Space Siege - New Action-RPG Reviewed!

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Dungeons in Space

From the mind of Chris Taylor and GasPowered Games comes a spiritual successor to the highly popular Dungeon Siege series. In this world however, Taylor moves away from the Dungeons and lush forests of the Dungeon Siege games and into a sterile, futuristic space station.

The story is really the weak point here. From the very beginning, there are musings about the invasion of Earth by aliens and the mass exodus of the human race from the planet Earth. However, it’s not something you get highly invested into - it’s more of a “go here”, “go there” kind of game, so the story takes a backseat to the action, which is where the game really shines.

Taking a cue from the Dungeon Siege games, the combat in-game plays out like a decent Diablo clone with guns. The only real gripe with the combat system is that nowhere in their alpha or beta tests did someone tell the developers that shooting and movement on the mouse at the same time won’t ever work out. In more heated battles, it usually becomes a war of attrition between you and the place you want to go as well as the enemies following you. In my mind, the game would work better with a WASD control scheme and the gunning aspect mapped out to the mouse. That way, you can actually run AND gun, and not just stand there wasting med-packs while being shot down by the mass of enemies rushing towards you.

At this point, you may be wondering why I would recommend something with such a passable story and combat. The fact of the matter is, the game itself works well despite its pitfalls. Even though the combat can be frustrating from time to time, the game is easy enough that you shouldn’t be dying all the time. Secondly, the game is merciful on players who die, as they return to a save point which is always conveniently enough just a little bit away from the place you just died.

Because of its forgiving nature and the fact that the last good action-RPG hybrid to come out was probably Titan Quest almost 2 years ago, this is worth your time if you’re a fan of the genre.

One last point before we hit the usual list of pros and cons. If you’re a loot-lover (you know who you are), you may want to pass this one by. Rather than taking the time to create the usual set of items that falls off a corpse when you kill an enemy, the developers of the game decided that each enemy will give you a certain amount of in-game currency to spend on upgrades. While the upgrading system is somewhat deep, you will still feel a little cheated by the fact that you can’t just kill an enemy and obtain a really cool gun or weapon for you to use later on or for you to customize.

That being said, let’s go to the final verdict:

Space Siege (3 out of 5)

Pros

Pretty good upgrade system

When it works, combat is fun

Graphics are what you’d expect

Cons

The story is completely forgettable

Combat is frustrating when you’re running and gunning

No loot system

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Space Siege Review

Space Siege: Dungeon Siege In Space