posted 02-26-99 11:12 AM ET        

But to all gamers out there,which game do you think has a chance of winning the STRATEGY GAME of the YEAR AWARD???????

posted 02-26-99 02:14 PM ET            

PCZone gave it 92%, which is too low..

But then again PCZone rated Half life 2% lower than Quake II, so what does that tell you??

posted 02-26-99 02:30 PM ET            

100% Half-Life
99% SMAC

posted 02-26-99 05:56 PM ET            

SMAC will probably get the prize, unless something spectacular comes out later this year. Total Annihilation: Kingdoms is one possibility. Apparently completely different from T.A orginial, and with some nice innovations - experience for units (so you must take CARE of your army), early game rush proof structures, and four distinct sides.

posted 02-27-99 08:56 AM ET            

Half-life is gathering dust on my harddrive while i play SMAC SMAC SMAC

SMAC for Strategy Game of the Year!

posted 02-27-99 12:12 PM ET            

(Waits for incoming planet busters)

Wait, wait! Hear me out...Half life took away about a week of my time when it came out. There were few bugs, it ran great, it looked just awesome, and it scared the hell out of me at times. In the early levels, you found weapons in intelligent places - the shotgun was at the security guard's desk, the pistol was lying next to a dead guy, the revolver was also lying next to a dead guy, ammo was in storage areas, etc, etc...

And then it happened. You get "knocked out" and dragged to the death Star's garbage compactor. Why weren't you killed outright? Is there any reason that you're so special, when they blow away the scientists without a problem? After this, the game goes quickly to hell. Some parts are just awesome still, but as soon as I saw this weird part of the game where I needed to be Mario, jumping over toxic waste and conveyor belts, in order to get to where I needed to go - the amazing suspension of disbelief that had been there immediately evaporated. That's basically what it came down to - the levels were sometimes great, and sometimes plain dumb - the first teleporter level hub was possibly the dumbest series of levels I've ever played.

And I still played it, and had a great time, but it wasn't the same. I'm not saying that Quake or Quake II is better. I'm not saying that there is a better single player FPS out there, though I think that there is. I'm saying that 100% implies a PERFECT game. There would be NOTHING wrong with it. The single player would be the best, multiplayer would be incredible, no bugs, etc. The sheer fact the uninstaller could potentially wipe out your hard drive is enough to give a game a lower rating, but then I'm picky about such things.

Also note that PC gamer isn't exactly the best rating system. In the same issue that they lambasted a game that was "OK, but had too many bugs" they game SiN a 92%. SiN, out of the box, was UNPLAYABLE. This game was atrociously bad. They reviewed and gave that game a high score because they'd look like complete idiots after giving SiN such praise and large articles before (it was on the cover, after all)...

I loved half life. I love Baldur's gate too. Grim Fandango rules. I can't wait to play Thief. None of these games are getting played right now. It's only SMAC. Bastards. Wish games didn't keep getting released during midterms...

posted 02-27-99 05:06 PM ET            

Normally I exhibit some self-displine when
it comes to computer gaming (I have a life,
job, girlfriend, these demand time).

Yet with SMAC, I have fought thru the many
bugs in both setup and gameplay, learned some
of the incredible sublteties, I AM STILL
COMING BACK IN EVERY FREE MOMENT.

posted 02-27-99 07:06 PM ET            

I'm all with you there on midterms...

SMAC hit stores on a Friday here....

My first two philosophy midterms were the following Monday and Tuesday.

I bought SMAC Tuesday night and LAUGHED MY A** OFF at the altered Descartes quote (since I had had fun ripping Descartes' argument in the Third Meditation, the one where he assumes God to exist, to shreads on Monday morning).

I took 3 more mid-terms since then, but have had night of sleep ALL WEEK due to the combination of Political Science and Philosophy mid-terms.

I have a political theory mid-term test on monday and a paper where I have to go diggning around in various Platonic dialogues citing every damn sentence with multiple Sephanus page citations...due Friday.

How much you wanna guess I'm not going to do anything but SMAC until Thursday. Then, on Thursday night, I'll spend the whole night in the library looking up Sephanus pages to cite for my argumentation....

oh well, the joys of being a college student!

posted 02-27-99 09:21 PM ET            

anyway, i like SMAC, i like CTP, and i like ST:BOF. i'm trying to get all three.

why must you fools compare them so?

each one has its own merits, so i fail to see the point.

if i play the demo and like it, i'll get it.
otherwise, i won't.

i hated halflife, but i'm considering getting it so i can see the engine.

same with Quake2 and (cs) Quake3.

posted 02-27-99 11:43 PM ET            

Half-Life was/is a great game IMHO, but it was too buggy for many people (it ATE my buddy's Compaq, but then again he's the dumbass who bought one)

Now Thief....that is a truly groundbreaking game - those undead STILL scare me. But even that game has a few problems (but it's not buggy or so I've found) Thief has also taken a gaming backseat (temporarily) to SMAC, which I've been drooling over since, oh, September or so.

Hmmm, I'm ranting. Sorry.
In order to receive 98% from me, a game must satisfy certain criteria. Feel free to debate or suggest my choices.

1) The graphics must be without par for that style of game
-verdict: The units are good - but 98% hmmmm - maybe if the singularity former didn't look just like the base former...repeat Ad Nauseum
The movies are stunning and relate amazingly well to subject technology - Where do you want your Node today!!!
Overall? 85% from me.
2) Sound
Again good, but again the repetition of unit noises.... faction voiceovers are beautiful - especially Yang's "it is every citizens final duty to go into the tanks....."
Lets go with 85% again
3) Originality/research/believability
The storyline for this game is without equal
No game has anything close to the background research and the subsequent integration of story and technology tree. Recommended reading for a computer game?? I love it.
The unit design, while attempted previously in other games, is good enough in SMAC to warrant it an originality award
Documentation is superb (running out of positive adjectives)
A nice fat 98% for this one
4) Playability
This covers bugginess,game speed, ease-of-use, learning curve, menu-quality and the like. SMAC is good to great for most of these - some bugs, most fixed, some still remain. The tutorials - if you need them - are great, learning curve is low via difficulty levels, and the menus are....ahhh...decent. I'd be so happy if I could queue production just by right clicking and not having to use two different buttons for production item/ queue item, and it would be good as well if govenors weren't so gung-ho about 80 turn factories for size three cities - but that can be changed via text files. Multiplayer must have been a major headache to implement - but kudos for trying it.
My %? 95
5) The mystery element
Some games got it....some don't. Civ2 had it, Star Control had it, Wasteland had it *ducking* Ultima IV had it, Diablo had it. It's that something about the game that gets under your skin, it makes you think about it at work, it makes you wonder why you're writing about it when you could be playing it
Does SMAC have it? Yes and no. I can't say it has the raw addiction of Civ2 - like making railroads everywhere just because it looked cool. But multi-player may provide that extra hook. If the game was just a bit faster, well, a lot faster, on my P200mmx
I'd probably give a higher rating....but I really should upgrade I know...or at least go to 64 ram from 32. So I"m withholding judgement on the mystery element for now.

Oh the overall was 85+85+98+95/4
= 94% So I guess it's fairly close - but I wouldn't have given Sin a 92%
Thanks for reading all of this and wasting possible SMAC-time

Wife: Honey...where are you going?
Husband: Just fixing myself a little midnight SMAC dear

posted 02-28-99 12:51 AM ET         

Nearly all games magazines overrate the games (more so nowadays), so I generally work on the system (their rating - 50) * 2 = real rating. But anyway...

posted 02-28-99 11:42 AM ET            

Kind of funny isn't it....

posted 02-28-99 02:48 PM ET            

StarCraft has had several patches. It is now at v1.04.

posted 02-28-99 04:17 PM ET            

And what are you comparing Half life to, again? There were no other FPS that even had a real story to them, much less a real and interesting environment. Between the two of them, Half-life and Thief have almost completely rewriten the genre.

posted 03-01-99 12:43 PM ET            

Anyways, I still think Half-Life is the best game I've ever played, with Starcraft, Diablo, Civ I, and SMAC running a close second. Thief is also really, really good but graphically cannot compare to Half-Life. Multiplayer wise Half-Life edges out Starcraft -- Thief doesnt even have a multiplayer mode (which is not a knock but a fact). In general I find that PCGamer and CGW have honest reviews -- if both rank something highly then I know I'll like the game. If both go sour on a game I usually avoid it (Star Wars Rebellion -- hey I liked it...) and if they differ I usually consult a third source.

Bottomline? I think that Half-Life delivers a better immersive experience from beginning to end. It suffers only from a lag in the latter parts. SMAC delivers a less visceral experience but a more mentally stimulating one. Is it right to compare a TBS to a FPS? Probably not, this is the realm of gut feelings now, but in the end Half-Life wins this gamer's heart. No other game I've ever played has sucked me so deeply into it SMAC included.

posted 03-01-99 06:07 PM ET         

Febuary 1998, I believe the issue is.

Some interesting changes occured since this article to the shipping version...

Major changes:

Almost every faction featured is different:

1.) Morgans
- Morgan Conglomerate is the full name of the faction
- Morgan looks like a woman to me... (blink)

2.) The University
- Faction used to be "Keepers of Wisdom"
- Lal used to be the leader!

3.) Human Hive
- Used to be called "The Labyrinth"

Secret Projects:

- I'm sure that there has to be some changes. The only movie depicted in the article is the Supercollider (which has undergone change).

Some things that stayed the same:

- System Requirements (!)
- Ascent to Transcendence

Just some interesting stuff.

posted 03-02-99 03:33 PM ET         

As Homer Simpson would say... D'oh!

posted 03-03-99 02:07 AM ET            

hmmm, Three games that will probably have great AI.

posted 03-03-99 02:28 AM ET            

-All of the graphical interfaces were different.

-The units look cooler.

-so does the terrain

-and the unit design interface looks much better than what was in the final version.

posted 03-03-99 08:54 AM ET            

I still get mails or see posts on our forums saying "I got civ2 two days ago and I have a question..."

However, SMAC could very easily be "game of the year" or "tbs of the year"

posted 03-03-99 05:39 PM ET            

Energy was decided based on heat rather than altitude. Each square was rated on temperature, hot, temperate, or cold. Hot squares generated more energy.