Endgame: Singularity; who says AI don't have feelings?

[Aldurin]

This is my second favorite open-source game right after Battle for Wesnoth. (http://www.emhsoft.com/singularity/)

Even though it's only version 0.3 it's still pretty amazing and beats many of those DSiware games and other $10 downloadables. I personally like how it makes you feel in the position of the singularity having to survive.

Don't say you can't afford it since it's free.

[Premmy]

Too rich for my blood, sorry, can't afford it.

[Krylo]

Downloaded it, played it.

Took a few tries to figure out how it all worked, but I did eventually beat it the other night.

Pros: Neat subject matter. ... ... ... Yeah that's about it.

Cons: The mechanics are both too obtuse and too simplistic to allow any real exploration to play. There's, more or less, one way to play, and that's it. However, the game gives you few, if any, hints as to what this best way is. Thus you spend your first however many games muddling about being discovered before you can even teleoperate, and the every game there after winning on yawn mode.

Further, there's nothing for you to do other than research things, make money, and buy the best things available with your money. Once you reach a certain point there is absolutely no incentive to buy anything but the absolute best that you can afford.

Basically playing the game goes like this:
Buy four bases.
Figure out what you can research fastest. Research that.
Buy upgrades whenever possible.
Rebuy bases as they are discovered.
Repeat. Eventually sustaining more bases.
Win.

Now lots of games which are actually good can be simplified as such, the difference being that, with those games, it is actually a simplification. With Singularity that is, literally, the entirety of the game.

It's alright for an indie game, and could develop into something better with maybe a few different game modes and more than a single winning condition.

As it stands now, however, it's basically terrible.

[Aldurin]

Downloaded it, played it.

Took a few tries to figure out how it all worked, but I did eventually beat it the other night.

Pros: Neat subject matter. ... ... ... Yeah that's about it.

Cons: The mechanics are both too obtuse and too simplistic to allow any real exploration to play. There's, more or less, one way to play, and that's it. However, the game gives you few, if any, hints as to what this best way is. Thus you spend your first however many games muddling about being discovered before you can even teleoperate, and the every game there after winning on yawn mode.

Further, there's nothing for you to do other than research things, make money, and buy the best things available with your money. Once you reach a certain point there is absolutely no incentive to buy anything but the absolute best that you can afford.

Basically playing the game goes like this:
Buy four bases.
Figure out what you can research fastest. Research that.
Buy upgrades whenever possible.
Rebuy bases as they are discovered.
Repeat. Eventually sustaining more bases.
Win.

Now lots of games which are actually good can be simplified as such, the difference being that, with those games, it is actually a simplification. With Singularity that is, literally, the entirety of the game.

It's alright for an indie game, and could develop into something better with maybe a few different game modes and more than a single winning condition.

As it stands now, however, it's basically terrible.

Ya, I didn't really play after I beat in on it's max difficulty. I hope it improves a lot more as it approaches 1.0. I remember back before it had the day/night mapping and half of the security upgrades.

I guess I kinda get hyped up about any free game that is generally functional. At least I don't go spouting off about FreeDroidRPG or something (freakin' worst rpg that you can't pay for).