From the opening tutorial, I was in love... sending my crew from room to room... opening the air-lock to extinguish fires... upgrading and managing ship resources... Oh this is going to be fun!!
No it isn't.
This is going to be a rage-quit over and over and over again. Which in-and-of-itself is not what ruins a game, I can think of a few great games (Super Meat Boy, Spin the Black Circle) that I have angrily closed and vowed never to play again... only to be back hours or even minutes later. That isn't the problem.
The problem is that this game, for whatever reason, is built on a cornerstone of chance. No no no... I don't mean "There is a ridiculous amount of chance involved"... no that is when a game that allows the element of chance to shape the results of battles and the rate of advancement. That can be frustrating, but it can go both ways... sometimes you get nothing but critical hits against your much-stronger enemy and succeed in defeating him. This is fine.
What I'm talking about is when a game punishes you... just for playing.
Example: The last game I played (before I came here and registered in order to go off on this rant...), I managed to jump five times... FIVE TIMES... before I encountered a small enemy ship that sent a missile to my door-control room, knocked it out... and started a fire that would spread completely through the ship in a matter of minutes. Yeah... you can't open the air-lock when your doors don't work. So all I could do was stare at the screen while I watched my crew choke to death and die, as the ship burned to pieces.
Oh, and what was my strategic error? Did I waste my scrap resources on unnecessary parts? Nope, not a one. Did I foolishly neglect to reinforce my shields? Nope.. I actually had the second layer already... a miracle considering two of my five jumps were empty encounters. Did I press on in a battle that I should have jumped away from and returned when I was better prepared? Nope. Not possible... the missile that knocked out the door-control room and started the fire, did so in the first few seconds of the battle. No... there was no error... and this game doesn't need one.
I feel less like I am guiding a ship through space, and more like I am drawing cards from the top of a deck.
Code: Select all
THE BLAZE CARD - An enemy missile strikes your door-control room and and starts a fire. Unfortunately, you are unable to extinguish the fire. Your crew soon suffocates and dies as your ship explodes! THE END.
I hate it... and now I'm off to try again.