Space Siege: A Moral Dilemma?

What happened to simple games? Games that just focused on one thing and did everything possible to do that one aspect well, instead of trying to be ambitious.

Not that there's anything wrong with ambition. Games like Halo and Portal were ambitious in their scope or their narrative, but each still knew their limits and never fell flat on its face.

The problem, then, with Space Siege is that it tries to be a top-down shooter, a Diablo-like dungeon crawler, a gripping narrative, and an addictive game. Sadly, it accomplishes none of the above.

Let's talk about story, first, because the developers really made a big deal over it. Over the course of several preview trailers, designer Chris Taylor revealed the conflict to be man against himself, where he struggles to maintain his humanity amidst machines.

The central dilemma is that as the protagonist fights through hordes of enemies, he'll be offered the chance to get cybernetic enhancements - a robotic arm, laser eyesight, and so forth. Doing so will make the going easier, because now you have added firepower, but it also means you lose some of your humanity - the ability to understand and feel compassion, kindness, and...LOVE.

The game is heavy-handed to the point of campiness. Similar to the "moral quandary" of Bioshock, it boils down to just a YES/NO prompt. The entire conflict is trivialized and most players will choose to go the cybernetic route simply because it'll be a change of pace.

The game is meant to play like a cross between Alien Breed (a fast-paced top down shooter) and Diablo (a highly addictive dungeon crawler). The problem is that Chris Taylor doesn't seem to understand what makes those games compelling. The bizarre control scheme, where WASD controls the camera and the mouse controls both movement AND combat, makes fighting enemies frustrating. This is a far cry from Alien Breed, where shooting is combined with frenetic movement to avoid enemy attacks. Here, you'll just stand in place and attack enemies, getting hit because there's the controls don't make dodging easy.

Similarly, the reason the Diablo games were so addictive was because there was always a carrot dangled in front of players - you're almost about to level up, or unlock a new skill. In Space Siege, all your level-ups happen at pre-determined plot points. The same is true for your cybernetic upgrades. As much as I can understand Chris Taylor's fear of letting players level up TOO much, which can be game-breaking, his design choice completely robs the rpg-elements of their fun.

Overall, the graphics are all right. The game isn't very polished, the gameplay is often at odds with itself, unsure of what it wants to be. The moral dilemma isn't very meaningful at all.

Pass.

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