One of the all-time classic science fiction games (Elite) now has a kickstarter campaign for a sequel, and I thought those of you who remember it may be interested. I don't generally take to many games that require hand-eye coordination, but Elite was an exception. It was one of those games that was elegant in its simplicity, but because of its immense size, sandbox game-play, and procedurally-generated universe, while still being able to run great on the more modest computers of its time, really got me hooked. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1461411552/elite-dangerous /edit Btw, for those who either don't know about the original, or need their memories refreshed: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_(video_game)
Have there not already been a dozen clones of Elite? They were all knock-offs, but this has certainly been done before.
Well that's the thing -- they were knock-offs and they were (on average) not very good. Some of them were better than others, but none of the ones I tried ever hooked me like Elite did. It's like you experience something that's great, and you spend a lot of money trying to recapture that experience, but everything else comes off, at best, like a pale imitation. Sometimes it's a pale imitation with better graphics. But still... So I'm still waiting for the next Elite. Clearly, I don't know for sure if this is it. What makes me hopeful is that these are the guys who did it the first time.
As much as I love the guy for Frontier: Elite 2 (never played the original elite...), and still am sort of fanboyish in my admiration for the coding skill that game displayed... I still haven't quite forgiven him for the promised Elite 4 that ended up being vaporware(back in 2000-2001), which also makes me less likely to trust this kickstarter. As a sidenote the best modern copy-cat of the Frontier concept goes to Evochron Mercenary (http://www.starwraith.com/evochronmercenary/), although in spirit I guess Space Rangers 2 is also a great take on it.
Wait a second. These guys made the Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 expansions. They were awesome, if I had money I'd pledge.
