I really liked Star Control 2 when I played it back in the mid-90s -- there were a ton of local multiplayer fights while I was in University -- but I don't know if I feel any nostalgia for it. Like, there were tons of design things in that game that were unique back then that have been incorporated into hordes of video games since. And I can't really say I've wanted more stories in the SC2 universe, even though, once again, it was interesting for the time. I do hope it succeeds, but I wonder if there's any real audience for it outside of the diehard fans.
I'm almost thinking this is the year where GB should have a "Ten Games You Must Not Miss" list, but don't rank games within the list because otherwise somebody's going to die in that podcast room. How the hell do you compare games like PUBG (assuming it qualifies) to Titanfall II to Zelda: BotW to Nier? And there's still three months left to go in the year!
Dang. I was really hoping that there would be something in this game. I really, really was hoping they could put together a good variation on the 'single guy open world' formula.
It's the thing that always makes me wonder about teams that put out a game that was really good but have trouble putting out something really strong after that -- was the game good because the team was good, or was the game good because the team was lucky? (Assuming a core level of competence, of course - incompetence CAN produce product, but, especially in computer programming, you have to be crazy lucky to be a really bad programmer and still produce a good game.)
Also, I'll stand up for World of Tanks. Paul's right - it's a shooter for old people. I'm in my mid-40s and I never really played that much FPS (I came up from the strategy/flight sim/wargame game track), and it's a game that's way more about tactical positioning and understanding your situation than reflex. But it fits my play style and speed, and it fits a busy schedule as being easy to get in and do something productive, even if you can only play 15 minutes..
Some of the monetization they do can be pretty slimy, but, I have yet to meet/play any F2P game that doesn't feel that way to me in one form or another. It's the way of the world these days though - coders got get paid, servers have to be run, and the bosses look at something like Clash of Clans and thinks of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
That was kind of more a stream of consciousness than an interview, but really interesting. I wish GB would do more of these more 'serious' interviews/reviews, especially when they can tap into Jeff's expertise as well.
Thanks for the review! I stay at GB mostly for the videos but I like reading the articles and long-form text as well when they write it - it's nice to take a deeper dive at a measured pace at times, as opposed to the frenetic pace that most GB videos run at.
I got half way through and couldn't finish it. I try really hard not to comment on the personas people play, but the thing that makes Giant Bomb work is that they work together in the end. This was pure selfishness.
Prefer video because random game stuff always appears. :)
Also: adding a thought about video games not having the 'heat' anymore -- it's harder to generate mass excitement toward anything as the marketplace and culture fragment, and it's harder to feel excitement over things as you get older because you've seen it all before. Once you've seen 35+ years of video game hype (I'm a few years older than Jeff), I really do feel a strong element of "been there, seen that."
This was great. I don't get DotA2 (or MOBA's in general), but, I always like peeks into those universes. The moment GB stops trying weird and different and funny is the moment that You Tube streamers blow the website out of the water.
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