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Farscape Video Game
mythr writes: "I was reading Firingsquad, and I found this preview of a Farscape video game. It's a top-down action/adventure game, sort of like Diablo, based on the Sci-Fi Channel series. It says that it's slated for May. I know I can't wait."
Because video games based on licenses are ALWAYS GOOD!
OtakuBooty.com: Smart, funny, sexy nerds.
Well, this game sure as hell has a lot going against it. First, it's based on a license. We all know how great licenses in gaming are. Then it's being put out by Simon and Schuster - a company with a particularly bad record when it comes to licensed games and games in general. And on top of that, it's being billed as an "action/adventure" - a genre which has very few gems. And the comparisons to Diablo frighten me.
Farscape is an alright show. It doesn't interest me too much, but regardless - I don't see this game as doing anything but tarnishing the franchise. Then again, I'm not too fond of firingsquad either... so here's to hoping their information is wrong.
If you need to interpret my post, then you don't get it.
If its gonna be anything like the series (and I hope it will be) how are you supposed to win? In the series they rarely if ever achieve anything close to victory. The last season was pretty damn depressing what with every one and their mother after them.
Sure Dargo got his son back but then the brat goes and pokes Dargo's girl friend.
I'm sure the game is going to be alot like a 2 hr special. A bunch of problems to solve and bad guys to kill. But at the end of it there still royally screwed.
It still should be fun though.
tangent; Does anyone know if Zahn is still dead? I'm catching up with the reruns and they keep showing them out of order.
..which just shows that the human brain is ill-adapted for thinking and was probably designed for cooling the blood-T P
I hope this game is more like the old Space Quest games where you actually had to think about what to do and solve puzzles. Sierra really dropped the ball when they cancelled all of their "Action/adventure games." If the Farscape game is done well in the Diablo style it should still rock.
Here is a link to an article about the Farscape Video Game at SCIFI.com
Here is a link to a preview at Sonyweb.com for the game. It looks like the game will come out on the Playstation 2. The preview includes many pictures and lots of information.
Here is a a little of what it says:
The #1 sci-fi television show, Farscape, is set to make its appearance on PS2 and PC, and although not due to be released until early next year, the hype surrounding the game is already building. Farscape, a critically acclaimed original sci-fi channel series, has quite a large fan-base, and these science fiction lovers will be anxiously awaiting the release of a Farscape video game. Thanks to Jim Henson's Creature Shop, the show is brought to life with innovative creature design and high-tech special effects.
--Metrollica
Yes, Zahn is still dead, although that Stark guy keeps going on as if she's still around a little and perhaps they'll get her back eventually.
:-)
Yes, last season was a little on the depressing side, but at least we got to see Aeryn get it on with that guy from Earth several times. Claudia Black, mmmmm yum!
They DO have a few victories though. Remember the shadow depository they obliverated? They now have all the money they could need. They are making progress, but they have to drag us through two more seasons before they can declare victory over the galaxy.
>Am I remebering things wrong, or is is not
>possible to make a simple but fun game anymore?
CHU CHU ROCKET!
there is still some room in the simple but fun category. Tetris swept the world in the days of Super Mario 3. And let's not forget bust-a-move. These games are among the real gems. There is a lot to be said for pushing graphical limitations as far as they can go, but it will always be the simple, yet enthralling games that make the biggest impact. No commitment, lot's of challenge.
lysergically yours
I find it quite amusing to hear people complain about how "not fun" this game is without ever playing it.
I mean, sure, history says that games based on franchises aren't doing well. But sitting here bashing a games playability or fun factor without ever playing it is kinda a little over the top, right? Or is there some part of the logic I'm missing? (Let me know if there is!)
Actually, because the Farscape name/logo isn't really worth any marketing juice in and of itself, I'd think that maybe the people who made the game had bought the license because they were fans of the show; that ought to be a good sign, generally speaking. Really expensive licenses - Harry Potter comes to mind - are the ones that produce really dreadful mass market games.
Anyway, I can allready tell that I don't like the game. However much of an improvement the game play, plot, whatever are over Diablo II (and I'm not saying it is better; just for sake of argument) the game is ugly. I realise that this is a subjective judgement but take a second look at those screenshots. The detail level is fairly high but the element of wonder or the unexpected, not to mention artistry, is just completely absent. Crates in piles and explosions (10th screenshot)! How delightfully unexpected.
You look at the circular buildings in the eighth screenshot, and you can tell no real thought was put into "how would we make these buildings look cool, alien, inhuman, unexpected, strange?" You can point to all sorts of things (first screenshot, for example) and say "well, that's weird." But the only thing I like is the white vehicle in the fourth screenshot, which looks pretty cool.
Which is too bad, because the farscape show looks really good. The totally lunatic design was the best thing about the show; it's fun for the same reasons good Dr. Who is fun, because a trashcan with deelybobs glued onto it rolls onto the screen and you say "damn, that trashcan looks COOL". Only, instead of a traschan it'd be a muppet, but it's the same thing. If the game were really trippy eyecandy, I could see playing it even if it were dreadful.
P.S. I tried to post links to the screenshots I'm talking about but they don't work, so I just supplied numbers.
The good and new comes from no quarter where it is looked for, and is always something different from what is expected.
Hi.
The term applies to any game which is based on a non-game franchise. TV shows, movies, toys. The muttering is due to the fact that 90% of these games end up biting the big one. This is probably because the publishers think they can sell a game based on the license, rather than good gameplay.
Justin
"Why would God give us a waist if we wasn't supposed to rest our pants on it?" - Rev. Roy McDaniels
Over Christmas break, my friends and I had more fun with Chu Chu Rocket than with any other game, including the brand-new mega hype Final Fantasy X. That $50 Dreamcast fucking wins.
Call me confused, but what exactly would one DO in a Farscape action game? Slaughter Scorpy's evil minions? Kill Peacekeepers? The series was GOOD because of the kickass characters and (for the most part) excellent plotline. Combat was never a large part of the show. Moya herself has zero weapons.
I'm going to be quite scared if it's basically...Crighton (pardon spelling) just goes around and kills things. Quake/Diablo with some Farscape scenery/characters? Blegh.
I really don't think the Farscape series translates well to any genre of computer game, honestly. MAYBE, as I believe someone suggested, something along the lines of a Space Quest type game, but that'd be about it.
If they made it a point and click adventure game like Monkey Island, Maniac Mansion, or Day of the Tentacle. (all Lucas Arts games I might add...)
The problem is, very few action based games based on a license are good because the license made them good. Take Rogue Squadron II for the GameCube, that game is awesome. But does it really need to be set in the Star Wars universe to be a hit? Not really. That game is probably the best use of a movie license in recent years. But as Wing Commander proves, you don't need to base a space combat game on a license just to make it good.
Judging from the preview, it really doesn't look like the Farscape game is all that dependent on the Farscape universe. It's because of that alone I won't pay any attention to it. You might tell me to not judge a game by it's title, which is a fine argument. However, I'm the type of person who really appreciates inspired games. If they can't sell me in the marketing literature on why it needs to be Farscape and it can't be a brand new license, then chances are pretty good it's going to be mediochre at best. I mean read the preview, they're trying to excite me by saying "Yah they gave us a lot of freedom and let us make our own environments...". This concerns me because because it really smells like this was originally a different game and they were able to band-aid the Farscape license into it. "Lots of people will see 'Farscape' on the title and flock to buy it!". I'm insulted.
Farscape doesn't lend itself too well as an action game, but I really do think it's storyline could be made into an interesting adventure game like the ones I mentioned above. Imagine if they created it as a bunch of episodes that lead to one big conclusion, and you are control the characters through the development of the story. If any of you are fans of games like Day of the Tentacle then you will probably immediately see my enthusiasm for Farscape to be used this way. The uniqueness of Farscape is it's characters and its situations. But if you play a game where you run aruond shooting anybody, how can you expect it to make really good use of the license? From what little I've seen of Farscape, episodes rarely end in shootouts.
Personally, I think Quantum Leap would also translate well into this genre. Man, when I think about having a Quantum Leap story told in this fashion I get pretty hyped. That would be so cool to leap in, walk up to a mirror, and see a different reflection. Or to have the imaging chamber door open and have Al walk through and let you know what's up. Damn that'd be awesome. Man... I think Doctor Who could work that way too.
Pity the game industry thinks that the only genre out there is 'make your computer obsolete action'.
"Derp de derp."
Um, no, that was Gauntlet by Atari. Remember...elf needs food, badly!
i have a game boy advance.
i got tony hawk 2 for christmas and was disappointed. i traded it in last week for chu-chu rocket. i don't think i've made a better trade in my life. Including the time i traded my soul for a case of Jolt cola and tickets to the Slayer concert.
lysergically yours
I think Gowdy has an interesting point. (assuming he is making this point, hee hee) Licenses can really backfire.
If the true value of any game is the license (hah! I smirked at that), then it seems the only the people who are interested in the movie/tvshow/comic it's based on will pick up the box. Shows like Farscape tend to divide people into groups of "I love this show!" and groups of "The show sucks, and the ppl that watch it suck even more!!!"
Farscape's not so bad about this, but I can imagine a bunch of Star Trek fans laughing at the idea of a Babylon 5 game, even though there's been very little good to say about the Trek gaming franchise.
No matter how good the game is, using the Farscape license is a bit of a risk. I'm not that confident that the fan base that would buy the game on PC is broad enough to earn a profit.
"Derp de derp."
But Wing Commander also proves that going from Game to Movie usualy sucks more than the other way.
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
Sturgeon's Law applies.
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
You expect Slashdot to do an article about an exclusive for Mac game? That'll be the day.
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
You must be trolling, but I don't seem to care much... the first Star Trek series had dreck-all for a budget, ST:TNG ripped off a bunch of old episodes from the original series, and Voyager, to put it in simple terms, sucked.
Farscape may not be able to claim complete originality, if there even is such a thing any more in the sci-fi genre, but it is quite good. They don't make up their own science as they go along nearly as much as any of the Star Trek series do, especially Voyager, the characters are not one-dimensional, like most of the original series of Star Trek, and the sets are fairly well done.
Hands down, Farscape is, IMAO, the best sci-fi series on TV right now.
Kierthos
Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
Probably the reason CCR is such a fun multiplayer puzzle game is the fact that, unlike Tetris, the four players actually interact on the same field instead of multiple parallel fields. That, the speed, and the proximity make CCR digital happiness. I only wish there was a working DC emulator so I could play mad Chu Chu Rocket. And Jet Grind Radio.
> Sturgeon's Law applies.
90% of all laws are crap?
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
I think more games should be made like the old infocom games. If I had any kind of coding skill I'd take Neuromancer, adapt it from the c64/amiga game and use the Muddle language to make it into a text-based game. They're still fun, and there are parsers for every machine out there.
Well, you see, it is simple. Slashdot's roots are in a dinky little personal site started by a guy named Rob Malda, where he linked to things that interested him. Over the years, it has expanded, it readership has increased many fold and it is now owned by a company. And yet, it has retained it's intrisic policy towards stories. Whatever interests the editors. I am sure if it was otherwise the other fifty percent of the readership would be whining about how it had sold out.
Some people just don't get it.
The review was written by the Bob Colayco.
I found it quite irritating every time the Bob Colayco reffered to the ship as "the Moya". It is "the ship" or it is plain "Moya". Calling it "the Moya" just clashes. It also just screams "the Bob Colayco doesn't actually watch Farscape".
-
- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
Its not top-down ... Neither was diablo. diablo was isometric, as this appears to be.
Most top-down games (e.g. Metal Gear Solid, Zelda, Pokemon, Final Fantasy) are not drawn to be viewed from straight above but instead to be viewed from about 30 to 60 degrees to the horizon. The orientation of an isometric game is not that different, except the camera points northeast instead of north. In fact, though Starcraft is drawn isometric, it actually draws the world with square tiles. In addition, Bomberman 64 and Dungeon Keeper 2 have a key command to change in real time between a traditional "top down" view and an "isometric" view simply by rotating the camera.
Will I retire or break 10K?
...if I could just watch Farscape. By the time it returns in April, it will have been on reruns for seven months. And to make matters worse, they stopped in the middle of a story arc. Anybody remember how many Creightons are still alive?
Wing Commander wasn't very good, no. Think about video games, though. They are nearly *always* ridiculous situations for real people to be involved in. Mortal Kombat is a good example of that, so is Super Mario Bros. If they had animated these instead, then they could get away with the stupid lines and the unpractical physics.
Unfortunately, though, it still takes a decent story idea to make a good cartoon. "Swing your arms, from side to side, come it's time to go DO THE MARIO!!" Hee heee Anybody remember that?b
"Derp de derp."
Firstly, I agree with your take on licensing. Most licensed games that are good are simply good games, period, without the license. Tacking a franchise onto a mediocre game to improve sales always sounds like a good plan to marketroids, which is why they keep doing it, and making lousy franchise games. =P I don't know about anyone else's opinion, but I have YET to see a game under the Star Trek license, in ANY genre, that was worth a bucket of warm spit - and I have been watching new ST computer games for over 10 years. The number of decent Star Wars licensed games can be counted on the fingers of one hand, as well (and Rogue Squadron is one of them).
;-) I suppose I'm glad the WC series ended before it could slip any further. =\
;-) Some may say this was already done on consoles (Chrono Trigger), but I think Quantum Leap would be sufficiently unique to be worth the effort and the money.
;-). They write games that are deliberately short on graphics and sounds, long on plot. Check it out! http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/
It's funny you bring up Wing Commander, which has become a franchise in and of itself (or did, before Origin folded for no visible reason). I still consider WC's 1, 3, and 4 to be unparalleled masterpieces of the space-dogfight genre of computer games. Then we get Wing Commander: Prophecy which, while a decent game, seems to rely mostly on eye candy and the "look! another WC game!" factor to achieve sales, not to mention a really lackluster plot with holes I could pilot a Fralthi through.
I agree with you that Farscape would make a lousy or at least merely a contrived shooter game. The series isn't about combat, so making a combat game from it is as silly as all the attempts to make a combat game out of Star Trek. For game adaptions of such shows, puzzle-solving or roleplaying/interaction adventure games seem the way to go. Why are we seeing an MMORPG in the Star Wars universe and not in the ST universe? Simple, in Star Wars you have an excuse to have violence and conflict everywhere so you can have characters killing enemies and "levelling up", in the ST universe the only conflict is at the borders of the various empires (Federation, Romulan, Klingon, Kzinti, Cardassian, Dominion, etc.). It would be ludicrous to start a new human character on Earth and walk out in the wilderness outside Starfleet HQ and find swarms of monsters to fight. =P But that's the only concept game designers seem capable of understanding these days.
And finally, about Quantum Leap, I agree wholeheartedly. =) That was one of the coolest TV shows ever made, and an adventure game with it would be awesome! I'm not sure whether the game would come with "episodes" which could be run in random or predetermined order, or whether there would be a string of episodes where choices Sam makes in one "life" affect the way things happen in another one. Changing history? Hints of Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder", anyone?
And finally, I know how you feel about the "make your computer obsolete action". I've been computer gaming pretty much obsessively since '91, IIRC, and if the "more eye candy == better!!" school of thought were correct, you'd expect that I would have seen a steady, overall improvement in computer games from then until now, eh? Well, I haven't. Some of my favorite games to this day are games I played back in my early days, the Zork games, the original Wolfenstein, Dune 2, Civilization, etc. Of course, there have been good games more recently, but the quality depends on the dedication to making a great gaming experience, not on how pretty it looks or sounds. Few computer games companies seem to understand this concept any more; one that does is Spiderweb Software (no, I don't work for them, this plug is because I happen to like their games
Cheers,
Kasreyn
Kasreyn: Cheerfully playing the part of Devil's Advocate to hairtrigger
Because video game characters are usually gorgeous.
__
Do ya feel happy-go-lucky, punk?
The series, no. It's awful. But watch the original 4 episode miniseries if you get a chance, it's good, dark, moody sci-fi. Dune on crack.