QuarterToThree Message Boards

America, seen through the bottom of a German beer stein

QuarterToThree Message Boards: Early Hours: America, seen through the bottom of a German beer stein

By Mark Asher on Tuesday, March 20, 2001 - 06:03 pm:

Jim Frazer was kind enough to play Data Becker's America, an RTS game clearly inspired by Age of Empires and spaghetti westerns.

I played it a bit too, and I have to agree -- it's laughable in its stereotyping. It apparently doesn't want to die the good death, though -- Data Becker has announced a sequel. Those crazy Germans must really be digging it.

By TomChick on Tuesday, March 20, 2001 - 06:22 pm:

The Moon Project has some absolutely ludicruous voice work that sounds like Steppin Fetchit. Some of the units all but say "I'sa goin', massa!"

In Austria, where the game was made, they may not know any better. But I'm really surprised that made it past the American producers.

-Tom

By Michael Murphy (Murph) on Wednesday, March 21, 2001 - 09:12 am:

It sounds kind of entertaining, though. Sure, games that are (or even feel like they might be) rip-offs of other games are seldom/never as good as the original, but occasionally they're worth giving a little time to.

(Speaking of rip-offs, I once picked up a little game called Rival Realms. Anyone heard of this Warcraft clone?)

All in all, America sounds kinda fun -- at least for a little while. Anywhere I can pick up a download? I'll go look here in a sec...

By Mark Asher on Wednesday, March 21, 2001 - 09:51 am:

"It sounds kind of entertaining, though. Sure, games that are (or even feel like they might be) rip-offs of other games are seldom/never as good as the original, but occasionally they're worth giving a little time to."

Yeah, but the gameplay in America is just kind of dull. You definitly want to play the demo before you lay down some cash for this one.

"(Speaking of rip-offs, I once picked up a little game called Rival Realms. Anyone heard of this Warcraft clone?)"

I reviewed it for someone. It's not a bad game, but it was hard to work up much enthusiasm for it. I'd rate it higher than America, though.

The problem with RTS games is that they're so much alike that it's hard to get over that feeling of having already played it before. It's a bit like the feeling I get from space sims, which also tend to be more alike than different.

By Michael Murphy (Murph) on Wednesday, March 21, 2001 - 10:06 am:

Quote:
It's not a bad game, but it was hard to work up much enthusiasm for it.

It had some neat ideas, but it just felt so cliche. It was the first RTS I ever played in which every unit had an inventory and experience. They regained health as time went on, too. (Maybe a little too quickly to be realistic, but it was a neat idea.) Still, it was like they didn't even try to hide the fact that they were blatantly ripping Blizzard off.

Quote:
The problem with RTS games is that they're so much alike that it's hard to get over that feeling of having already played it before.

Yeah, the people with the firsts in this genre definitely have a good thing going. It's hard to make a game similar to Warcraft without it feeling like a clone, and the same goes with C&C and AoE. It really takes a lot to get an RTS to be good, these days, if you're not Blizzard, Ensemble, or Westwood -- simply because they were the first.

By Jim Frazer on Wednesday, March 21, 2001 - 11:28 am:

"It apparently doesn't want to die the good death,
though -- Data Becker has announced a sequel."

All I ask is if you're kind enough to let me do another Early Hours that you don't make it America II. :)

America had a few moments of "Wow, that was a great idea", but most of the time was spent saying "Hey, I've seen this before, and it was a lot better in Age of Empires" or "My lord, I'm actually embarassed by that last voiceover".

I can see someone liking the game if they want more Age of Empires style RTS action and are willing to take a poorly done Xerox. I guess I'm not in that crowd though.

By Dave Long on Wednesday, March 21, 2001 - 12:00 pm:

Quote:
It really takes a lot to get an RTS to be good, these days, if you're not Blizzard, Ensemble, or Westwood -- simply because they were the first.

My guess is that if Chris Taylor were to do another RTS after Dungeon Siege, it would be just as highly anticpated as anything from these three. And personally, Westwood is a non-starter for me.

Total Annihilation is still every bit the equal of a Starcraft or Age of Kings. It's just a very different model for an RTS. I'd also put SSG and Warlords: Battlecry far above Westwood's recent output. In fact, Battlecry is the only game to incorporate just about every bit of interface and unit automation introduced in Total Annihilation to make it easier for you to play the game. On top of that, they added the fantastic hero system.

No, Westwood shouldn't be included in discussions of "good" RTS games as far as I'm concerned. As Tom noted in his RTS article in CGM, last year was a great year for RTS and Westwood was one of the few that drug it down instead of revitalizing it.

--Dave

By Michael Murphy (Murph) on Wednesday, March 21, 2001 - 12:21 pm:

Dave said:

Quote:
No, Westwood shouldn't be included in discussions of "good" RTS games as far as I'm concerned.

Perhaps your right, but I wasn't specifically talking about last year. And, I was probably a little too narrow-minded, as well. The point I was trying to make was this: It's a lot easier for an established company to make an RTS than an unknown, simply because there are so many elements that tend to overlap, you get that "I've done this before" feeling. Not to say that it can't be done. It's just more difficult. Take Red Alert 2 for example. By no means was it a stellar game. As you said, it was one of the ones that bought last year down in terms of RTSs. Yet, it still sold really well, and is pretty popular. Why? Because Westwood did it. And they've had a pretty good track record in the past. My point in mentioning them was that they had a distinct feel to them, and if another company came out with a game far superior to anything Westwood has done, but it had that same "feel", I think it would take some heat, because it would be perceived by many as a rip-off.

			This is a public posting area. If you do not have an account, enter your full name into the "Username" box and leave the "Password" box empty. Your e-mail address is optional.
Username:
Password:
E-mail:
Post as "Anonymous"

Add a Message