Two more reviews of Restricted Area popped up on the net and the first one from GameOver immediately does the dual-name dropping we've seen so many times before:<blockquote>Restricted Area is a simple action role-playing game from Master Creating and Whiptail Interactive. It takes place in a futuristic world where large corporations have replaced governments, and where global warming has had such an adverse affect on the planet that people can only survive in large cities. The wastelands outside the cities are “restricted areas” where mutants and monsters roam free, and where freelancers can make their fortune. In other words, Restricted Area is what might happen if Diablo and Fallout got married and had a child.</blockquote>Really? What a terrible clever thing to say. It follows with some praise and some critique:<blockquote>Worse, the missions in the campaign are almost all identical. Basically, you have to explore 3-4 levels and kill enemies, and then do something different at the end of the last level. There are two problems with this. First off, those first few levels are boring because there isn’t anything to do in them other than kill hundreds of enemies. Then, in the final level, the actual objective usually isn’t anything more than clicking on a box or killing a single “leader” version of an enemy. Master Creating should have known something was wrong when they created random missions for the campaign, and the random missions played just like the required campaign missions.</blockquote>The second one also drops the Fallout and Diablo-brand names and is also critical of the game, in a fair way:<blockquote>The RPG aspects work well enough. Guns and swords are obvious, but instead of new armor and amulets, you replace your body parts with cybernetically enhanced ones. You don’t see that cool new robotic arm on your character, which is disappointing, but you’ll notice the effects right away. Likewise, you’ll notice the effects of leveling up as you gain new stats and abilities based on each of the four character’s unique skill trees. It’s satisfying to become noticeably more powerful each time, rather than advancing in tiny increments.
(...)
Restricted Area is truly a noble and heroic effort by two guys to produce a viable PC title. It’s a familiar, comforting way to spend an hour in the wasteland. But when you compare it to a top-shelf game like Neverwinter Nights, it just, well, doesn’t compare. Which, by the way, makes it a shame that their publisher went for a top-shelf price of $40 instead of something a little more reasonable, like $20. If you’ve got $40 to spend, there are plenty of better titles to choose from. </blockquote>
Link: RA review on GameOver
Link: RA review on Game Revolution
Both reviews spotted on Duck and Cover
(...)
Restricted Area is truly a noble and heroic effort by two guys to produce a viable PC title. It’s a familiar, comforting way to spend an hour in the wasteland. But when you compare it to a top-shelf game like Neverwinter Nights, it just, well, doesn’t compare. Which, by the way, makes it a shame that their publisher went for a top-shelf price of $40 instead of something a little more reasonable, like $20. If you’ve got $40 to spend, there are plenty of better titles to choose from. </blockquote>
Link: RA review on GameOver
Link: RA review on Game Revolution
Both reviews spotted on Duck and Cover
