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Was talking with other forums goers in another thread about a new game online called EVE and it dawned on me that I don't know of a lot of SciFi video games for game systems.
I have an XBOX and love SciFi and everythign to do with SciFi. I wish Advent had done better in sales so that there would definitely be hope of then finishing out the trilogy that it was supposed to be. Any one know if there are going to be more of them? Gamers at the store told me no.
Back on track wanted to start a thread about anythign SciFi video game wise. Already mentioned EVE but what other games are really good in the SciFi genre. Halo and Star Wars are pretty much all I know of?
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The Advent games aren't going to happen any time soon (both the PSP side story and the two remaining games in the trilogy). Majesco, the publisher, didn't do too well last year. Advent Rising didn't sell as well as expected (or as well as it deserved, much like Majesco's other big title that year Psychonauts). Kind of sad that the Advent trilogy may never be finished.
As for other sci-fi games, none are popping into my mind immediately. The Metroid games are sci-fi, although on the Prime games seem to have a somewhat deep story (at least if you scan everywhere and read all the little tidbits). That's all that's coming to my mind at the moment. I wish there were more good original sci-fi games.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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Yeah, I feel you on the more SciFi games that's why I started the post. I wish there were more. It used to be that you couldn't escape SciFi stuff and now it seems as though it is being slowly replaced with "Reality TV" and the like. EWven SciFi movies are becoming less common. If it wasn't for the SciFi channel Id be hurting for my SciFi fixes.
Posts: 871 | Registered: Jul 2006
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Well even Sci-fi Channel has drifted somewhat away from Sci-fi (what with the ECW wrestling and all). It's sort of sad, but that's how it goes. I guess you pick up sci-fi where you can.
*looks over at pile of sci-fi books he has to read* *rewatches trailer for BSG season 3*
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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Well, it depends on what *kind* of Sci-Fi you're talking about. A LOT of games out there are Sci-Fi. The Half-Life series, Quake series, Unreal series, Deus Ex, Homeworld, Command and Conquer (more or less Red Alert is alternate history sci-fi), Fallout (Best Sci-Fi RPG ever, I think), Halo, Descent, the Wing Commander series, Freelancer, Starlancer, Privateer. That's all I can think of right now, but for the most part, the Video game industry has found that SciFi is a very effective genre to develop games in. I think that's due in part to the popularity of Sci-Fi among computer geeks.
edit to add: The gaming industry kind of ebbs and flows on the Genres that are common at any one time. Right now it's more popular to create fantasy style games due to the success of MMORPGs like Everquest and WoW. Just like when there were millions of RTS games that came out following the success of Warcraft and C&C. There are, in general, many many sci-fi games out there. I have boxes for two of them sitting on my desk right now. Galactic Civilizations (great Civilization style empire builder) and Space Rangers 2 (one of the best cross-genre games I've ever played. It's a mix of star control, C&C and a few third person shooters).
Posts: 3003 | Registered: Oct 2004
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Hold on you have a copy of the trailer for the BSG Season 3. I keep clicking the link at SciFi and it doesn't go anywhere. Is it just the teaser they gave at the end of LDYB P.2
* Keeps clicking link as chuncks of hair come from head in hands *
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Blayne Bradley
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i have seaons 1-4 and half of s5 somewhere.
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LOL! Are you talking about the old version or the new one. I don't think they're quite done with making the 3rd season so if you have you have some sort of time travel I have to get my hands on.
Your comics rock! What is KOTOR?
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Blayne Bradley
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Knights of the Old Republic ^^
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Blayne Bradley
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oh and I confused BSG with Babylon 5 for some reason.....
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Blayne Bradley
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oh and I confused BSG with Babylon 5 for some reason.....
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Descent: Freespace 2 is IMO the greatest space dogfighting game ever, even with it's bad physics model. Posts: 1236 | Registered: Mar 2002
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I've played Knights of the Old Republic, Stars Wars has definitely got a long list of games available for PC and game consoles but after a while they are all the same thing. I thought Lego Star Wars was great cause it was the same but different and can't wait fo the orginial trilogy to come out soon so I can play that one.
- Earendil - I haven't played Descent yet I'll check it out.
- Blayne - I figured you were talking about something else, Babylon 5 is awesome, I watched that religiously when it was on as an original series. They also just started putting it up on iTunes. I think they even made a Babylon 5 game a while back I might be mistaken though.
Posts: 871 | Registered: Jul 2006
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Much, much easier to find real sci-fi in computer games than on consoles. I don't even know if I'm entirely comfortable with putting Star Wars in the science fiction category. Not that I didn't love KOTOR, but for all its blasters and spaceships, Star Wars seems more like space-based fantasy than science fiction.
A lot of good stuff coming out for PC lately though; very good reviews for Space Rangers 2 and Galactic Civilizations II, among others. It seems like on consoles it's easier to find science fiction settings for what are basically action pieces, like Unreal Championship or Halo. Not to knock either.
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Yeah, I wasn't thinking PC games. I was trying to think about console games.
Phantasy Star Universe is sort of sci-fi, although it's similar to Star Wars in that it's sort of "space-based fantasy" (as Sterling put it).
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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I definitely usderstand what your talking about with the console shoot'em up stuff. I have noticed in the last couple of days of research into the subject that there is alot more stuff on PC.
The thing I liked about Halo and Advent is the stories that go along with the shoot'em up. I honestly would have given up half way through Advent if the story wasn't so appealing to me and I really hope they make more even though I doubt it.
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I really liked Freelancer, though it seemed that most hardcore gamers (which I am not) did not like it as much. Fromn a sci-fi and story standpoint, though, I loved it. I wish I could find something else I liked as much.
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The environments on that one look cool. As you can tell by the question I am not a serious gamer either but like to play SciFi stuff when I have time.
On a side note PC games seem a little easier to deal with in that when you play halo, halo 2 and then want to finish the trilogy you don't have to go and buy another system that costs as much as a new computer. I hate when the video game companies do that. Sorry I'll get off my soap box. Thanks for all the info.
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Also I have been trying to play Eve Online but whenever I start the installer it goes a little ways and then says "Corrupt Installer" and I cannot fix it. Any ideas?
KOTOR 2 was good but not as good as the first.
My friend and I were wondering the other day about why on earth there was not a Firefly video game.
Alot of Sci-Fi games are shooters or RTSs.
Posts: 503 | Registered: May 2005
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Boris hit on most of the stuff I would've recommended but missed one that I must suggest and seems that so few have played - Beyond Good & Evil. It's an absolutely fantastic game (for both XBox and GameCube, if I recall correctly; I know it's on XBox at the very least, as that's the system I have BG&E on), and you can get it for a steal. If it helps, it was critically heralded and received excellent reviews from every gaming publication I know of.
Posts: 143 | Registered: Sep 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Vasslia Cora: I liked Freelancer alot too.
Also I have been trying to play Eve Online but whenever I start the installer it goes a little ways and then says "Corrupt Installer" and I cannot fix it. Any ideas?
KOTOR 2 was good but not as good as the first.
My friend and I were wondering the other day about why on earth there was not a Firefly video game.
Alot of Sci-Fi games are shooters or RTSs.
Yeah, I had that problem, too. I think the downloads on the Eve site are perpetually corrupt or something. I can't remember how I got past it, though. I think I looked around on game download sites and finally got a good install.
edit: I realized I forgot to mention the X-Com series. How could I ever forget those?!
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The Chronicles of Riddick. Much better than the movie. A very well-made game.
Half-life 2. I don't know how it is on console, actually, but on PC, it was pretty amazing. No game has ever created a world and people that felt this real to me before.
Psychonauts. Trippiest, funniest game I've ever played. The secret agents in the mind of the paranoid guy had me laughing for days.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic I and II. Both of these, I think, are equally good — they each get different things right.
Crimson Skies. Has sort of a Sky Captain/Slipstream feel to it. It's definitely retro/alternate-world sci-fi, but it's a great dogfighting game.
Hitman 4. It's slightly sci-fi-ish under the surface, but it really doesn't belong on this list. I'm only mentioning it because this game is FRICKING AWESOME.
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Tachyon: The Fringe was great -- good story, and multiplayer was once very active.
It's very disappointing that the genre seems to have died, but FreeSpace 2's source code was recently released, and there are some cool mods and TCs coming out with updated graphics.
Homeworld 2 is a great space RTS, but you'll proably have to find the first one to understand the story. Very hard to learn, though.
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Only problem I had with Psychonauts: it was a platformer that wanted to be an old-school adventure game. And would have been more fun as an old-school adventure game.
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I didn't mind it being a platformer really. What bothered me was having a "protect" mission right near the end of the game. "Protect" missions suck in any game and putting one at the end of a game just doubly sucks.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Puppy: Sci-fi games I recommend for XBox:
The Chronicles of Riddick. Much better than the movie. A very well-made game.
Half-life 2. I don't know how it is on console, actually, but on PC, it was pretty amazing. No game has ever created a world and people that felt this real to me before.
Psychonauts. Trippiest, funniest game I've ever played. The secret agents in the mind of the paranoid guy had me laughing for days.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic I and II. Both of these, I think, are equally good — they each get different things right.
Crimson Skies. Has sort of a Sky Captain/Slipstream feel to it. It's definitely retro/alternate-world sci-fi, but it's a great dogfighting game.
Hitman 4. It's slightly sci-fi-ish under the surface, but it really doesn't belong on this list. I'm only mentioning it because this game is FRICKING AWESOME.
Crimson Skies and Hitman I have played before and really liked. I am very interested in the Pyschonauts game, I think I saw that on display at the game place and was tempted to buy it but decided against the impulse buy. I wish I had picked it up now. Here's a question can you play the PC games on MACs? Probably not wich is wierd cause MACs were designed specifically to handle graphics better, even though now days you just need a good vcard with lots of vram and a nice monitor.
Man I a techy geek and I had no idea there were this many cool games out there. Thanks for all the great posts I love this forum. All of you have been great!
Posts: 871 | Registered: Jul 2006
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I think you can play PC games on Mac under emulation, but they run horrendously slow (to the point that they're unplayable.)
Posts: 3003 | Registered: Oct 2004
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Starcraft is an extremely good SciFi video game. Its a little old, and its a real-time strategy game, but the battles in it are often very big, and each of the little guys you make are really cool looking.
Posts: 1158 | Registered: Feb 2006
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quote:She was loving it until it forced her to switch POV, to the enemy side. Then she threw it across the room in disgust and never looked at it again.
I know people sometimes react that way, but ... I've never understood it. I mean, it's a game. You're still participating in the same story AND you're playing around with a new set of cool mechanics. What's to disgust?
Posts: 1539 | Registered: Jul 2004
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I'm actually surprised you don't see it. It's not just a game, it's a story. My favorite games are the ones with a strong story element. Cor loved the story in this game. She loved the characters. She loved the relationship that was forming between the male and female protagonist. When the POV shift happened, it became a different story. More realistic, possibly, in the sense of the moral relativism that was introduced. But we don't prize realism in our stories. I don't like to read novels or watch movies about people I don't like. I don't like movies or novels in which the bad guy wins. Not because I think that's how the world works, but because the stories that I think are worth telling are stories about good people who achieve heroic things. Sure, bad guys win in real life, and nice guys often finish last. But why the hell would we recount those stories?
If somebody I thought was bad turns out to be good, it better be because they are now my allies. I'm not interested in directing actions against the side I was formerly trying to build up--against the characters I was trying to build up.
Can you imagine if, in Empire Strikes Back we got the whole movie from the Empire's side, and started to see that they really weren't evil at all, just victims of propaganda, and we were led to root for them in battles against the rebels?
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quote:Can you imagine if, in Empire Strikes Back we got the whole movie from the Empire's side, and started to see that they really weren't evil at all, just victims of propaganda, and we were led to root for them in battles against the rebels? [/QB]
Actually wasnt there a little of that in Battlefront II. Not much but they definitely told the story fromt he other side. While I'm on it never played Battlefront, is much different than II.
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quote:Originally posted by SoaPiNuReYe: Starcraft is an extremely good SciFi video game. Its a little old, and its a real-time strategy game, but the battles in it are often very big, and each of the little guys you make are really cool looking.
If you're looking for similar games to Starcraft but don't like as much micromanagement, Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War (for the PC) is really fantastic. I personally prefer it to Starcraft (it's newer and thus prettier, the battles feel more epic, you control squads rather than individuals making it much more fluid, etc.), though I'd have to admit I'm probably a little biased because I love the tabletop game and universe the game is based on.
Posts: 143 | Registered: Sep 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Icarus: She was loving it until it forced her to switch POV, to the enemy side. Then she threw it across the room in disgust and never looked at it again.
Damn replacing that PC was expensive.
That wasn't the one I built, was it? No matter... it sucked anyway.
Recently the only sci fi game I recall playing is Rogue Trooper, which although it had great concepts and characters, somehow fell short and forced. I did like it nonetheless.
And does Far Cry count as "sci fi"? Besides the occasional mutant shooting rockets at you, or the occasional invisible soldier scaring the hell out of you, or the occasional soldier that can jump sixty feet straight up, it's the perpetual "shoot the mercenaries with the M-4" type of game.
Posts: 3486 | Registered: Sep 2002
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I was joking about her old Toshiba laptop, actually.
The computer you built is no longer in use, but we did cannibalize the hard drive from it. I recently built a computer, and feel all |337 now. Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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This isn't a console, but an entirely online game. Ogame. (Ogame.org) It takes about ten fifteen minutes every five to six hours, and it is so incredibly addicitive, and great fun. Thought I should through it out here. It's very very scifi never fear.
Posts: 242 | Registered: Feb 2005
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Once upon a time, there was a game called "System Shock 2" -- it was made as a 'spiritual successor' to the first game, lovingly crafted by an inventive little studio.
Game reviewers had trouble classifying it. Was it a FPS? An RPG? Nothing was linear. You did indeed grow and become more capable as the game progressed -- in fact, transforming and expanding your character was the only way, really, to succeed. Different aspects were gushed over by each reviewer, but there was one solid compact: Everyone absolutely loved it. PC Gamer declared it unquestionably to have been one of the greatest games of all time.
It is sci-fi. It takes place on a spaceship en route to Tau Ceti. It is absolutely astounding. It is the quintessence of the Gaming Experience that is rarely recreated so faithfully.
It is, unfortunately, not for everyone. It's wet-your-pants scary. It's a horror game. It is best played at night, alone, with headphones, and appropriately spooky gamma. It's absolutely terrifying.
It's tragic that the studio that made it (Looking Glass) bit the dust and left the title in abandonware limbo, shortly after the release. Home of The Underdogs, an abandonware site, apparently got the ok to distribute the game via torrent or direct download, here.
For free.
You need no further excuse.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:This isn't a console, but an entirely online game. Ogame. (Ogame.org) It takes about ten fifteen minutes every five to six hours, and it is so incredibly addicitive, and great fun. Thought I should through it out here. It's very very scifi never fear.
I admit I haven't followed the link, but if it's what I think it is I've been trying to create a game just like that for some time. Space conquest, in the big scale, akin to Star Control and Starflight of old. Web based, but with passing turns every 15-20 minutes. I have the whole gaming engine done; all it needs is an interface. If I can ever get around to it, it's going to be great I tell you!
I also have played now and then an online game, Stellar Realms (link unavailable right now), but it's weak in that you only get one planet and there's no "conquest" about it really.
quote:It is, unfortunately, not for everyone. It's wet-your-pants scary. It's a horror game. It is best played at night, alone, with headphones, and appropriately spooky gamma. It's absolutely terrifying.
You're right about SS2; thanks for the link.
But it can't be as disturbing as Doom III, which borders on the edge between scifi and horror.
Posts: 3486 | Registered: Sep 2002
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Doom 3 was scary for about 3 minutes, and then dissolved in to very old scare-tactics that repeated every level. It also didn't help that everyone looked like clay models. Posts: 1236 | Registered: Mar 2002
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Play it in the dark with headphones and I don't care how many times it might repeat, it'll still freak you out.
Posts: 3486 | Registered: Sep 2002
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I'm one of the people who hated System Shock 2. Not because it's a horror game; there are plenty of horror games that I enjoy. The story and atmosphere are actually pretty good. The economic system that drives the game, however, creates artificial scarcities which are unforgivable in a game that forces a player to frequently backtrack through areas that have an infinite enemy respawn. Scarcities that punish players for trying new things.
If you find enjoyment in being shot repeatedly with weapons that turn out to be empty and broken when you get them off your enemies' bodies, taking damage from running into railings, mispaced challenges, and an anticipation that you'll die repeatedly over the course of play, you might be able to enjoy System Shock 2. I wouldn't voluntarily play it again.
quote:She was loving it until it forced her to switch POV, to the enemy side. Then she threw it across the room in disgust and never looked at it again.
Damn replacing that PC was expensive.
I enjoyed the story of Starcraft, and if I was bothered by playing the Zerg, I was perhaps reassured by getting to see more of Kerrigan's story and knowing I'd ultimately be playing the Protoss.
The Zerg-vs.-Zerg missions in the expansion, however, drove me nuts. They made levels that favored a computer's strengths- being able to manage huge armies and their creation and direction over huge maps with nonintuitive ways to get from point x to point y, and then expected players to enjoy playing them for hours because they were challenging.
Posts: 3826 | Registered: May 2005
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I just sampled Prey (on the 360) a few days ago at a friend's place. The character powers (that I've seen so far) are really interesting, and the levels are absolutely awesome. The only downside is that all the gravity switching made me mildly queasy.
And there are aaaaaaliens.
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quote:Can you imagine if, in Empire Strikes Back we got the whole movie from the Empire's side, and started to see that they really weren't evil at all, just victims of propaganda, and we were led to root for them in battles against the rebels?
We do get sequences in Empire that make a few of the Empire folks sympathetic. I like it when the opposing force in a story is actually comprehensible and human. Being able to conceive of their point-of-view is what makes it feel real and legitimate to me.
Fighting endless hordes of faceless enemies is boring and pointless. Fighting enemies that are well-developed and even sometimes sympathetic is fascinating. Makes you actually think about why they're really worth fighting. Instead of, "Well, obviously, they're evil. Look at their tentacles."
Also, I don't feel like I have to be rooting for their ultimate victory to play out a few of their battles and see their side of the story.
But maybe I'm weird Posts: 1907 | Registered: Feb 2000
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Tentacles? Is that some "The Empire Strikes Back - Special Anime Edition" version I've missed?
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Red Alert is alternate history sci-fi), Fallout (Best Sci-Fi RPG ever, I think), Halo, Descent, the Wing Commander series, Freelancer, Starlancer, Privateer. That's all I can think of right now, but for the most part, the Video game industry has found that SciFi is a very effective genre to develop games in. I think that's due in part to the popularity of Sci-Fi among computer geeks.![[Wink]](wink.gif)
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