Screenshots :.
Space War Commander
PC
Jay
15-05-2009
"Do this"
"This too"
"Perhaps a bit of this as well..."
"Er... probably not this."
Generally the problem with any given genre of game is that we've come to almost expect exactly what we'll get before we even play the game. Sims? Can't get out the house to do the real thing so I'm going to sit in and do it here. Beat-'em-up? Hit opponent lots, don't get knocked out or killed. FPS? Shoot people, possibly aliens involved...
So why do we bother to buy games these days? Is it not easier to pick the pack off the shelf, look at it for 5 minutes and then put it back? No, we're gullible gluttons ready to sink our teeth into the next meaty rendition of a game you played not so long ago that's been mildly harassed by some low-key foreign exchange student designers that have changed it just enough to get around copyright infringement. Hell, imagine what we have to go through. Everyone thinks it's the best job since Hugh Hefner realised he could get paid when in actual fact it's only cool when you're playing a good game. That's the baseline. When we get a bad game, the only enjoyment we can squeeze from it's putrid, rotten core is the fact we're going to rinse someone's time spent making the game by wasting ours playing it.
Now. I didn't like Space Wars Commander.
…
Yes I was waiting for the developer to scroll to the bottom to find out what score I'd given it. Bloody cheat! Let some suspense into your life after what you put me through. The reason I didn't like it was that it lulled me into a false sense of security, bitch slapped me about for a few hours and then dropped me off at the local rehab centre for a nice quiet mug of cocoa and medication with the resident drooling, mindless, gibbering inmates who'd all played the game previously. So, when it is to say that I didn't like the game, after my journey I found myself dazed and confused, slightly sore around the edges, with a bunch of people wondering why it was my turn to dribble without them – I couldn't say I was sure any more.
It's not straight forward enough to put into the good box or the bad box without a complex array of emotions that threaten to overwhelm me if I try and trudge them up. It's a top-down real-time strategy game with a slight mix of puzzle thrown in and you know you're in for a treat when you're told you can't play the game straight away without a cushion, reading the manual, signing up to a support group and seeking good legal advice. Which is pretty much what sold me on the idea of playing it.
It comes across as a game that was originally designed to be released on the SNES but they missed their deadline. However, I can't say that was ever the point of this game, retro graphics are very “in” if you've got the gameplay to back it up. So, brushing aside the script in a slightly unenthusiastic manor, making a mental note to have a word with their Russian to English translator as you weren't entirely sure if they were from, or had ever been to either country - I fired her up.
I ignored all the prerequisites and any help that was available because... well I think that's rubbish. Much the same as I'll always play a game on “normal” to begin with, regardless of my experience with other games of the same ilk, it's a developers responsibility to manage their target audience. If the game is an (18) rated title and it has a tutorial on how to walk forward, moving that little stick thing in front of you – I tend to laugh as if they haven't figured that out yet they should probably put the joypad down and move away, far away – possibly some off-planet location would do nicely... like Venus. At the same time, if that tutorial's not there, or there's no introduction into how you play the game I equally laugh, but this time at the developers... no tutorial? Bit rude isn't it?
So yeah, there was some intro dialogue letting me know that I was a Space Commander (great job title for application forms), that I had to help some whelp out from the base being destroyed, and oh by the way we're all going to die in about 20 minutes because some prat hit the “self destruct” button. Hah, and you think your day was going badly.
Space Wars Commander has decided to do away any base building and simply focus on strategy and resource management. Not a bad thing really as developers can go over-the-top or focus on one or two elements, hell look at Assassin's Creed as a mainstream example of making a decent game but predominantly focusing your efforts on a couple of things. SWC did this and pretty much got away with it.
You have a base, you can build a variety of ships from that base, you can get resources by keeping a ship docked at any nearby planet or asteroid and you can trade between places using trade ships and a trading station should you wish. The enemy can also do all of the aforementioned, and so it's all about being better at it than him. The puzzle element comes into play as the enemy always starts off better than you, and your ship is always degrading to the point of blowing up (every mission? Someone find that git who keeps pushing the destruct button). Things seem a touch unfair, and yet every level is completable. You might not be able to understand this, but in a strategy game that's like riding the crack train filled with bikini clad bimbos with shovels – that is to say it's addictive.
He can build ships that you can counter with different types, he can try and get resources that you've protected too heavily and you can always think outside the box to deal with his motivations the next time around. If anything, while he might have an advantage, it usually comes down to how you're going to wipe out his base, and how you're going to manage your time and resources effectively to do so and not cry over spilt milk that his grass is currently greener than yours.
My gripes with the game are not only the learning curve but the difficulty. It's definitely not a game that anyone can pick up, it's not going to tenderly guide you through a few levels with a warm up to the idea that you're there to kick some alien butt, but simply go “Hey! Ready? OK go...” leaving you fumbling for the “build ships” button, desperately trying to fend off a bomber taking pot shots are your base. However, if you like a good strategy and one with a wicked little soundtrack I might add, this has something for you, just don't expect the rest of us to hang around offering a shoulder to cry on when you get beaten back to basics.
I didn't like the game... at first.
So why do we bother to buy games these days? Is it not easier to pick the pack off the shelf, look at it for 5 minutes and then put it back? No, we're gullible gluttons ready to sink our teeth into the next meaty rendition of a game you played not so long ago that's been mildly harassed by some low-key foreign exchange student designers that have changed it just enough to get around copyright infringement. Hell, imagine what we have to go through. Everyone thinks it's the best job since Hugh Hefner realised he could get paid when in actual fact it's only cool when you're playing a good game. That's the baseline. When we get a bad game, the only enjoyment we can squeeze from it's putrid, rotten core is the fact we're going to rinse someone's time spent making the game by wasting ours playing it.
Now. I didn't like Space Wars Commander.
…
Yes I was waiting for the developer to scroll to the bottom to find out what score I'd given it. Bloody cheat! Let some suspense into your life after what you put me through. The reason I didn't like it was that it lulled me into a false sense of security, bitch slapped me about for a few hours and then dropped me off at the local rehab centre for a nice quiet mug of cocoa and medication with the resident drooling, mindless, gibbering inmates who'd all played the game previously. So, when it is to say that I didn't like the game, after my journey I found myself dazed and confused, slightly sore around the edges, with a bunch of people wondering why it was my turn to dribble without them – I couldn't say I was sure any more.
It's not straight forward enough to put into the good box or the bad box without a complex array of emotions that threaten to overwhelm me if I try and trudge them up. It's a top-down real-time strategy game with a slight mix of puzzle thrown in and you know you're in for a treat when you're told you can't play the game straight away without a cushion, reading the manual, signing up to a support group and seeking good legal advice. Which is pretty much what sold me on the idea of playing it.
It comes across as a game that was originally designed to be released on the SNES but they missed their deadline. However, I can't say that was ever the point of this game, retro graphics are very “in” if you've got the gameplay to back it up. So, brushing aside the script in a slightly unenthusiastic manor, making a mental note to have a word with their Russian to English translator as you weren't entirely sure if they were from, or had ever been to either country - I fired her up.
I ignored all the prerequisites and any help that was available because... well I think that's rubbish. Much the same as I'll always play a game on “normal” to begin with, regardless of my experience with other games of the same ilk, it's a developers responsibility to manage their target audience. If the game is an (18) rated title and it has a tutorial on how to walk forward, moving that little stick thing in front of you – I tend to laugh as if they haven't figured that out yet they should probably put the joypad down and move away, far away – possibly some off-planet location would do nicely... like Venus. At the same time, if that tutorial's not there, or there's no introduction into how you play the game I equally laugh, but this time at the developers... no tutorial? Bit rude isn't it?
So yeah, there was some intro dialogue letting me know that I was a Space Commander (great job title for application forms), that I had to help some whelp out from the base being destroyed, and oh by the way we're all going to die in about 20 minutes because some prat hit the “self destruct” button. Hah, and you think your day was going badly.
Space Wars Commander has decided to do away any base building and simply focus on strategy and resource management. Not a bad thing really as developers can go over-the-top or focus on one or two elements, hell look at Assassin's Creed as a mainstream example of making a decent game but predominantly focusing your efforts on a couple of things. SWC did this and pretty much got away with it.
You have a base, you can build a variety of ships from that base, you can get resources by keeping a ship docked at any nearby planet or asteroid and you can trade between places using trade ships and a trading station should you wish. The enemy can also do all of the aforementioned, and so it's all about being better at it than him. The puzzle element comes into play as the enemy always starts off better than you, and your ship is always degrading to the point of blowing up (every mission? Someone find that git who keeps pushing the destruct button). Things seem a touch unfair, and yet every level is completable. You might not be able to understand this, but in a strategy game that's like riding the crack train filled with bikini clad bimbos with shovels – that is to say it's addictive.
He can build ships that you can counter with different types, he can try and get resources that you've protected too heavily and you can always think outside the box to deal with his motivations the next time around. If anything, while he might have an advantage, it usually comes down to how you're going to wipe out his base, and how you're going to manage your time and resources effectively to do so and not cry over spilt milk that his grass is currently greener than yours.
My gripes with the game are not only the learning curve but the difficulty. It's definitely not a game that anyone can pick up, it's not going to tenderly guide you through a few levels with a warm up to the idea that you're there to kick some alien butt, but simply go “Hey! Ready? OK go...” leaving you fumbling for the “build ships” button, desperately trying to fend off a bomber taking pot shots are your base. However, if you like a good strategy and one with a wicked little soundtrack I might add, this has something for you, just don't expect the rest of us to hang around offering a shoulder to cry on when you get beaten back to basics.
I didn't like the game... at first.
8/10
