Initial Impressions on Pandora Beta
Posted: Sun Aug 04, 2013 9:14 am
The promise of a game like Alpha Centauri and being on a foreign planet is promising, and the intro kind of sells that off into you. But as soon as the game starts, some of the tingling feeling is lost, and it feels a lot like just another Civilization II game. For me Pandora should look into a game like Utopia for Amiga (I was not allowed to post the URL here as it told me I am to spammy for a new user, WTF?) although the graphics are old today, it very much set the scene to that scare, exploration and unknown feeling, which is so much needed for this kind of game. Its about how you do the music, how you script some of the events, how you present everything with that in mind.
I did like the research three, however it is in such a way that in the end you end up researching all anyway, not to much real choice on tactics for what to research and not. Another thing, is that it is not really realistic that you can tell your scientists that I want to research "The Wheel" and they do it. I would say its much more realistic if you choose the direction of the scientists and then they come up with different things. I know that adds a random parameter to it, but then again, scientists, you never know what they will discover.
The diplomatic system, had very much of that Civilization II feeling, and in some way it brings the worst part of it, in play. Too many diplomatic pop ups with the same dialogs over and over again. Its not enough clear difference between the factions you play against, so you end up wondering who you are partnering with and who you are against, and because of the changing behavior of the AI of these factions they keep changing as well. Not really random, just back and forth in an irritating way. I also fail too see how the current system actually provides tactical challenges.
I had a similar problem like someone else reported with that I got stuck on a peninsula and had some bad ass aliens blocking my way, by the time I figured it out, the other players more ore less had the rest of the planet. Again it was not so much of an explore an unknown planet game but more of a fight between countries in a normal Civ II game.
Ok, now the good parts. I think the gfx is already very good, and the other mechanisms in the game flows very well, including go into cities, and moving back and forth from various screens. I did like the Workshop a lot, it gives the player a true feel of customization, and with a better understanding of what the different options do, it can be a great tool, for success or failure.
Basically, most of the game feels great and polished and it is a very well crafted game, just some things here and there that could be improved.
I did like the research three, however it is in such a way that in the end you end up researching all anyway, not to much real choice on tactics for what to research and not. Another thing, is that it is not really realistic that you can tell your scientists that I want to research "The Wheel" and they do it. I would say its much more realistic if you choose the direction of the scientists and then they come up with different things. I know that adds a random parameter to it, but then again, scientists, you never know what they will discover.
The diplomatic system, had very much of that Civilization II feeling, and in some way it brings the worst part of it, in play. Too many diplomatic pop ups with the same dialogs over and over again. Its not enough clear difference between the factions you play against, so you end up wondering who you are partnering with and who you are against, and because of the changing behavior of the AI of these factions they keep changing as well. Not really random, just back and forth in an irritating way. I also fail too see how the current system actually provides tactical challenges.
I had a similar problem like someone else reported with that I got stuck on a peninsula and had some bad ass aliens blocking my way, by the time I figured it out, the other players more ore less had the rest of the planet. Again it was not so much of an explore an unknown planet game but more of a fight between countries in a normal Civ II game.
Ok, now the good parts. I think the gfx is already very good, and the other mechanisms in the game flows very well, including go into cities, and moving back and forth from various screens. I did like the Workshop a lot, it gives the player a true feel of customization, and with a better understanding of what the different options do, it can be a great tool, for success or failure.
Basically, most of the game feels great and polished and it is a very well crafted game, just some things here and there that could be improved.