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Thread #: 1707

PC Games of the week...

Madan

Mon Apr 22 12:31:57 2002

1. Die Hard-Nakatomi Plaza:  2.5/5 *s

The hook:  If you liked the movie, here comes the game! Wander twisting corridors in a mega-gi-normous bank complex/tower attempting to save your wife and other hostages, while simultaneously stopping terrorists and thugs from stealing millions.  Shoot and solve puzzles in the Half-Life tradition, with a major goal per level mission.

The hit:  Die Hard was one of the coolest and quintessential action movies ever.  The idea of being inside such a cavernous complex on your own, with only your wits to keep you alive is tempting.

Teh lose:  The story has been done. You *know* what's going to happen. You know *how* it happens and the surprise factor is minimal.  The puzzles are weak and, unlike in HL, they don't attempt to deviate from the norm.  AI is pitiful.  Enemies are shot and yet they remain to shoot it out with an opponent that has superior firepower.  Urgency of the original game isn't there. This is probably due to the fact that the number of NPCs hunting you is kept low.  The movie had units hunting the protagonist.  The game has the opposite.  The game has significant bugs.  Clipping and damaged/misaligned textures are present and *inexcusable* from a big name publisher.  Graphics are dated and dull and are far inferior to other engines, despite their ages.  Controls lack fluidity and the physics are poor.  The movie had Willis running around.  The game *keeps* you from running around making gameplay frustrating.  Save game bugs have been repaired.

The word:  I'd say bargain bin under most circumstances but the lack of originality, coupled with pitiful execution of a killer license relegate this game to the "crap-heap" of PC releases.


2. Outlive:  2.5/5 *s

The hook:  Outlive is a RTS that focuses on resource gathering and strategic combat in order to eliminate your opponent.  Two races: Genetics vs. Robotics in a war just like....ah hell.....forget it.
Outlive is a Starcraft clone. Yes, a blatant clone, right down to the interface.  Right down to the building styles. Right down to the menus. EVERYTHING, except the units.

The hit:  The game is fun to play for a short while. This is because hard core SC players have exhausted most strategies and end up searching online for mods and TCs that might make the game new by adding new strategy or units.  Outlive does this.  The units in outlive may not possess any new powers but they *do* have different grp files and, as such, look completely different.  Moreso, the units have different stats and building/tech trees are completely different.  It's basically a polished SC mod.

Teh lose:  It's a clone.  A clone that isn't done very well.  While it is polished, Outlive fails in three respects.  Firstly, it only uses two teams. There is no third race, nor is it addable(boo!).   Secondly, the graphics on Outlive, despite being released two years after SC are far worse.  Units are small and hazy and control of said units is difficult. Unit graphics are uninspired for the most part and the voice effects, while charming at times, lack real depth.  Finally, the game lacks a very essential quality that SC has in abundance: BALANCE.  The units are many, with almost three times as many per race as SC but the units suffer from the TA syndrome:  Six tanks? Which to pick? Ten jets? Which to pick?  Unlike in SC, which offers variances between units, the units in Outlive vary only in cost and armor/weapons.  They do so in a proportional manner(stats provided by Gamecenter).  This means that whether you pick a Heavy Tank or a Light Tank, you're making the EXACT same decision.  :boggle:  This relegates high-level units to "build for novelty" until you get tired of the game(which is pretty darned quickly).  As  a result, the tank rush becomes everything.  This is especially true since, like most cheap RTS/SC knockoffs, turtling or even basic base defense is impossible.  The amount of work spent on getting fuel to your units and powering your buildings is absurd.

Case in point:  There are 2 construction yards(ground/air).  One research department and one espionage structure.  The other five structures are energy/mineral producing gathering facilities that do NOTHING save gather materials for your RTS.  This amount of micromanagement and ambigous lack of defined tech-tree development make each Outlive game a confused jumble of mass produced units.  You crank out tons of tanks in the hopes of defeating your opponent and hope that he/it hasn't moved to a new base before you knock everything out.

Oh, and then there's the nuke.  Let's just say that the nuke is a bit overdone.

The word:  I got it for 7 bucks. That was a rip off. If you can get it for five or less. Do so. It's a nice little diversion from SC while you wait for WC III but don't expect to be enthralled in the game for more than a week. It took me one single player and two multi player games(6 hrs each) to discover that I had gotten everything I was going to get from it.  Buy for 5, play for 2(weeks). Rinse and forget.

m.

(Edited by Madan at 5:34 am on April 22, 2002)

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