Mon Jun 18, 2007 6:34 am
I checked out the Russian demo of the aforementioned Tarr Chronicles (ETA mid-September), and I just wanted to follow up a little bit. (By the way, it's possible to play the demo even if you don't know Russian -- just hit the obvious buttons and you'll be in the action soon enough.)
Combat is surprisingly similar to SpaceFarce: it's fixed-gun (center-fire), so you're using the mouse to steer the ship to point at the enemies. There's even "mouse drift" (so if you're turning, and you leave the mouse stationary, your turn will become less aggressive as time passes). If you don't like the mechanics of SpaceFarce combat, you probably won't like Tarr either. Personally, I don't mind it at all; it's certainly a valid design decision.
It's hard to judge from the demo, but it appears *not* to be free-roaming. This may seem regrettable to some players (including me), but again, it's a valid design decision.
The main thing that distinguishes this game is that, taken what they've set out to do, they do it right. The game development is well thought-out, action is balanced, difficulty is progressive, pacing is well-timed, overall presentation is just fine. My Russian isn't good enough to judge the writing/story until it's translated, but from what I can tell it's fine.
So in short, they're meeting their goals, doing a good job of what they're trying to do. It might not be everybody's favorite -- I think it's a bit flat, personally -- but, pending the unforeseeable, nobody is going to protest that a bad job has been done.
Combat is surprisingly similar to SpaceFarce: it's fixed-gun (center-fire), so you're using the mouse to steer the ship to point at the enemies. There's even "mouse drift" (so if you're turning, and you leave the mouse stationary, your turn will become less aggressive as time passes). If you don't like the mechanics of SpaceFarce combat, you probably won't like Tarr either. Personally, I don't mind it at all; it's certainly a valid design decision.
It's hard to judge from the demo, but it appears *not* to be free-roaming. This may seem regrettable to some players (including me), but again, it's a valid design decision.
The main thing that distinguishes this game is that, taken what they've set out to do, they do it right. The game development is well thought-out, action is balanced, difficulty is progressive, pacing is well-timed, overall presentation is just fine. My Russian isn't good enough to judge the writing/story until it's translated, but from what I can tell it's fine.
So in short, they're meeting their goals, doing a good job of what they're trying to do. It might not be everybody's favorite -- I think it's a bit flat, personally -- but, pending the unforeseeable, nobody is going to protest that a bad job has been done.
