Kotaku: Battlestar Galactica for XBLA Blows...

[Spanky The Dolphin]

There was a thread about this sometime back in February, along with some speculation of what the game would be like. I'm not aware of any discussion about it here since then, so I figured those out of the know might be interested in how the game ended up playing out:

Hands-On Battlestar Galactica XBLA

Admiral Adama would be very disappointed in you, Sierra. Because a Battlestar XBLA title could be an amazing bite-sized piece of the show for fans to pick up and play on a whim. Instead it's a lame arena shooter without the weapon combat, controls, or maybe most importantly, almost any exploitation of the rich IP to make it a fun title.

In multiplayer, combatants fight in arena team deathmatch, Cylons vs. humans. Each ship is tiny on the screen, whipping around quickly and firing short-range guns or heat-seeking missiles. And that's the game.

Oh, there is a single-player element that is supposed to have somewhere are 8 hours of gameplay ranging several missions. Considering the limited spectrum of the basic combat (even with occasional powerups on the map) the real achievement here is how Battlestar Galactica the show—creating immersive, creative sci-fi operating on a shoestring budget—will have fans buying the title in droves.



My personal favorite part of the hands-on: the handler explains pitches me on the crazy good AI. Then he showed me what he meant. I shot at a Cylon ship. It followed me behind an asteroid.

Maybe I'm being unfair you say? Maybe I'm just a deranged fan who has hijacked a popular video game site, crying about anything less than a fullblown Mass Effect Battlestar Ultra Platinum Sprinkled In Gold And Fairy Dust Edition with photorealistic Cylon cleavage?

Well, that would be true. But Battlestar Galactica XBLA failed to meet even my most meager of expectations.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/fracked/hands+ ... 278599.php

[Stark]

Am I crazy or does it look like Star Control??

[Praxis]

Oh, this game had anticipation? I played this during some downtime while waiting for an appointment with Nintendo in ten minutes.

Was a fun distraction. I've never watched Battlestar Galactica so I have no fan expectations. It wasn't anything spectacular, but kind of fun and arcadey.

[weemadando]

Ah Sierra. That's a company that knows how to kill sci-fi space combat IP.

[Alan Bolte]

Well what were they expecting, Beyond the Red Line?

[Ace Pace]

Well what were they expecting, Beyond the Red Line?

Considering BTRL was hacked together by a few fans over the course of a year or so, on the top of an agin engine...yes?

[Alan Bolte]

My point is that commercial space shooters outside of Russia top out at Rogue Squadron these days, and that's not gonna change.

[ColonialAdmiral]

I just don't see why it's so hard to make a game modeled after a show any good. I mean there are few gems out there of course, but most movie games just turn into a promotional semi-shiny peice of rubish. There was another galactica game for PS2 and X-Box, which wasn't too bad, (probably better than this one if the report is right). Of course it was hideously short, but I guess thats what happens with space-sims these days.

I miss star-lancer...

[phongn]

It's hard to make a good game, period, and a lot of the games made for movie or television franchises have less-skilled teams, fewer resources or (most likely) poor direction.