Urban Empire - January 20th

[Grim.Reaper]

Plus...DLC, DLC, DLC and more DLC! 

That's the story of most games released nowadays....

[JudgeDredd]

Well? It's out at £34.99...what's it like?

[Hofstadter]

Doesnt look like its going very well. Seems people want a more complex political segment

[Grim.Reaper]

I ended up forgetting about it and did not pre-order....initial responses does seem luke-warm so will likely watch how things unfold now.

[Ian C]

Doesnt look like its going very well. Seems people want a more complex political segment

A result of companies dumbing-down games so they can appeal to more people, except that dumb people never play these kind of games.

[DennisS]

Quill18 has a lets play of ten videos on youtube. Watch these, and you will gain some pretty good insight on the gameplay. Personally, I liked what I saw.

[Gusington]

I take issue with that Ian C. I play these games all the time!

[DennisS]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/01/20/urban-empire-review/

This review calls the end game a "forgone conclusion", and they see very little replay value. From what I can tell from the lets plays...they may well have a point.

[Greybriar]

Here is a playlist of Quill18's YouTube's videos about Urban Empire (in case Grim.Reaper missed any):

[Greybriar]

Plus...DLC, DLC, DLC and more DLC! 

That's the story of most games released nowadays....

So true. Especially when the company publishing the game is named Paradox...or Kalypso. :-"

[Ian C]

I take issue with that Ian C. I play these games all the time!

Lol. Apologies.

I am admittedly quite dumb.

[FarAway Sooner]

Doesnt look like its going very well. Seems people want a more complex political segment

A result of companies dumbing-down games so they can appeal to more people, except that dumb people never play these kind of games.

I haven't played the game so can't really comment on how your comment applies to this thread.  I would say that, in general, a lot of games do get dumbed down. 

But lots of others are just unsuccessfully trying to replicate the process that Eurogaming used to revitalize the board-gaming industry 10-15 years ago:  If you can take a couple simple mechanics, and merge them together perfectly, you get a game with simple rules and mechanics but great strategic depth.  With new titles like this, I can't tell whether designers are really "dumbing down a game" or whether they just missed on the execution of a "simple mechanics but complex strategy" effort.

[DennisS]

As I suspected, now that this game has been out for a week or so, there are increasingly common comments that the game doesn't have much replayability.

Apparently, if you wish to go through a western European, liberal agenda, this is the I-win button. Any other philosophy is severely punished, and you are just handicapping yourself.

I believe that I will let this one pass..the game starts the same each time, no variation, and no randomization, the same issues, and the same results.