Pirates, Legends, and Torque
Okay, just some really brief reviews here:

Pirates of the Caribbean
It needed a fight scene near the beginning (like the wonderful fight in the smithy in the first movie), and needed some tighter editing - it felt like it was about 15-20 minutes too long. Beyond that, though, I loved it. Not quite as good as the first, but it's still edging out Cars as the best movie I've seen all summer. Dunno if this says great things about Pirates, or bad things about the other movie. Probably both. But ultimately, I had a great time watching this show. More Swashbuckling!

Rise of Legends
I've only had a chance to play a little of this game, but I was a huge fan of Rise of Nations. This game has a distinctly different feel, and it definitely feels like it's got some Warcraft III envy. However, I was afraid of a Total Annihilation: Kingdoms-style disaster, and so far it's not that. Don't you love how I'm referencing other games to provide me with a vocabulary to describe this thing?

So far, it's a lot of fun. I've only played one race so far, but I dig the "Steampunk" theme of that race. You can bring in heroes, something we've seen before in other games (I'm mainly thinking Age of Mythology here), and airlifting units is a potentially major role (a la Starcraft). One fairly fresh mechanic is (for the Vinci race, at least) are the building up of cities with multiple "districts" to increase your race's capabilities. I also like how you must capture OR purchase neutral cities and structures. The purchase option really gives a bit more oomph to players who favor economics. Not only do you gain possession of these buildings (and, in the case of barracks, possibly new units) without bloodshed, but the defending troops augment your own army. INTERESTING! I'm anxious to play it a bit more and see how that pans out.

Like Rise of Nations, the "Easy" difficulty is "ludicrously easy", and there are SEVERAL difficulty levels and single-player options to tailor your experience to your own skill level.

So it looks like a gem so far.

Torque Game Builder
I'm still fiddling around with Torque Game Builder, attempting to collect enough data to put together a somewhat more in-depth review. I've actually fiddled with three different types of games so far - an RPG engine, a casual-style matching game, and a shoot-em-up. No, I don't sleep much these days.

What I can say so far is that it's a lot more stable than it was for my RC1 "first-time-user" review. I'm still frustrated that what I consider to be the "killer feature" of TGB - the ability to render 3D objects (to make your 2D games look really cool) - is hobbled by lack of direct UI support (not a big deal) , lack of DirectX support (a VERY big deal!), and bugs.

If you are sticking with pure 2D bitmapped graphics, however, I'd call it a winner. I'm pretty dang impressed. I can't help but admire the functionality they've given the toolset. From a codebase perspective (I've had to get my hands dirty a few times with the underlying C++ source code), I have to admit that TGB layer is MUCH cleaner, better architected, and easier to follow than the Torque Game Engine. They've put some real thought into it, and it shows.

I'll have a more in-depth review at some point, after I've played around with a few more features. But the more I play with it, the more tickled I get with the tools and functionality it provides. I'm gonna say that's a good thing, and that the full source option is WELL worth the price as a serious indie game developer.

Labels: Movies, Torque

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 8:35 AM (Permalink)