After a debilitating 3 months “out of the loop”, I come back to the Civ III forum to find that there is still an ongoing dispute about the Civ III graphics.
First, allow me to give my two cents worth. I think the graphics aren’t that great either. I won’t go into detail about what I don’t like about them, but to sum it up neatly, it’s much of the same old thing. The units and the cities look so much like CIV II, I wonder whether I’ll be buying the same game.
But, the point of this post is to stress that: without a doubt, graphics and sound are crucial in any modern game, no matter what the genre. Any computer game producer that doesn’t appreciate the importance of aesthetic appeal in an entertainment industry needs to get another job. Fans of this game need to understand this one fundamental fact: computer gaming is an ENTERTAINMENT industry, and aesthetic appeal is vital to any entertainment industry.
To me, SMAC is a very easy target for criticism because, in terms of aesthetic appeal, I would call it nothing short of a complete failure. I mean, as soon as I realized that there was no distinguishable graphical difference from a battleship and a submarine, the mouse I was using on my PC literally fell out of my grip as my brain froze in a baffled disbelief that Firaxis could have released such a game. The problems with SMAC’s unit graphics only scratch the surface of a mountain of other graphical problems. If this game had been released by a new gaming company struggling to break into the computer gaming market, it would hardly have gotten a glance. The only reason that it was successful, in my opinion, is because of an experienced marketing team that was able to capitalize on an already well-established “Sid Meier” fan base. Sid fans everywhere ate that game, hook-line-and-sinker, including myself.
First, allow me to give my two cents worth. I think the graphics aren’t that great either. I won’t go into detail about what I don’t like about them, but to sum it up neatly, it’s much of the same old thing. The units and the cities look so much like CIV II, I wonder whether I’ll be buying the same game.
But, the point of this post is to stress that: without a doubt, graphics and sound are crucial in any modern game, no matter what the genre. Any computer game producer that doesn’t appreciate the importance of aesthetic appeal in an entertainment industry needs to get another job. Fans of this game need to understand this one fundamental fact: computer gaming is an ENTERTAINMENT industry, and aesthetic appeal is vital to any entertainment industry.
To me, SMAC is a very easy target for criticism because, in terms of aesthetic appeal, I would call it nothing short of a complete failure. I mean, as soon as I realized that there was no distinguishable graphical difference from a battleship and a submarine, the mouse I was using on my PC literally fell out of my grip as my brain froze in a baffled disbelief that Firaxis could have released such a game. The problems with SMAC’s unit graphics only scratch the surface of a mountain of other graphical problems. If this game had been released by a new gaming company struggling to break into the computer gaming market, it would hardly have gotten a glance. The only reason that it was successful, in my opinion, is because of an experienced marketing team that was able to capitalize on an already well-established “Sid Meier” fan base. Sid fans everywhere ate that game, hook-line-and-sinker, including myself.
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