December Together Retro - Robots Fighting Robots!

[Ack]

Hmm, ok. I had trouble getting into Shattered Steel, so it sounds like Earthsiege would not be a wise pick up for me.

[MrPopo]

Earthsiege also costs $0 since Hi-Rez made it available, so it's worth a try.

[Ack]

Ah, free. Now you're talking my language.

[Gunstar Green]

I think most people are better off skipping Earthsiege and going straight to Earthsiege 2 because it's literally the same game only better. Same repetitive missions and everything. Unless you have a Windows 9x machine though it is a real pain in the ass to get working properly whereas the first game runs perfectly in DOSBox.

[MrPopo]

So to get Earthsiege 2 running on a modern system use the installer from the Sierra Help Pages and Dxwnd's profiles to launch the game. If you do both of those things then it'll work flawlessly. But you're 100% right that it is the same game. The changes so far are:

1. You start higher on the tech tree
2. Terrain has levels
3. They switched the bindings for auto tracking and target enemy
4. Flyers are EVEN MORE OBNOXIOUS
5. You have to manually exit missions, which means when flyers are around it's a game of "did the game think you are safe at THIS instant?"

Oh, and what the fuck is the Razor? Who on the dev team thought it would be a good idea to put an aircraft into the game when nothing about the engine is suited for a player controlled aircraft?

[Gunstar Green]

The game uses the Silent Thunder: A-10 Tank Killer II engine, so I guess somebody at Dynamix thought, "wouldn't it be cool if we added a plane?"

Well it wasn't cool.

[MrPopo]

You've convinced me not to find a copy of A-10 Tank Killer II. I can't imagine it playing well.

[MrPopo]

And I've finished up my selection of robots having dust ups with machines. Starsiege is unfortunately quite the letdown compared to the previous two games; they completely bungle the combat physics and it doesn't play very well as a result.

[Ack]

My wife bought me the Capcom Belt Scroller Collection, so I'm checking out Armored Warriors. This was a beat em up I had always wanted to try, and now that I've gotten my hands on it, holy crap! This may be a new favorite. The ability to swap out parts on the fly from defeated enemies is a genius mechanic.

My first playthrough, I'm sticking with Blodia, but there are so many weapon and leg combinations that I'm having to pick up on the fly, and each of these have a variety of moves hidden away or styles of using that I have yet to get the hang of. Want a drill, a laser, and tank treads? Sure! How about a plasma sword, flamethrower, and quad legs? You got it!

I wish I could have experienced this in arcades in the mid-90s. It's also a shame that Aliens vs Predator was not part of the bundle, but I think I'm good at the moment without it.