It got a pretty favourable review in PC Zone this month (83%) and apparently the demo didn't do it justice.

I'm Interested to hear how it is - isn't out over here till next week I think.

I'm certainly curious myself.

On a only somewhat related note, is anyone aware of a hack or such to get Dungeon Siege 2 to run in 1680*1050? I'd love to actually get around to playing through that one, but hate running non-native resolutions on an LCD monitor.

Wow.... I mean, i had little to no interest in this title - i was thinking bargain bin maybe - after playing Dungeon Siege 2 but what you posted has made me think that this game wouldn't even be worth pirating (not that i would).

I actually like it. The story is standard fair but its got good creepy atmosphere. The physics help with that a lot as it adds a randomness to the crate smashing.

The best simplified breakdown is this:

Its Diablo 2 without (so far) the magic (prefix/suffix) item grind. Stats are small percentage boosts to damage, crit rate, resists, armor etc. HRV is stronger than the D2 merc and has stats too. Weapons seem like standard FPS variety for you and HRV. Skills are a combination of buffs, "magic" attacks and various traps and grenades.

There is more challenge to the game though there are save/heal points every 75 yards. Heal packs are purchaseable so there isn't a glut of them. There is a timer on heal packs so some fights you will have to run behind HRV or run until he kills the enemies. I find the game of decent difficulty if you try to not use health packs. I have used a couple but only because the game will auto use them on pick up if you are the slightest injured.

One major gripe is that there are no levels. The game just kinda gives you skill points after certain quests. They are very stingy with them too. I hope that the multiplayer campaign works differently.

Lemme check...

edit: confirmed; looks to be extensive keyboard customization; separate tabs for actions, camera controls, etc.

hit the esc key and go to "options" then "controls"

OMG, I was wrong! What's the point of having an extensive controls page only to lock them? No, it appears that while every control is listed, you can't change any of them. There are sliders for mouse sensitivity and audio volume and the like but thats it.

FWIW the controls aren't bad at all and tend to have to be the way they are at default. Your skill bar gets filled quickly and you need the function keys to control HRV.

There was an online activation after install as well as a cd key entry before install.

No. It just downloads faster through the D2D download manager.

Wait, the campaign isn't co-op?

This is one of the things I love about my Zboard Merc: any flaw in a game's keybindings (like, oh, Company of Heroes not allowing WASD to do the camera movement that the arrow keys do, like World in Conflict does) can be fixed with a quick custom profile in the Zboard software.

Isn't there starting to be a call though for the level convention to be dropped? They don't really serve that much of a function, especially in a linear game where the enemies will be close to your level anyway.

This game is sounding very disappointing, I guess I'll wait to see it in the bargain bin. I don't believe in rewarding poor work, even to support a developer.

I think the problem with this game right now has been the announcement of Diablo III. I mean, how many people have loaded up Diablo II and played it to death again?

Than they come back to the Siege games and realize it's an inferior clone.

Just a thought.

Save your money and go play Dungeon Siege 2 (again if you've already finished it)

The Space Siege controls are slightly more refined. The graphics have higher poly counts. But the big human vs. cyborg dilemma is totally over-rated. The different endings total about 5 seconds worth of dialog difference. I should say extra cheesy dialog. I waited until the very end to go full cyborg so there may be some other story divergences at earlier plot points.

Playing 100% human, the supposed weaker choice, the game is on the easy side but not too easy. Playing 100% cyborg nets you a bit more power which equates to negligible difficulty reduction.

That is up until the end boss fight that is a complete 180 in difficulty for both human and cyborg. Only a handful of fights I've had to use a health pack and that is usually due to a carefully hidden mine on the backside of doors that sends me and HRV not quite limping into the next ambush. Yet the boss fight is two stages and requires more than the maximum 4 health packs to complete. I set the game to god mode the first few times to beat the boss after frustratingly trying to find a winning strategy. And yes its one of those fights where you have to stock up on all your consumables and use them during the fight. (prior fights used them so sparingly such that I would always try to loot excess consumables which were then sent to the video game ether)

Do not pick up this game until it hits the bargain bins. This is an XBLA game that they used backtracking in to extend game length, added voice acted journals to pad the "been there, done that" story, and spent way to much money outsourcing the intro cinematics to create the illusion of higher production value.

Ok, so i've finished the game as 100% human and, to continue the "bland" theme, it has possibly one of the most dull endings I have seen in a long time (I'm going to go ahead and spoil it, since I doubt many people will even bother getting this far, but avoid the next paragraph if for some bizarre reason you don't want to know).

***

Basically it runs like this...

- Defeat the "big boss" of the game (not remotely difficult)
- Flick a few switches in the next room
- You get a little in game scene of the hero and his "love interest" snuggling in a bland corridor in front of a starfield
- Followed by a short, mostly silent cgi clip (probably about 10 seconds) of the space craft flying into the sunset.
and....that's pretty much it.

- Oh, apart from a ridiculous voice over scene which - and I wish I was kidding - ends with one of those scenes you get in old sitcoms or Saturday morning cartoons where the comic relief, in this case the robot companion, does something stupid and everyone else goes "Oh Harvey!.... in unison.
Fade to yawns.

****

I may go back and check what happens when you're cybered up but I don't know if I would survive the excitement.

I would suggest avoiding this game if you had even an inkling of spending real earth-money on it, there's FAR too much coming out in the near future to make it worthwhile.

My understanding from the latest GFW podcast was that while the game had promise due to a couple potential story aspects, it never, ever makes satisfactory use of any of that potential, and indeed completely ignores the cybernetics/humanity thing at the point where it kind of matters most.

There's some spoilers in the podcast, but they saved me from a purchase on the game.

It sounds like you're being sarcastic, but if not, listen to the latest GFW podcast before you play it over again. Really. Or I can spoil it for you here. I can guarantee you the second playthrough won't be worth your time though, based on what you seem to be after from it.