From: patlin_s@cubldr.colorado.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
Subject: Re: Mac games vs PC Games- comparison (again!)
Date: 12 Oct 92 00:46:30 GMT
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder

>>Shareware!?  Wing Commander, Ultima Underworld, Lucasfilm's upcoming X-Wing
>>game, Aces of the Pacific, Ultima LXVII (or whatever it is now).  SHAREWARE?
>>It is true that PC games are packaged with a lot of fluff, but there are
>>real games underneath, and they are (arguably) superior to anything out
>>for the Macintosh.  Wing Commander is an exercise in "endless animation",
>>with digitized sound and voices to boot.  Doesn't this MAKE the game?
>>I didn't sit there between missions saying "Damn, I wish this irritating
>>full-screen animated interlude would get off my screen and stop making
>>all that cool music."
>   Huh.  I did.  The one and only time I played Wing Commander, my
> impression was that it was the most boring, fluffy game I had seen in
> years.  I mean, the actual *game* really isn't all that interesting, the
> music is gratuitous at best (I always just have my stereo on when I'm
> playing games, and the music I have on CD is a hell of a lot better than
> the stuff Wing Commander plays, so why bother?), and the "endless
> animation" did indeed seem endless to me.  Games should be fast-action,
> they shouldn't do all of this animation and crap unless they're adventure
> games or something, and Wing Commander didn't feel nearly complex enough to
> be called an adventure game...

    Fast action is great, but Wing Commander II (Sorry if this changes
anything from WCI, I claim limitted experience) really brought me in to
the game with all of its animation and music.  I'm sure it's just a question
of everyone having their own tastes, but I tend to loose interest in the
strictly shoot 'em up type games fairly quickly.
    I really liked WCII, and would be willing to pay a relatively outrageous
fee to get it on my Mac.  The weapons meshed with my notion of physics,
I liked the 3d space combat, and the animation gave the whole thing
a strong story element that kept me on the edge of my seat.  Moving from
one kind of ship to another, and meeting different kind of enemies in a
logical sequence was really fun, and all the "fluff" sort of helped a
suspension of disbelief.
    My favorite Mac games are the SSI types, and there are some similiar
reasons.  They just wouldn't be the same without the ability to watch
the story unfold.  They'd also be mutch improved if the story element
recieved some additional attention.  [Glaring example in Pool Of Darkness:
1) I help establish Sasha in a keep 2) I'm then told she's been kidnapped
3) I go back to the keep, she is still there.  4) Later, I discover her
and rescue her from her kidnappers..... this kind of lack of attention to
detail is anoying.]

>   Well, if better means more fluffy like Wing Commander, I'm quite
> happy with Mac games as they are.  I admit there is a lot of room for
> improvement, but I would hardly hold up PC games as the goal to strive
> for...

   I'm certain that others agree with you.  As a programmer, your time and
effort certainly provide a demonstration of the kind of games you like.  For
my money, I'll take the fluff when I can get it, though.  And I'm sure I'm
not alone...

Scott