Like all sci-fi TV, Stargate has devotees. Some align themselves with the movie and the original writer's intentions to make a trilogy. Others dismiss the film in the same way Buffy The Vampire Slayer fans dismiss the rubbish film that spawned their series of choice, while most people don't give a toss. The forthcoming Stargate MMO is aimed at the last two groups.
Stargate Worlds will be an MMO set in the world of the TV series. Last month's trailer didn't give much away, so we were keen to find out where in the spectrum of the new wave of MMOs this would fit. We spoke to Dan Elggren, the head of Cheyenne Mountain, a company named after the home of Stargate Command, that's been set up to develop Stargate Worlds.
"It's a traditional MMO system that will be very familiar to gamers, but with more depth and tactical options. We are not a twitch-based game or any type of hybrid MMOFPS," explains Elggren. So there won't be a re-imagining of the genre to get our heads around. But while it tries to trade in on the familiarity of WOW and provide a well-defined and popular sci-fi universe to play in, Stargate Worlds will try to distinguish itself using its brains.
"One of the big differences will be our AI. In most MMOs if you walk into a set of mobs, once you've seen how they react once, you know how they will react every time you walk into that group. Mobs in Stargate Worlds won't give you the same look twice." This is a fair accusation; PvE combat can be a hypnotic drudge, and anything to make it feel like you're not fighting one routine with your own routine can only improve the experience.
Then it gets a little bit more surprising. "For those gamers who aren't interested in combat, we're integrating minigames in a way to provide alternative gameplay styles. We're consciously building our game to be easily accessible to non-gamers and gamers who have never picked up an MMO." Setting the target audience to 'everyone' will thrill the money men, but it's a strategy that tends to fail. But Elggren remains adamant.
"We believe our combat system is challenging and different enough to attract the hardcore gamers, but we also know that we have to build a game that is accessible to Stargate fans who may have never played an MMO before. Our minigame integration and our respect for the Stargate IP will make these gamers feel at home in the universe of their favourite sci-fi TV series." They're also in talks with the series' actors, to get them to appear as NPCs.
Hellgate suffered from a lack of serious PvP at launch, and Elggren is keen to point out that Stargate won't fall into the same trap. There'll be good and evil teams to pick, and classes available will be Archaeologists, Soldiers, Commandos and Scientists. Good guys can also play Asgard or Free Jaffa, whereas the bad lot get to play Goa'Uld or Loyal Jaffa.
This is a break from magic, with technology boosting the physically frailer races such as the weedy Asgard (the massive guy on the left). But it's the description of the Archaeologist that makes us raise our eyebrows: "Archeologists are an integral part of many Stargate teams who act as translators and advisors on dealing with other civilizations. They will work with their allies to translate Ancient texts and puzzles and communicate with alien civilizations."
The idea that there is a puzzle-solving, communicating class is intriguing. How this will work, how challenging the puzzles will be, and how popular the class will be when you can play as an awesome symbiote dude - all this hovers unseen in a fog of PR.
Stargate Worlds sounds like the spawn of WOW and Puzzle Pirates. Cheyenne Mountain have got some funny ideas about their evolution of the MMO, and we're feeling a bewildering cocktail of curiosity, scepticism and bemusement. The problem is, when it's difficult to imagine how a game will work, it's just as hard for the people creating it to make it good.
"It's a traditional MMO system that will be very familiar to gamers, but with more depth and tactical options. We are not a twitch-based game or any type of hybrid MMOFPS," explains Elggren. So there won't be a re-imagining of the genre to get our heads around.
And that is why it will (and will deserve to) fail miserably. You'll soon be dialing up the gate address for the Job Centre, Elggren!
I love Stargate (both SG1 and Atlantis) but really can't imagine a 3rd person MMO working well.
MMOs (IMO) in general suck. The problem I have with a Stargate MMOs is that MMOs are about combat wheras stargate is about a continuing storyline, with the occasional bits of combat.
In all likelihood you'll end up doing the same quests on 'different' worlds and bloody 'leveling up' which is something MMOs should get rid of so that they can concentrate on gameplay rather than getting people addicted to +1s.
"It's a traditional MMO system that will be very familiar to gamers, but with more depth and tactical options. We are not a twitch-based game or any type of hybrid MMOFPS," explains Elggren. So there won't be a re-imagining of the genre to get our heads around.
And that is why it will (and will deserve to) fail miserably. You'll soon be dialing up the gate address for the Job Centre, Elggren!
NEXT!
I agree completely. With nothing new to offer its just another MMO.
You need more than a good IP to make a good MMORPG. SWG should have taught them that.
If they had something truly interesting to offer we would have heard about it. This is just marketing spin to perk interest in the game.
Are you guys nuts? I think that SGW will be an an awsome game as long as it is done right which it sounds like it will be. FPS suck! If it was a FPS i wouldn't play it. The series doesn't focus on combat so the game should not either. SGW should focus on exploration since that is what the show is about. The idea of using technology vs magic is a nice idea and i cant wait to see it. I have been waiting to play this game since I first heard of it 2 1/2 years ago. I have been playing other MMO's just to pass the time till it is released.. I cannot wait to play!!
I'd rather have a Stargate FPS, Infinity Ward would be my choice to make it(think COD4).
Well, there's no official FPS, but there is a multiplayer mod for the Source engine - Stargate: The Last Stand. They've already released screens of hataks, Abydos and Tollana (why did they blow it up? why? it had so much more potential). They've also got videos on their website of the full Abydos map in-game (it's huge!) and working ring transporters. There's also some animations and models of hand devices, zats etc.
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