Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Dungeon Siege

The original Dungeon Siege was launched back in 2002, developed by Gas Powered Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios.  The genre was an RPG and offered both as single and multiplayer.  When first loading up the game, right off the bat you could tell that it's an older game (I don't hate on them, I still play SNES F-Zero).  The splash screens in the beginning were the typical game start ups and loads, so nothing really 'mind-blowing' about that.  As you got more and more into the game, you start to notice a few nice effects.  For instance, the weather and time changes.  Not many games had this built into their overall scheme, let alone back in 2002.  The more 'realistic' or 'believable' a world is, the more enjoyable it will be to play.  The overall input controls were nice like the mouse was used to move the camera view as well as having the ability to click your character into attack, defend, or passive mode.  Inventory set up and design was something truly amazing in which I don't see many games incorporate anymore: bigger items take up more space.


As you play more and more, the weapons you choose to use gives your character a higher proficiency, therefore better attacks.  This is something that a few RPGs still have and cultivate but in this game, it was something that could equal death to your character.  Speaking of death, once your character dies, you're dead.  You stay dead.  It's somewhat hard to understand this at first, but after a few deaths (if any) you learn quickly as to what you need to do to stay alive.  Given the fact that you are basically given the micromanager position of your character (you do get more as the game progresses), it' super hard to not keep them protected from doom. 

There were a few downsides to the game.  The weapon changing was a bit complicated but I'm sure with a tweak or two to the game, one can overcome this dilemma.  At times, the mouse movement was very annoying because you didn't want to move it when you did, resulting in a few cursory choice words.  The learning curve was a bit steep, I'll admit to this, but this game was created when games didn't babysit or hold hands with the players.  The display of skills was sub par as well as the lack of a help menu for button assignment.  The last downside of this game was the fact that WASD was non-existent. 

Overall, this game was a good game to play.  Even with the downsides.  It gives a bit of nostalgia when playing it and in the end, it's fairly self rewarding and gratifying. 

If you want to give this a try:

Steam
Amazon