PM>  Depends on the technology involved.  First-person shooters are probably
 PM>  not a great place to demo a really great auto racing sim engine, or
 PM>  a puzzle-maker, or whatever.
  Obviously enough.  As John Carmack has said, it's doubtful there will be a 
"do-everything" engine in the near future.  Engines like Build and Quake II 
are best for indoor and/or humanized environments, but flounder somewhat when 
they're taken outside.  For that, you need something closer to Terra Nova's 
engine (still impressive, when you think about it).  While I don't know how 
close Prey will get to that, I know that one of the focii of id's Trinity 
engine will be the outdoors.
 PM>  They are getting better at making it seem real, though, which is 
probably
 PM>  part of the goal, hopefully not at the expense of gameplay.
  But of course, that brings up an interesting issue... at what point does 
realism start to destroy the entertainment?  I think part of peoples' worries 
is that they don't know how future games will play.  We're used to killing 
dozens of enemies per level (or environment, as the Prey team insists).  But 
in real life, barring unusual circumstances, you couldn't do that.  I think a 
nice game would be one where just killing ONE person feels like an 
achievement.  That may happen with Prey... way back when they expected it for 
late 1996 (ha!), they said they would cut down on the number of enemies and 
improve their skill enough to make it more like a single-player deathmatch.  
If that works out correctly, Prey should be a blast.
 PM>  And as far as technology goes, it's not so bad that 3dR has made other
 PM>  sorts of games.  Sometimes doing other games can help a developer see
 PM>  the forrest for the trees, so to speak.  Or just learn how to do things
 PM>  in other and perhaps innovative ways.
  I know that would help - that's part of why I asked about games other than 
1st-person ones.  The question is, just what should they do?  A racing game, 
particularly one involving combat, would be nice.  But so would an 
action-oriented space combat game.
 PM>  To use a cooking analogy, if a first-person shooter is oatmeal, then
 PM>  id is working on perfecting oatmeal, oatmeal with raisins, oatmeal
 PM>  with sugar and milk, etc.
  Can't complain, just so long as it tastes good.  :-)  Isn't it fun to get 
into abstract conversations?
 PM>  3dR did oatmeal, and oatmeal with raisins, and now they're working on
 PM>  barbeque spare ribs and lobster.  Next time they make oatmeal, it
 PM>  might end up having barbeque sauce on the side.  And who knows what
 PM>  that will do to the gameplay.  It will be fun finding out.  :)
  That's definitely something anyone can agree on.  We should be thankful 
these days that companies are really trying something NEW, not just a 
slightly improved version of a previous game.
 PM>  You got that right: far less things to keep track of, which makes
 PM>  it somewhat harder to control.  A PC keyboard does have advantages
 PM>  over a gamepad, no matter how good that pad might be.
  I wouldn't even want to use a keypad or gamepad to control a space sim, 
though.  Isn't it true that Colony Wars supports the PSX's analog pad?  If 
so, that's probably the recommended way to handle it.
 PM>  It's a lot better than X-wing, that's for sure.  And the graphics
 PM>  are very nice.  I'd rank it as a must-see at least, and a must-buy
 PM>  when it comes to the used game bins.
  I'm not sure if it's a LOT better (X-Wing always holds a place in my 
heart), but it certainly compares favourably.  I guess the general opinion is 
that if you're a fan of the genre, and don't mind the somewhat familiar 
gameplay, it's a good choice.
  Now, back to Descent: Freespace (that's what the header of the message 
says, after all).  Hopefully, this should turn out to not just be a nice 
space shooter, but a more innovative game as a whole.  The fact that it still 
has the Descent moniker implies that much, and the graphics are at least good 
enough.
--- Maximus 3.01
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