Wasteland 2 - First Impression @ Steamfirst

[Couchpotato]

Steamfirst has posted a video were they take a look at the Beta of Wasteland 2.

The highly anticipated post-apocalyptic game from inXile is finally out! (kinda) After raising nearly 3 million dollars on Kickstarter, can Wasteland 2 live up to all the hype? Unfortunately it can not. While the game lacks in fun factor, it still manages to shine in many of the areas that made the old Fallout games, as well as the original Wasteland, great. Despite its flaws, there is still plenty to like regarding Wasteland 2. It’s strategic and gritty at heart, but struggles to maintain focused gameplay.

More information.

 

[Roq]

Was wondering if the review was done before or after the last big update. Also although he criticises the "gameplay", that appears to be mainly on the grounds that he wasn't able to work out the UI and game mechanisms in the limited time he played the game - so not sure what to make of that. And presumably tutorial aspects of the game are something that will likely be added before release.

Presumably, since the game is in beta, release is reasonably imminent i.e. months, rather than next year. And It is hard to get an impression of whether some of the things he mentions can be fixed in the short term. Does anyone who has had a look at early access have an opinion?

 

[TomRon]

IMO opinion this guy isn't worth listening to. His three biggest problems with the game are:

1: Graphics. "They raised three Million, they could have better graphics." I believe the graphics are just fine, even good, although I would have liked "paperdolls".

2: The HUD. I had no problem with it when I played, the new iteration is supposed to be even better. Also, a WIP, this is a BETA!

3: No tutorial and the game is unforgiving. Wait, what? That's a pro in my book, at least the unforgiving part.

 

[DArtagnan]

The HUD was pretty terrible when I tried it - and that's a 100% legitimate criticism. Given the level of experience these devs have, I find it surprising they came up with something so utterly opaque and pointlessly complex.

 

[TomRon]

The HUD was pretty terrible when I tried it - and that's a 100% legitimate criticism. Given the level of experience these devs have, I find it surprising they came up with something so utterly opaque and pointlessly complex.

I agree that some things were pretty bad, especially inventory management. But most of it felt perfectly fine to me, but maybe I'm to forgiving.

 

[joxer]

I'm not quite sure what's the point of an article on singleplayer beta game(s).
While I can understand getting more subscribers and cows to milk with payed articles on beta MMOs, this is beta of a singleplayer crowdfunded game where IMO feedback should go directly to devs.

 

[TomRon]

I'm not quite sure what's the point of an article on singleplayer beta game(s).
While I can understand getting more subscribers and cows to milk with payed articles on beta MMOs, this is beta of a singleplayer crowdfunded game where IMO feedback should go directly to devs.

Yeah, it's pretty weird with "reviews" asking the question "should you buy it?". I can understand "Let's play", but reviews of an unfinished game is not really interesting journalism...

 

[Drithius]

This is what you get when you have alpha, beta, and "early-access" copies floating around for months prior to an official release: reviews based on a half-complete game; it's noone's fault but the developer's and their short-sightedness. Game integrity (not to mention launch hype) must be preserved in a media-saturated world with a short attention span.

 

[Morrandir]

it's noone's fault but the developer's

I think the reviewers need to adapt to this new release culture by clearly stating which version they've tested and which problems might or might not be solved in the final release. This is more work, yes. But noone forces them to do reviews on unfinished games.

 

[Roq]

@Drithius - I think we need to appreciate that, in the absence of publishers, developers need to leverage the funding in any way they can to bridge the funding gap. The $3M from Kickstarter might sound like a lot, but it's still a fraction of the amount that games such as XCOM EU cost to make and I think the fans will be disappointed if the standard falls below games like that. I for one wasn't too impressed by what Shadowrun Returns did with $2m and fingers crossed that WL2 greatly exceeds that standard both in quantity of content and quality of design.