Controls, Upgrades and Graphics

Space Siege utilizes the same control scheme as the previous "Siege" games - Dungeon Siege and Dungeon Siege II - where you left-click to move and right-click to attack. Since this is a science fiction setting much of the combat is ranged using ballistic and laser guns. By simply holding down the right-mouse button and hovering the cursor over an enemy, Walker will move within his current weapon's range and engage. The controls are simple and accessible, which is part of the problem.

In Space Siege you can't move and attack at the same time. When a game involves this much shooting combat, the character needs to be able move and take cover while returning fire. There is a dodge button but unfortunately it causes Walker to dive in the direction he's already facing rather than off to the side, which typically results in his diving directly into oncoming enemy fire. Many of the enemy projectiles are slow enough that you can stop shooting and step out of the way but I can't help but think that a WASD control scheme would have added a lot to the game.

Walker isn't alone in his quest to eradicate the Armstrong of the Kerak invaders. He can bring the Hodgins Robotic Unit Model Five (abbreviated HR-V and pronounced "Harvey") along for support. The HR-V is little more than an extra set of guns, but when the battles get chaotic with many enemies, it helps to have something else for them to shoot at as well as an ally laying out damage.

Adding more options for combat are the Abilities which can be placed in a hotkey bar at the bottom of the screen. These special attacks require energy, which replenishes over time, and basically fill the role of spells. The abilities are broken up into Combat for the offensive attacks, Engineering for the grenades and robot drones, and a section for abilities that the HR-V can use. Some of these abilities are unlocked through the skill trees and others become available at certain points in the game.

If you love robots and interior space ship hallways, you'll love Space Siege.

I said before that Space Siege doesn't have loot or inventory but it does have an upgrade system similar to the one in Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction. Walker can get "parts" from defeated enemies and destroyed sections of the environment like crates and computers. These parts are spent like money at Workbenches located in Save Rooms that are found in every level of the ship. The parts can be spent to upgrade Walker's weapons, armor, some abilities or to improve stats on the HR-V. These parts are also used to replace the HR-V when one gets destroyed although the cost is minimal.

The Save Rooms scattered around the ship contain Health Modules that act as save points and provide a service similar to BioShock's vita-chambers, which revive the player after death without rolling back the events of the game. The only exceptions to that rule are the boss fights, which require you to reload and restart the boss fight from the beginning.

Visually Space Siege is what I'd consider adequate. It won't win any awards but the graphics and art design aren't laughable either. Where the graphics stumble is more a fault of the game's scope. Since the events take place entirely inside the Armstrong, all the levels are space ship interiors with very little variety. It's not as bad as the "randomly" generated sewers in Hellgate: London but there's definitely a noticeably small number of art assets at play here.

To Space Siege's credit, the physics engine provides the combat with some fireworks. Following the schematics of most videogame environments, the interior of the Armstrong is peppered with explosive barrels and CO2 canisters that can break open and shoot across the room. I'm not sure what space colonists need with so many exploding barrels and why they have to be spread out over the entire ship instead of safely stowed away in the Exploding Barrel Room, but it's hard to complain when a game developer provides you with things that blow up.

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