No, this isn’t a post about my anger about my eventual sentence to the lower reaches of Hell for all of my earthly transgressions (I’ve already accepted that as an unavoidable fact); this a rant about the new game Damnation by Blue Omega Entertainment. I was interested in this game for a while, ever since I actually applied to Blue Omega for a job (they’re based in Central Maryland). They never called, so I decided that Damnation would be a test as to whether I should have been upset about this fact.
YE GODS, THIS GAME IS TERRIBLE.
Seriously, I feel like I dodged a bullet with this one. In Damnation, Blue Omega takes a potentially interesting setting, a post-apocalyptic steam-punk Civil War America, and introduces terrible third-person combat and platforming mechanics. The controls and difficulty are so incredibly unbalanced and poorly designed that I wasn’t even able to get past the first freaking level. If a game wants to be successful, it has to abide by three very simple concepts:
- Easy to learn
- Difficult to master
- Addictive
Damnation succeeds in none of these things, and you would think one of the QA testers would have pointed out some of the flaws, especially those that are evident AS SOON AS THE PLAYER BEGINS THE GAME. Seriously, do not buy/rent/play this game; it’s not worth it. And Blue Omega? I’ve got a riddle for you. Who has two thumbs and is very glad he doesn’t work for you?
This guy.
