The accompanying site for this game is what sets it apart. Not only do you download the game from this site, you can also check out the boards to see just who is the best player in terms of all stats, not just kills and win ratios. There are also message boards that are being kept up for basic discussion of the game as well as a glitches forum where players can voice their concerns about problems they’ve had with their games, as well as an area to make suggestions as to where the game can improve. The company is leaving a team of developers dedicated to the game for an entire year following the release date to perform updates and also to create new classes of characters, and possibly some different Hellbourne units.
This level of dedication to this game is what makes it stand above the rest in its genre. The battle system can take quite a bit of getting used to, and performing most of your commander’s orders becomes difficult when he is yelling out commands to do things you didn’t even know were possible. For RTS or shooter fans alike, this is an excellent outing. But for fans of games who have never tried this sort of thing before, it’s going to take a while to get used to all of its nuances. While the tutorial tries to inundate you with every feature of the game, it doesn’t quite prepare you for what you will encounter once you log into a real battle.
This seems more like a game that was designed by hardcore gamers, for hardcore gamers. While the game does feature a tiered server system, which doesn’t allow players who have logged in a ton of hours on the game to go back to the kiddy servers and beat up on all the rookies. This early in the game’s release though, it doesn’t prevent those that are familiar with these games from remaining in these servers for quite a few game hours before they ascend into the higher tiers. Maybe in a few months when the user base has been a bit more established will it be possible for a beginner to jump on and actually play with true noobs. For now this game does stand as a valiant contender as one of the best large-scale action games out there.
The game can be found only at s2games.com. There is a one-time fee that lets you gain unlimited play from the servers for life. Those of you who still want a hard copy can order a full boxed version of the game for a higher price, which has a physical disc and manual.
Savage 2 is something of an anomaly in the current lineup of PC games, borrowing elements from Natural Selection, Planetside, Hellgate: London and others. Whether you’re a RTS fan, a FPS junkie, or you’re looking for the next great competitive action RPG, you’ll find something to like in Savage 2.
Posted 01/28/08
Hello readers, Captain Almighty here.
I wanted to call attention to the Rebuttal (below) the fine citizens over at S2 Games sent over in response to our review. I am glad they decided to take advantage of one of Game Almighty's unique features. It is a standing policy that if a developer, PR representative, or publisher connected to any game we review disagrees with our score, we will happily post their unedited rebuttal on the same page for all of our readers to factor in to their decision regarding the game. We want Game Almighty to be an open forum for discussion and a voice for not just our own writers and super heroes, but the consumers and heroes who make and play the games as well. So industry members please contact us with your rebuttals, and readers be sure to take advantage or our robust User Input capabilities which allow registered members to post their own articles and reviews.
Finally, I want to encourage all of our readers to try Savage 2. Mr. DeForest makes some good points and since you can download the demo for free, why not evaluate it for yourselves? The original was a groundbreaking effort that took many of the industry's rules and turned them on their head. As a super hero fighting to save this industry, I believe it is important for us all to support independent developers thinking outside the box. That being said, like most other sites we still review games in the state they are in at the time of release. Unlike other sites however, we also use the entire score range from 1 to 10, not just 6 and up which means your game is definitely one we're still recommending.
Thank you all for your passion and commitment to Truth, Justice, and Video Games.
If your team has a commander, a builder cannot build anything of his own volition other than gold-mines, he can only assist in building structures that the commander has sanctioned (ie, has placed in the RTS commander view). Only when a team has no commander, can it's builders build anything from the team's funds, to prevent the game grinding to a halt due to a commander disconnecting or simply getting bored and resigning.
( +1 | -1 )( +1 | -0 )Wowradio is right about the builders - they can only build when you don't have a commander, and commanders are so important that you'll rarely be without one in a good game.
One thing that needs to be said about the game is that while it has an unusually high learning curve, everything you do right has amazingly satisfying rewards. The game in the hands of even a mediocre group of players is an amazingly intense experience, but with a group of skilled veterans it's truly something else.
( +1 | -0 )( +0 | -0 )( +0 | -0 )1. Those that are "intelligent" enough to spend time utilizing their buggy tutorial, browsing their out-of-date website, or playing with a trial and error mentality.
2. Impatient, ADD ridden morons who are too lazy and lack the concentration to compile the information provided by S2Games.
This is of course untrue and a gross simplification of the player base available. I am personally new to the Savage 2 community, but have been enjoying the game very much and highly recommend people at least try out the 5 hour trial.
With that said, I do believe that the developer would have an easier time attracting people if they'd stop taking an elitist stance, and make information (strategies, tactics, commander tutorials, etc) more readily available.
( +0 | -0 )Truth #1: More players actively play Savage 1 than Savage 2. Why? Because they have overcomplicated a nice system. Savage 1 benefits from a large community which has spent the last several years working out the bugs left by the original designers.
Truth #2 - The new game sucks after the first few plays. It gets boring having your character wiped out by one of the few 'uber players' who had a six month head start in the 'open beta'.
Truth #3 - There are still massive bugs and performance issues. It's not even a beta by any reasonable standard. The number of patches after it has gone gold, while not large for a game with 12 months under it's belt, is massive for a game less than 12 weeks old.
( +0 | -0 )
