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In a regular new feature, ‘Reaction’ will help us share what’s relevant. These are subjective views based around an educated opinion. Feel free to disagree, slate us, hate us or block us, but these are the issues we feel need addressing. If you must vent in our ‘comments’, keep it clean and to the point. Think your views are worth sharing? Write a similarly size piece and we’ll publish it. (In case you missed our first piece, Why Crysis Needs To Remove Its Warhead.)

Today’s reaction stems from yesterday’s Space Siege demo that was released on nZone. We were originally going to conduct a ‘hands-on’ preview, but the game time on offer in the demo was a bit lacking, so it suited a reaction piece. If you wish to try the demo for yourselves, then head over to Nvidia’s site for the 900 megabyte download. So what’s Space Siege all about?

Published by SEGA and developed by the mighty Gas Powered Games (under the jurisdiction of Chris Taylor), the game takes place in the far future where Earth has been destroyed and humans are drifting in space. It relies heavily on RPG clichés. You level up, manage your skills and loot as many corpses as possible. The combat is real time and is action orientated. The demo allows for three weapons; an assault rifle, a minigun and a close combat gizmo. Clicking will result in death being dealt out while the game’s ‘brutal’ combat hides the mathematical stat rolling. You’ve got various skills which all deal out differing amounts of damage. Thermal grenades, blast radiuses and uber strength close combat are all on the menu. Combat is fairly satisfying, but even in the short time the demo runs, it seems a bit stale. You work your way through corridors, mowing down everything in sight. It’s basically a loose grind fest.

 Space Siege on PC.

The eagle eyed reader will see the parallel between its close cousin, Dungeon Siege. Sadly, Space Siege doesn’t exactly shine through. Gone is the party management and equipment is only accessible at certain work stations. It removes much of the depth and leaves a dreary grind. We won’t make our minds up until our review copy appears, but we’re hardly thrilled at this point.

Was the problem because its just a poor idea or is the title inherently flawed? Being the nostalgic bunch we are, we couldn’t help drift back to the ‘glory days.’ It’s difficult to think of many RPG’s that could outdo Icewind Dale or the Baldur’s Gate series. It’s been eight years since Baldur’s Gate II arrived on the PC and the world of gaming is an unrecognisable place. If you released Baldur’s Gate II in 2008 would it still stand the test of time? It’s from an age where the isometric provided a doctored 3D environment. It merged the 2D space with 3D smoke and mirrors. In Space Siege, (and its older relative Dungeon Siege) the worlds are rotatable, but we’re still constrained.

Dunegon Siege was an evolution of the isometric and thus something that Space Siege has built upon. Has the time past for offline RPG’s like Space Siege’s Campaign? We’re aware of Space Siege’s four player cooperative multiplayer. It may be its saving grace, yet it wasn’t available in the demo. Is it worth having a boring single player component than none at all? Neverwinter Nights was an early pioneer. A movement from the isometric to the 3D and it handled the transition without a hitch. The early isometric titles gave it a wealth of narrative to draw from and as a result it had both a competent single player story and an addictive co-op multiplayer experience.

It’s a mixed bag. Without the isometric we wouldn’t have seen such an explosion of RPGs and definitely not the popularity of modern day MMO’s. The disadvantage is how modern titles seem to cling on extinct systems of gameplay. Even so, the future seems bright and smells of change. Diablo III is the first port of call. It’s exactly what fans want (in terms of gaming execution, we’re ignoring the ‘visuals petition.’ Should Blizzard leave the expected behind? It’s a difficult situation and the likely answer is no due to commercial reasons. More relevant is BioWare’s newly announced RPG, Dragon Age: Origins. We released some new in game screenshots and it seems to be evolving. It’s definitely a hark back to its grandfather, Baldur’s Gate (after all, it has been described as its spiritual successor) but it’s breaking barriers. Its setting may be traditional, but that provides a generic familiarity. Space Siege is a bit lost in terms of its setting; some work, some don't. We want to see more of Dragon Age: Origins, unlike Space Siege which we’ll only look at because it comes with the job. Was the isometric RPG a worthy contribution? We’ll find out in the next 2 or 3 years for sure.

 Dragon Age: Origins

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