Raiden Reviews DEFCON

By: Tim

On: November 3rd, 2006

…because (apparently) it does seem like none of the twenty-odd TIGSource editors are playing the game. So I’ll just post the entire comment instead of selective quotes.

“Uplink: looks rubbish, but is a great idea, and executed well. This is what indie games should be about – putting concept over content.

Darwinia: I didnâ€™t go for the ‘Itâ€™s all wireframes, because you are in a computer’ excuse for graphics, but, I did go for the game, which was fun. More points to Introversion.

Defcon: This is like the opposite of Uplink – zero content, style over substance. There’s no game here. Mainstream reviewers are idiots, they want to make people think they are cool and hip, so they bang on about this game, which just isnâ€™t very good at the end of the day. Itâ€™s too late for the reviewers wonâ€™t admit theyâ€™ve been sold a turkey. Still, respect to Introversion because they seem to be able to sell it pretty well. I agree itâ€™s good for other indies as Introversionâ€™s exposure casts a small light on the scene."

“Thatâ€™s just one opinion though, and I seem to be in the minority.”

Raiden said it, so it must be true. Plus, it’s fatal to argue with the god of thunder.

Posted in Strategy, Windows | Tags: Introversion

juice

That’s the kind of review which makes me suspect Raiden’d be best off playing something else. Like Barbie’s Horse Adventure!

Or to put it another way: the god of thunder talks bollocks [*]

I don’t actually like the game (I don’t really do multiplayer stuff), but I can still appreciate it, in the same way that I can appreciate classical music or a custom lowrider. Neither are my style, but that doesn’t mean I’m willing to dismiss them out of hand.

There’s a reason for the stylised minimalist design – the artwork, sounds and gameplay are all intended to evoke a specific set of responses and emotions.

It probably works best if you’re a child of the 80s, when the cold war was still ongoing, wireframe graphics were state of the art, leaflets came through the door advising you to hide under a mattress if a nuke went off, and films like Top Gun, War Games and Das Boot were playing.

If you’re not in that demographic, then you may not respond to the design, but that doesn’t mean it’s not any good.

I can’t be bothered ranting further about this one: if you don’t like it, then fine. You should at least try to understand that other people might like it, rather than calling them idiots.

[*] the house has a lightning conductor, and all the electronics are surge protected :)
Sandcrab

It sounded to me like he likes the style, just not like the game..
XIV

To be fair, DEFCON is merely a real-time and more complicated version of Battleship – Set number of units, place them where your opponent wouldn’t guess, get to work.

But Battleship is fun – if there were actually someone to play against. DEFCON’s AI is bloody annoying to play against, but with 3 other people it’s a blast.

Come to think of it, I haven’t seen any of the ‘indie’ reviews mentioning the multiplayer experiences. Probably the real reason why the reviews are skewed.
Raiden

oops! If I’d known you were going to post it on the front page, I’d have proof read my comments.

@juice – Yes, Barbie’s Horse Adventure is in my opinion a better game than Defcon. So quantify my statements with that and adjust according to your own beliefs :) Although I don’t understand what you are talking about – you don’t like Defcon either :) – So how come I am talking bollocks? I can appreciate it on all the levels you are talking about, but it’s a game, and in the end, I evaluate it thus – and for me there is just very little there.

@Sandcrab – Yes, I didn’t really like the game and I don’t see what else I should care about. Who cares if the style is the best thing ever if there’s no fun to be had? not me.

I would like to quantify my comments by saying I love Introversion and what they’ve done. I just don’t see what all the fuss is about regarding Defcon. It all feels a bit Emperor’s new clothes to me.

I’m interested what others would prefer to see from Introversion next – more games like Uplink and Darwinia? or anoher Defcon? They sound like they are going the Defcon route, and I can understand why they are going to make money there, but I am sad for the loss of the great games they could have made instead.
Cycle

You played the game online, right? Single-player pretty much blows. Like, real bad.

Anyway, I’m enjoying it much more than Darwinia which, while a good game, I think got higher marks than it deserved.

When I interviewed Chris, he said Darwinia was originally going to be a multiplayer game (DEFCON uses much of the code they didn’t end up using) and that multiplayer Darwinia may still come. I’d like to see that!
http://null/ Cycle

*sniffs own ass*
Cycle

smells like cookies
juice

@raiden: It wasn’t so much that you didn’t like the game, it was more that you were insulting the people who did like it!

Anyhoo, I think there’s a lot more to Defcon than you’re giving it credit for. It’s just a shame I don’t have the patience for multiplayer games, or I’d be all over it:) The warroom-megadeath-endoftheworld vibe is spot on…

@cycle: There was an interview with IV somewhere which mentioned that they’d expanded and split the team into “new stuff” and “existing stuff” – one of the things explicitly mentioned was MP Darwinia. So there’s hope yet:)

(though, to be honest, I’m not sure how much fun that’d be. I’d love to see an expansion and some new units/abilities, though)
Raiden

@juice – fair comment. I did not mean to attack the people who seem to be playing it now, I was attacking reviewers who are giving this game insane scores that I do not think it justifies. Like someone said it’s not much more than battleship and yet reviewers are routinely giving it 8 or even 9 out of ten and hailing it as some second coming! Do you really think it deserves those scores? I just think everyone bought into the hype a bit too much and was scared to step out of line and say – hang on, this is an ok effort, but not a top tier example of gameplay.

@Sandcrab – yes, I did play the game online, and partly the reason I am annoyed is because I ended up buying it based on reviews, thinking mayb I’d missed something playing the demo single player and even online 2 player in the demo. So I bought it, and played multiplayer (once the servers came back up!) and I really tried to like it because all the reviews were saying how great it was, but the more I played the more I just repeated the same experience that was rather banal to start with.

Hey, all I’m saying is in my (apparently minority) opinion, there’s NO WAY this game should get a score of 8 but I think all the reviewers got a bit worked up and nobody was brave enough to step out on their own and say it’s ok, but not an 8 or 9 score game.
http://www.surlyben.com Surlyben

I can see where the “there’s no content there” thing is coming from… I experienced a bit of that after I bought the game. It’s true that the content is minimal.

But the multiplayer aspect has some greatness to it. If you get the right opponents playing, it actually plays out a bit like the boardgame diplomacy, and it’s nailbitingly good fun. Also, games seem to take around an hour or two, which means that it’s good over a Lan…

If you think of it in comparison to boardgames or something like Spaceward Ho! it is easy to see why it deserves an 8 or a 9 out of 10.
http://www.joy90.co.uk Moschops

I have to say, Rayden, I see what you’re getting at and though it may make me unpopular too, I think you’re right.

This game feels very much like style over substance. I can’t shun the style, it’s great and the atmosphere is spot on. Introversion have been very clever, they’ve done what they know best and design with minimal assets, after all they are time consuming and thus expensive to produce. Also riding on the back of the success of Darwinia, there was always going to be a lot of people that were going to cream themselves over this regardless of whether it was any good or not. It’s almost as if because everyone’s rooting for the underdog, no one wants to go on the record as saying it’s not what they expected.

For me though, there’s just not enough there as a game. As a statement though, it’s clever, poignant and well executed and Introversion should be congratulated accordingly, but Raiden is right, I don’t think it deserves an 8 or 9. It seems ironic, but I’d prefer a nice game of chess :p

p.s. I know some of the people that worked on Barbie Horse Adventures, they’d be so chuffed to hear that someone out there actually liked it :p