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Bang! Gunship Elite and simplifying sims


Gryphon
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Hi all,

Just got my hands on Red Storm's new space sim, "Bang! Gunship Elite" and I've got some quick commentary.

If you've seen screenshots, you'll know this is a pretty title. It is, and it runs smoothly on my P-233 RivaTNT at 800x600 with the details turned up. Shocking.

Whats interesting about this particular sim is its simplification. You've got targetting controls, a rocket booster, a shield option and your fire button. That's it. You can switch between weapons by hitting buttons 1-9, like an FPS.

It's so hideously easy to learn it makes me twitch. After mastering all of Freespace's various targetting options and energy management controls, not to mention learning to run a Battlecruiser efficiently, Bang! seemed to almost mock everything in the genre that has come before it.

Basically, if you like an arcade space shooter where little to no thought is required, pick up the demo. The eye candy is nice and multiplayer should be a romp.

I'd love to hear what everyone else thinks of this title.

Erik

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Well, I gave the demo a quick whirl and my eyes nearly glazed over from the background. It looked like a squarish-box used for the gameplay area with a background crudely pasted onto there. Maybe there's just some kind of graphics setting I missed or something... I'll give the demo another whirl soon.

Gameplay seems to be entertaining though.. for those days where your brain has exploded and you don't want to worry about any damn Shivan Juggernauts, Torpedo Bombers, insane asteroid Barons, or those nutty Gammulans (anyone who can think of the games I'm all referring to gets a free TDOGNA - Temporal Denial of Garden Gnome Attack smile.gif) Like I said though, I'll have to give the demo another whirl to get a full idea of it.

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Cmdr. Parias

Spectre Fleet

Chief Engineer, Starstation Destiny

ICV-Galatae

ICQ:1293359

Staff member at HardNews

"Next time you're passing by and feel like dropping in, keep passing by untill you get to a river, and THEN drop in." -Jake Logan

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Every time I've heard mention of the game it was refered to as an "Arcade Space Shooter" so I wouldn't have expected it to have any complexity. However that also means I have little to no interest in it... :

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quote:

Originally posted by Vorpal:

Every time I've heard mention of the game it was refered to as an "Arcade Space Shooter" so I wouldn't have expected it to have any complexity. However that also means I have little to no interest in it... :


Heh, that's a great description of it, actually. Still, its a hoot in multiplayer. smile.gif

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dl'd it, played it, liked it. Good high-end-capable graphics, high excitement factor, zero learning curve, but definitely a work-in-progress (I hope, only for Red Storm's sake): miserable multiplayer connectivity issues over the touted Zone. Yeah, I know, As If...

imho, why it succeeds is also why it fails.

I don't know why, but I expected another Human-Cooperative-Capable issue from Red Storm, a la Rogue Spear. Multiplayer implicitly means Many Other Human People, and why go to the trouble of going online to get only yourself pounded by various 13-year-old loner kids with Serious Issues To Resolve?

Impressive eye-candy, but "Bang! Gunship Elite" inevitably gets a Thumbs-Down from me because there is no human team, Insurgent, Galcom, or otherwise, no caste even, that is there to back me up. Nobody for me to cover the six for.

My take on it anyway.

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Gryphon: Cool! In case my wording is bad in my previous post I wasn't trying to diss the game btw, I have a personal preference (bandwidth issue) against arcade types (yet I do still play a kick ass Vega on one of the local Golf Land Street Fighter's =)

This would have to be the first MP arcade game I've heard of though (not counting Dreamcast or other consoles).

[This message has been edited by Vorpal (edited 07-26-2000).]

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quote:

Originally posted by Vorpal:

Gryphon: Cool!
In case my wording is bad in my previous post
I wasn't trying to diss the game btw, I have a personal preference (bandwidth issue) against arcade types (yet I do still play a kick ass Vega on one of the local Golf Land Street Fighter's =)

This would have to be the first MP
arcade
game I've heard of though (not counting Dreamcast or other consoles).


I knew you weren't dissing it, and you're not alone in the bandwidth category. Sigh. What keeps me coming back to Bang is the speed...I have a Crappy Computer, but the game runs smoothly. I think the developers achieved this by seriously cutting corners in some places and REALLY simplfying mechanics...I mean, you can rain unholy fire upon an enemy fighter, but unless you actually have him targetted, you can't really hit him...jeez wink.gif

I dunno. I'm going to be reviewing this puppy and I have no idea what to say about it. Guess I'll just tell the truth smile.gif

Erik

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