Sword of the Stars

**Crandaeolon** · 08-21-2006, 00:15

SotS is out (at least there across the pond), and ign has published the first review, rating the game at a mediocre 7.7. http://pc.ign.com/articles/726/726551p1.html

Apparently, the full release suffers from some of the same problems as the demo, most of those relating to the interface of the game. Kerberos has addressed some of those issues in a release patch, but as most game sites tend to review retail versions only, the interface and gameplay issues will most likely impact review scores negatively.

Generally, large release day patches (like this one which adds or modifies several dozen items) are a bad sign. It can mean a half-finished game, nevermind the publisher advertising an early release. Iirc, the game was already pushed back at least once, so... an "early release" but one that was previously pushed back? I'm confused.

My Sloppy Game Design Sense (tm) is tingling, which is a shame since I really hope this game to succeed. But, there might be deeper issues about the gameplay such as pacing and information accessibility. Even in the demo, the most fun multiplayer battles had a minimum number of stars and accelerated technology & economy. It would be wonderful to have fast paced epic scale games, but somehow the pacing of turns felt off for epic scale empire management.

Any first-hand impressions about the game would be most appreciated.

**CBR** · 08-21-2006, 04:45

Hm Im tempted to get it as I liked the demo. But somehow I cant order it at GamersGate. I saw in the forum that others had same problem with VISA cards.

CBR

**Navaros** · 08-21-2006, 20:22

In my view IGN usually tends to inflate review scores to 20% above what a game is actually worth.

Hence IGN only giving it 77% makes me think it's actually a 57%ish game.

I'm definitely gonna keep my eye on the other reviews that come out before thinking about buying this.

**doc_bean** · 08-21-2006, 21:41

Originally Posted by Navaros

In my view IGN usually tends to inflate review scores to 20% above what a game is actually worth.

Hence IGN only giving it 77% makes me think it's actually a 57%ish game.

I'm definitely gonna keep my eye on the other reviews that come out before thinking about buying this.

Have you read the review ? The reviewer seems to really like it, it loses points over interface issues (which can be a drag but might be a little thing if you get used to it, depends on the issue) and the fact that it's a niche game (doesn't have the same variety found in games like Galactic Civilizations, but then this is a space COMBAT game isn't it ?).

Personally i'm just gonna play around with the demo some more. I probably won't get since I have too many unfinished games still lying around (well, all 3 PC games I bought in the last year, I've been busy

).

**Crandaeolon** · 08-21-2006, 22:42

By the way, there's another epic-scale RTS space battle game coming out in the relatively near future, called Sins of a Solar Empire. http://www.sinsofasolarempire.com/index.html

This one's a full RTS with 4X elements, and the trailer looks pretty nice. Empire management, diplomacy and research are supposedly a tad deeper than in SotS, but of course there's the full RTS format to consider. Trying to add too much 4X depth could result in a Rise of Nations -type twitch game, and although I personally liked it, many complained about the insane speed and information overload of RoN.

Anyways might be a good idea to keep an eye out for SoaSE as well. Maybe it'll get its own thread once the game is closer to release.

**Navaros** · 08-21-2006, 23:34

Originally Posted by doc_bean

Have you read the review ? The reviewer seems to really like it, it loses points over interface issues (which can be a drag but might be a little thing if you get used to it, depends on the issue) and the fact that it's a niche game (doesn't have the same variety found in games like Galactic Civilizations, but then this is a space COMBAT game isn't it ?).

Yes, I read the review. I think perhaps he was too easy on the amount of points he took off for interface problems.

Since first posting in this thread I did a lot of reading about SoTS. Many of the demo players all over the Internet have hammered it due to interface issues. Just look at it's user score of 5.0 on metacritic (it was 4.0 or less for the past few weeks until ~today). Of course that score thus far is and has been mostly based on the demo, so keep that in mind.

I also read a lot of the devs' own postings on their boards. Their attitude is universally: "We designed the game how we like it and if you don't like it, shut up and go away." They seem to get agitated by people criticizing the game in blunt ways. Had the criticisms been invalid due to the strength of the game, I suspect perhaps the devs would not get so agitated.

I haven't played SoTS so feel free to take my views on this with a grain of salt.

**Vladimir** · 08-22-2006, 17:09

Reading their web site a while back they said their business plan was basically to make "budget" games. Producing games at a low cost (and quality) but high (relative) playability. I can't say I'm suprised.