Re: A review of Infernal Machine

Posted by HothRebel from 1Cust1.tnt48.dfw5.da.uu.net on January 10, 2000 at 08:40:23:

In Reply to: A review of Infernal Machine posted by Impulse on January 08, 2000 at 15:07:31:

: Improvements that should be made:

: -Indy's figure must be taller, more heroic
: -There should be descriptions of what Indy is to do in each level, instead of just dropping him somewhere without explanation
: -The graphics problems should be cleaned up
: -Another writer; one that understands Indy (Max McCoy?) should write
: -Swifter and less bug ridden controls
: -The whip should be fixed to be a more effective weapon
: -Possibly another voice for Indy; someone that can sound more like Harrison Ford, although Doug Lee's strong acting gets a thumbs up from me.

------------------------------------------------

Here is an answer to at least some of your questions-

Most of the game didn't require an explanation of the levels- the main objective of the game as a whole was explained at the beginning- you have to travel to different parts of the world to find the pieces of the Infernal Machine. The river level for example was easy, usually in most games if you find an enemy camp- the objective usually will be to infiltrate it, same scenario here. Then finding an upright bridge indicated that you had to find a way to lower it- Indy even tells you this when you find it. LEC apparently wanted you to figure out each objective as you played it- which usually worked out pretty well- a few levels could have used a little more clues, but they weren't lacking to the point of not being able to complete the game.
The graphics in this game require a high res card and fast comp- a 200mhz was specified as a minimum- so in other words a 300-400mhz is really needed to enjoy it, but even then the large outdoor areas are still choppy- simply because this game is based on a 'modified' Jedi Knight engine- which is also the reason for all the bugs. When they started this game it was to be much simpler, but as technology advanced and graphics advanced- they decidied that this game also had to move up in the world. Therefore instead of scrapping what was already made- they decided to re-write 75% of the engine halfway through production and advance what they had, which created problems- bugs, and it's STILL an old engine no matter how you look at it. The keyboard commands are strange because they took the basic key commands from Jedi Knight and tried to incorporate a Tomb Raider-like playability into those. When they had changed elements of the engine- it also changed elements of the gameplay- mainly the fighting/use of weaponry, they had to add the autoaim feature because when they re-wrote the engine they couldn't incorporate the 1st person view into the game anymore. This game is a good example of what a company should NOT do in terms of keeping up with technology. All this upgrading to the engine combined with their deadlines resulted in a very buggy game- just a few more months of testing would have resulted in a LOT less problems, but people wanted the game NOW and so we got it just like it was.

Overall I did enjoy the game, even with the bugs- probably because I'm a big Jedi Knight fan and I was impressed with how far they took the engine- but it really needed a new one rather than an upgrade. With all of the problems that they had making it, combined with the problems they're having now fixing all the bugs- I honestly doubt you'll see any kind of sequel in the near future.

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: : Improvements that should be made:

: : -Indy's figure must be taller, more heroic
: : -There should be descriptions of what Indy is to do in each level, instead of just dropping him somewhere without explanation
: : -The graphics problems should be cleaned up
: : -Another writer; one that understands Indy (Max McCoy?) should write
: : -Swifter and less bug ridden controls
: : -The whip should be fixed to be a more effective weapon
: : -Possibly another voice for Indy; someone that can sound more like Harrison Ford, although Doug Lee's strong acting gets a thumbs up from me.

: ------------------------------------------------

: 
: Here is an answer to at least some of your questions-

: Most of the game didn't require an explanation of the levels- the main objective of the game as a whole was explained at the beginning- you have to travel to different parts of the world to find the pieces of the Infernal Machine. The river level for example was easy, usually in most games if you find an enemy camp- the objective usually will be to infiltrate it, same scenario here. Then finding an upright bridge indicated that you had to find a way to lower it- Indy even tells you this when you find it. LEC apparently wanted you to figure out each objective as you played it- which usually worked out pretty well- a few levels could have used a little more clues, but they weren't lacking to the point of not being able to complete the game.
: The graphics in this game require a high res card and fast comp- a 200mhz was specified as a minimum- so in other words a 300-400mhz is really needed to enjoy it, but even then the large outdoor areas are still choppy- simply because this game is based on a 'modified' Jedi Knight engine- which is also the reason for all the bugs. When they started this game it was to be much simpler, but as technology advanced and graphics advanced- they decidied that this game also had to move up in the world. Therefore instead of scrapping what was already made- they decided to re-write 75% of the engine halfway through production and advance what they had, which created problems- bugs, and it's STILL an old engine no matter how you look at it. The keyboard commands are strange because they took the basic key commands from Jedi Knight and tried to incorporate a Tomb Raider-like playability into those. When they had changed elements of the engine- it also changed elements of the gameplay- mainly the fighting/use of weaponry, they had to add the autoaim feature because when they re-wrote the engine they couldn't incorporate the 1st person view into the game anymore. This game is a good example of what a company should NOT do in terms of keeping up with technology. All this upgrading to the engine combined with their deadlines resulted in a very buggy game- just a few more months of testing would have resulted in a LOT less problems, but people wanted the game NOW and so we got it just like it was.

: Overall I did enjoy the game, even with the bugs- probably because I'm a big Jedi Knight fan and I was impressed with how far they took the engine- but it really needed a new one rather than an upgrade. With all of the problems that they had making it, combined with the problems they're having now fixing all the bugs- I honestly doubt you'll see any kind of sequel in the near future.

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