The whole game lends itself a soothing, friendly, almost cartoony environment that would be perfect for a kid. The game’s overall lack of tension, its numerous life lessons (honesty and loyalty are usually rewarded), and its nonexistent body count made me think that, should I ever decide to completely reverse my priorities and actually raise a child, this would be a perfect first game for him or her. Granted, the robots can be armed with guns or swords and one of the characters says “ass” every once in a while, but Steambot Chronicles could just have easily been named My First Nonlinear Adventure Game. As I walked through the city of Nefroburg and talked to all the amiable citizens, it occurred to me: this is a perfect children’s game. Granted, many of these branching conversations pretty much end the same way, but it’s still nice to have some control over how the hero responds to people, and to then see how people react to him.Īll of these different aspects of the game - the idealistic sense of right and wrong, the lack fo violence, nonlinearity and the illusion of player choice - gave me a weird thought. For example, when Corriander asks you to take her to her gig across the desert, you can “Be gentlemanly,” “Be reluctant,” or “Be irritated.” when people ask you questions about yourself, you can tell the truth or lie when women hit on you (and they will), you can react excitedly or play it cool. You aren’t allowed to pick exactly what you will say, but are instead presented with general choices. People frequently talk to Vanilla, and the player always gets some degree of choice as to how to respond. But after spending months playing Grand Theft Auto and Gears of War and God of War, who’s to say that a little naivete can’t be a good thing?Īlso of note is the conversation system. So, yeah, the world of Steambot Chronicles may be more than a little naive. Furthermore, after getting kidnapped by some desert bandits, the hero and his sidekick can not only talk their way out of getting killed, but can also patch things up with the bandits by - and this is not an exaggeration - singing a song for them. If the hero actually defeats the leader, then the baddie will make the hero the effing boss of the gang, and all the members will immediately accept this fact. Furthermore, even the villains in the game seem to live by an idealized code of honor: when the protagonist is caught infiltrating the secret base of the Killer Elephant gang, instead of being shot or drawn and quartered, the hero is invited to duel the Killer Elephant leader mano a mano. After defeating a baddie’s trotmobile in combat, he flies out of the cockpit and runs away to safety, keeping the body count at zero. No character ever dies, because combat never takes place outside of the main vehicle in the game, the bipedal combat/transportation machine known as a Trotmobile.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |