Impressive, original, and addictive - needs more content
Few games have taken me back to my late 70s desktop RPGs as this one has. Its a clever approach thats easy to pick up and just has that feel of encountering the next monster in a dungeon, even though the setting is SF. Here are some observations after 3 victories (out of 4 games).
-- BIOT, I actually won a game (2nd one I started) before I realized you can heal your character some by not using all moves on your die roll. I was constantly switching between characters as old ones died and muttering angrily about the scathing review I was going to write. Then, after winning, I read the online help and thumped my forehead.
-- There are some clever combinations of special attacks and weapons that youll discover.
-- At first I thought there were too many goodies available, but since you have a limit as to what you can carry, it means you have to constantly prioritize (or use up) what you have. After my first few games, I became much better at simply leaving stuff behind or dropping it off.
-- While some of the weapons are great, many are indistinguishable from one another in actual play. Likewise, many that show up later in the game are too low level. And, frankly, the explosive grenades are almost useless; you use your entire turn to throw one, it explodes a few turns later, and the damage it does is minimal.
-- One the other hand, one or two of the weapons are almost overpowered, particularly the sword that allows you to steal from your opponent. A few swings of that sword against an enemy who uses an actual weapon, and hes fighting you with bare hands and with no healing solutions. Of course, to get that sword, you have to fight and defeat the (IMHO) toughest and most irritating enemy, The Stranger (who is constantly stealing _your_ stuff). So I guess it evens out.
-- Theres no way to maintain different sets of characters. Once youve completed the (single) module, your only two options are to (a) start over from scratch or (b) play the module again with the characters as they existed when you completed the module. Since the next module will use your characters as they currently exist, you dont want to get rid of one who had developed well -- but that limits your opportunity for experimentation.
-- We need that 2nd module ASAP. :-)
bfwebster about
Galactic Keep