Saturday, May 12, 2012

Guns of Icarus Online: Why I Invested ...


A few months back, I kickstarted my first video game: Guns of Icarus Online.  Why did I invest in a title I had no ties to?
  • It was not the steampunk setting with the zeppelin fighting - though that certainly helps.  I am a sucker for steampunk.
  • It was not a love of their previous game, Guns of Icarus, which I skipped.
  • It isn't even because I think the gameplay of cooperatively manning an airship to take down other airships with a group of friends is a fail-proof formula. Though I do think it will be a blast to play.
It is more fundamental than all of those reasons.  I simply wanted to see more indie MMOs with straight-forward, but interesting gameplay designs.  Instead of the next great bloatware with its billion hours of dialogue, script written by an award winning novelist, or army of developers with divisions keen on copying World of Warcraft for their designated areas of design, I want a few more mom and pops or at least some niche sellers in the market.

That is not to diminish the things more specific to Guns of Icarus Online that sound rather awesome.  As I said, the setting has me excited, the gameplay has my curiosity peaked, and I think it is all shaping up to be a rather fun experience.  In particular, I like the idea that the crew must run around the rather large vessel to fire off shots from the right turret, repair troublesome areas, or just to get a better handle on enemy movements.  That sounds like a blast, to me.  I have long wanted gaming to have more cooperatively manned, and far larger, vehicles, and this one delivers that idea in large supply.

The closed beta is happening right now, and my entry into it is coming soon.  I will be back with a more hands-on preview after that.

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