from the rational and objective push of the enlightenment, but that's far-fetched and overly theoretical.
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| Little bird fighting against a bat sect game |

[Mr. Mechanical]

[dhex]

which is part of the point. you're experiening their little version of life in real time.

it's actually the biggest problem in HL2 - it comes so close to truly imparting the flavor of a totalitarian alien megastate in the last throes of digestion, but how do you make a player feel horror and terror without tossing things through the window?

i'm playing doom 3 and far cry now. they're even less useful in this regard. HL2 comes close enough to feel badly about.

best game to never be made: an FPS that puts you in the role of an interrogator in a generic prison camp type environment. a selection of atrocities from some elizabethan gaol to gitmo, so as to keep the political side fresh. how would you simulate depravity then, the necessary harshness and horror that's your entire reason for being in the game in the first place? there's no "i'm going to be the good guy" ending because there's no good guy here to play. there's no way out except to turn the box off.

then, we'd have a game worth hating. jack thompson would have himself a field day, if someone ever made it.
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[dark steve]

This is the last constructive thing I'm going to be able to muster on this

[Lackey]

I like it.

You just, wouldn't buy it if you wanted to play a good guy though.
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| Little bird fighting against a bat sect game |

[dessgeega]

b.j. blasckowitz : wolfenstein :: shinra : ikaruga
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