Breaking News: Video Proof that MMOG Innovation is Dead
Posted on
Monday, November 06, 2006
by Gary A. Ballard
Maybe not dead, but it sure is walking with a limp. I direct your attention to the video embedded below, thanks to YouTube, from SOE's upcoming MMOG Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.
The above linked video depicts a PVP fight in Sony Online Entertainment's upcoming mythologically-themed MMOG Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising. It's probably not necessary to repeat that SOE is one of the worst places to look for innovation. Their best innovation was yanking the rug out from loyal (though insane) users of Star Wars Galaxies by implemented the NGE without proper testing or development.
But the video above really takes the cake. It's pretty. It's shiny. It's also boring as Quaker porn. Not knowing anything about character classes, interface or anything else, I can predict what the gameplay will be like.
If you've played EQ1, or Dark Age of Camelot, you've played this game. Hit a button for attack, hit a button for a special attack, wait for your timers to refresh, repeat. Sure, the animations are ripped straight from a fighting game like Soul Caliber, but the heart of it appears to be sadly pathetic, a rehash of the exact same game mechanics from 1998. It's old, it's stale.
Get some new moves please, and I don't mean animations. The NGE may have been an unmitigated disaster, but at least it was an attempt to move away from "hit auto attack and get a fucking sandwich." But I see the normally risk averse mavens at SOE have shied even farther away from anything resembling innovation. Keep that re-iteration woobie blanket snug around you, SOE. It's a hard cold world out there.
The above linked video depicts a PVP fight in Sony Online Entertainment's upcoming mythologically-themed MMOG Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising. It's probably not necessary to repeat that SOE is one of the worst places to look for innovation. Their best innovation was yanking the rug out from loyal (though insane) users of Star Wars Galaxies by implemented the NGE without proper testing or development.
But the video above really takes the cake. It's pretty. It's shiny. It's also boring as Quaker porn. Not knowing anything about character classes, interface or anything else, I can predict what the gameplay will be like.
If you've played EQ1, or Dark Age of Camelot, you've played this game. Hit a button for attack, hit a button for a special attack, wait for your timers to refresh, repeat. Sure, the animations are ripped straight from a fighting game like Soul Caliber, but the heart of it appears to be sadly pathetic, a rehash of the exact same game mechanics from 1998. It's old, it's stale.
Get some new moves please, and I don't mean animations. The NGE may have been an unmitigated disaster, but at least it was an attempt to move away from "hit auto attack and get a fucking sandwich." But I see the normally risk averse mavens at SOE have shied even farther away from anything resembling innovation. Keep that re-iteration woobie blanket snug around you, SOE. It's a hard cold world out there.
Labels: MMOG, SOE, Video Games
posted by Gary A. Ballard @ 10:51 AM
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2 Comments:
Direct thy ire at the proper target. Gods & Heroes is designed by Perpetual Entertainment (also making Star Trek Online). SOE is only publishing it.
That's really sad. I would say that maybe Sony should have put their own development team on it, but then... Star Wars Galaxies. Had I known Perpetual was doing Gods and Heroes, I'd have made a joke about setting phasers to stun or something.
Still bears a striking resemblance to EQ1 combat.
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