I soooooooo wanted to like the newest Sim City. Thanks for the review Kevin VanOrd. I'm glad about the game's feedback system and about city specialization; the latter has been on my wish list throughout the franchise. But I am disappointed about the small amount land we're allowed to develop and the dropping of the lot of silliness & irreverence of the earlier versions. And restrictions on modding??? PLEASE! This online stuff REALLY is so unnecessary. Pirating!!!Schmirating!!! Though I grew up with and love the franchise, I'll wait till it goes on sale. Thanks again Gamespot for letting us know! :)
Wow, I can't believe they actually are going to redo Rome: Total War. It really is the flagship of the Total War franchise. I just hope that phrases like "The developers would like fewer, more-significant battles; for players to build their empire from the ground up" aren't code words for dumbing down. Seen it in too many great franchises turned weak.
The gamemakers aren't the only ones on finite budgets. When I see a game on sale, I'm willing to look at GameSpot reviews to see if it's worth my time. But it's easy to take the reviews a little too much for granted. I've often been finding the sequels to big name franchises that I think have been watered down to be overrated in the reviews, while some awfully fun indie games tend to be overlooked or underrated. It probably could be the "polish" thing or a matter of pre-expectations. Thanks for the introspection though!
Awright: It's my money. Despite my enjoyment of this hobby, I'm going to be judicious in how I spend my resources just as the industry spends theirs. I still get enjoyment fr my older versions of the Civilization and Total War franchises and am completely happy not to spend any more money, for good or for bad. However I would not have thought about going retro or going for sales if today's quality hadn't deteriorated. And I suspect that despite the number of fans who are committed on this site, the industry has long decided that the number of hardcore gamers has dwindled compared to casual players, and they are going after them instead regardless of what the rest of us do anyway. I think it's probable that if the industry believes the market is larger for the deeper games, then then they might find ways to make the accommodations needed to get back the share. Chicken or the egg? Whatever! Just like other industries in the economy have been discovering, they'll have to learn how to innovate to get more out of less, just like consumers automatically have to do.
I don't know the industry well enough to tell makers how they should model the business well enough to make money while pleasing the consumer. But as a consumer I do know that I've observed that the higher quality games are becoming fewer, less complicated (to the point of being dumbed down IMO), more expensive, and dispensed in fewer venues, while so called "casual games" have exploded in numbers, cost much less, and can be found anywhere. Even though I love my games and I respect that it still is a business, I have no intention of rewarding the industry for their current trends. I'll continue to either buy my games used or ehem"pre-owned" (gotta love that euphemism!) or buy them online (as I usually do) only when they go on sale at a reasonable price. I hope they are paying attention!!!
I love the franchise, but in terms of comparisons it's still the same formula: get from point A to point B without dying and while blowing away the enemy along the way. The game, regardless of the iteration, just simply does it VERY well!!!
As a parent who monitors the Internet for safety for my children I see it as a potential generational thing. I go to computer to escape fr the world after a long hard day of work and life responsibilities. Whereas much of youth go online to broadcast themselves and let themselve be known to others in whatever form pleases them.
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