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[Sanic]

Developer: Spiral Game Studios
Platform: PC, Steam
Price: $9.99 USD, £6.99, €9.99 (-%10 discount until May 11th, four pack available)
Release Date: May 4th, 2012
Manual: link

Orion: Dino Beatdown is a 5-player cooperative, open world game in which players must survive wave after wave of dinosaurs while completing dynamic objectives throughout one of three large levels. Players may choose to play as the Assault, Recon, or Support class, with unique perks and upgrades available for each class. The developer has pledged free post release support, including the addition of new dinosaurs. I struggled to find decent, high resolution screenshots of the game, so I suggest you check out some of the videos below to get a better sense of what the game is about. The developers refer to this first release as a "seed" release, and they plan to continually update the game for free with new content. Dedicated server files are available on their website, for those interested.
-Features-

5-PLAYER, OPEN-WORLD CO-OP
Varying Objectives, Multiple Bases A.I systems populate the worlds.
3 MASSIVE WORLDS
Covan (Desert), Depth (Night Forest), Eden (Grasslands)
IN-GAME SHOPS & STORES
Three types of stores - Barracks (Player), Armory (Weapons), Garage (Vehicles)
CLASS-BASED GAMEPLAY
Three player classes - Assault (Jetpack), Support (Medic), Recon (Cloak)
PERKS & UPGRADES
Class Abilities, Player Upgrades, Weapon Upgrades and more.
CREDIT SYSTEM
Earn and Spend credits from completing objectives and progression.
15 WEAPONS, ITEMS & GRENADES
Magnums, Shotguns, Machine Guns, Laser Rifles, Rocket Launchers and more.
4 VEHICLES
Hover-bikes, Buggies, Tanks / Mechs & VTOL’s.
3 UNIQUE DINOSAURS (@LAUNCH)
T-Rex, Raptor, Rham-Phorynchus.
50 STEAM ACHIEVEMENTS
Gotta catch them all!

-Media-
(Click to enlarge)


Announcement Teaser Video
VidDoc 1
VidDoc 2
VidDoc 3
Spiral Game Studio's YouTube Channel

 

[SparkTR]

Going to convince some friends to get this, looks pretty sweet for $10.

 

[InfectedZero]

Im there.

 

[AzureSkies]

Dinosaurs?

 

[Callibretto]

only 3 dinos for launch? is dlc pack gonna be free?

 

[Exuro]

I don't normally hate video game music, but whatever was in that trailer was terrible.

 

[RobotHaus]

Kind of sounds like EDF. I like the art style and it has dinosaurs. What is not to like? Might have to wait on some gameplay footage of non-developers to save judgement, but looks good.

But what is with the lens flare?

 

[Sanic]

But what is with the lens flare?

They love stock UE3 effects apparently

only 3 dinos for launch? is dlc pack gonna be free?

Yes, at least the first one, which will add 3 more dinosaurs.

 

[HP_Wuvcraft]

Left 4 Dead: Dinosaur Edition?

 

[Varth]

Dinosaurs?

Just who the hell is this guy? I'm seeing him everywhere round here ^^

 

[Mako_Drug]

Scientifically accurate feathered dinos to be patched in at a later date?

 

[Cow Mengde]

Needs more dinosaurs. I'm taking a wait and see approach to this game.

 

[Sanic]

Found some lengthy gameplay footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrBHWBQRArg

 

[Phanatic8390]

I think I'm going to convince my brother to get this. $10 for some janky indie co-op is reasonable.

 

[Rothkildam]

Released: http://store.steampowered.com/app/104900/

 

[Sanic]

Game seems to be a bit of a mess at the moment. I've yet to play it myself (waiting for the download to finish) but impressions on the Steam forums and elsewhere don't seem to be that great. I'll report back with my own thoughts later.

edit: I can't seem to join any games at all, even after trying several solutions i've seen posted elsewhere. The interface simply doesn't respond much of the time. Probably one of the buggiest games i've played in recent memory.

 

[Dusk Golem]

The devs have said on their Facebook they're reading over feedback and issues right now and the first bug patch should be out on Monday, working hard to fix everything they can.

Game seems fun but at this moment it is pretty broken. If the bugs are fixed though, I can see it being very enjoyable.

 

[scorpscarx]

I mean it looks fun, I want it.

 

[BertleTheTurtle]

I'm not usually one to get on a soapbox and I already knew that some stuff was (allegedly) stolen from other games but if this story about Kickstarter is true then personally I don't believe that this developer deserves my money.

http://www.gatheryourparty.com/articles/2012/05/04/orion-employee-beatdown/

http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/g2sol/david_prassel_creator_of_orion_prelude_receives/

 

[dragonlife]

I'm not usually one to get on a soapbox and I already knew that some stuff was (allegedly) stolen from other games but if this story about Kickstarter is true then personally I don't believe that this developer deserves my money.

http://www.gatheryourparty.com/articles/2012/05/04/orion-employee-beatdown/

http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/g2sol/david_prassel_creator_of_orion_prelude_receives/

I was going to post this, too. After reading it in another thread, I have no interest in this whatsoever.

 

[Flunkie]

I'm not usually one to get on a soapbox and I already knew that some stuff was (allegedly) stolen from other games but if this story about Kickstarter is true then personally I don't believe that this developer deserves my money.

http://www.gatheryourparty.com/articles/2012/05/04/orion-employee-beatdown/

http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/g2sol/david_prassel_creator_of_orion_prelude_receives/

Interesting. I was going to wait and see how the issues turned out next week to buy it but I may just pass and focus on backlog anyways.

 

[Femmeworth]

I'm not usually one to get on a soapbox and I already knew that some stuff was (allegedly) stolen from other games but if this story about Kickstarter is true then personally I don't believe that this developer deserves my money.

http://www.gatheryourparty.com/articles/2012/05/04/orion-employee-beatdown/

http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/g2sol/david_prassel_creator_of_orion_prelude_receives/

Someone should probably send that to Gabe.

 

[Dusk Golem]

You guys need to do more research.

http://forums.epicgames.com/threads...wn-Coming-4-20-2012-Official-Trailer-Inside!?

Except none of it's true.

It was a schmear campaign by a few sour individuals who were involved before money ever entered the equation. We separated ways with them, didn't use their work and so they didn't get paid. People get fired. It's sad, but sometimes things don't work out and it was obviously for the best. We now employ a large selection of veteran industry talent with former developers of Epic, RedStorm, Bungie, Microsoft, BioWare and others. This wouldn't be the case if we had deplorable working conditions.

The Natural Selection 2 fiasco was blown out of proportion as well. Claiming we "stole" the asset is way over board. It was a personal portfolio piece that a former freelancer, Daniel Doerksen created and we simply used as a placeholder until we finalized ours (which is now in the game). It was never meant to be shown off in pre-alpha footage but accidents do happen. You can check out his portfolio and see other Natural Selection 2 inspired pieces to verify this - or even ask him:
http://www.daniel-doerksen.com/

David Prassel
Project Director / Lead Game Designer / Art Director
ORION / Unannounced 2010 Project
(e) david@prassel.com

www.orion-project.net

Some people get way too worked up with a bit of misinformation.

 

[Card Boy]

You guys need to do more research.

http://forums.epicgames.com/threads...wn-Coming-4-20-2012-Official-Trailer-Inside!?



Some people get way too worked up with a bit of misinformation.

Again your taking Davids word as fact. As i said in the Steam thread its a he said she said situation.

 

[Dusk Golem]

Again your taking Davids word as fact. As i said in the Steam thread its a he said she said situation.

I'm taking it more as fact since I did some personal research and emailing. That message is public so it's easiest to link to that to explain, but I believe it since after I heard about this I did some personal research on some members of the team, did some background research and contacted a few of them and his story checks out more than the other. Team members with substantial backward history from several companies and substantial roles were able to vouch more for the happenings and the situation, while background checking the others who are accusing had some less desirable results on other projects they had hopped on.

However, it is to my judgement off everything that there was a mishap in the early days of the project. From my understanding, what happened was that after money came into the picture the team had somewhat of a 'civil war' and withot contracts the arguments within the team got pretty bad. I think that's where a lot of this roots into the situation to make it far more complicated and less, 'What side do you take?' But to be honest, it doesn't sound like an uncommon or 'evil' scenario of developer holding 'the man' down, more so than a mishap of understanding and contracting and dejection and maybe a bit of failure to communicate.

In the end I think everyone is allowed to read into what they want to read into for the whole situation. I believe there is truth and false to both sides, and I don't think David is some little angel either. I actually don't really like him, and not because of this fiasco but for other reasons. In the end my judgement of the product will come whenever they bug fix this well or not and add more content. If they do, that's great. If they don't, then I really can't recommend this game to anyone.

 

[KDR_11k]

By the time they've patched it up enough there will probably be some news coverage that finds out what really happened so I'll just wait for that. I don't want another Gettysburg Armored Warfare lingering in my Steam Library...

 

[Jackpot]

You guys need to do more research.

http://forums.epicgames.com/threads...wn-Coming-4-20-2012-Official-Trailer-Inside!?



Some people get way too worked up with a bit of misinformation.

That doesn't even come close to explaining all the ex-members' horror stories.

 

[IceDoesntHelp]

From that other thread

The game seems to run fine...but god damn.
Some of those textures are awful.
The achievements are bugged. I killed a raptor and got the "Who Needs Teammates" achievement (kill a T-rex by yourself).
I can't seem to connect to any servers.
It doesn't feel like I'm using a jetpack, just using noclip. So no feedback when using it.
The AI isn't the greatest either.

Maybe I just need to give it more time...

Edit: Apparently there's a patch coming in on Monday to fix some problems, but none of the problems I listed.

 

[kamspy]

Is there any single player in this? My ping is awful.

 

[IceDoesntHelp]

Is there any single player in this? My ping is awful.

There technically is, but its just like multiplayer (or I presume). No AI Bots on your side though, so your by yourself.

 

[volturnus]

You guys need to do more research.

http://forums.epicgames.com/threads...wn-Coming-4-20-2012-Official-Trailer-Inside!?



Some people get way too worked up with a bit of misinformation.

I knew there was something strange about those rumors.
Not that I blindly take his word as true, but as someone pointed, both sides are pointing fingers, and I think we have to go by what seems more logical.

 

[Sanic]

In case anyone was wondering, a patch just hit that will, supposedly, make the game actually playable for most people. Patch notes here: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2690811

 

[metareferential]

The game is broken.

But it's so broken that it ends up being the most fun have had in months xD

 

[Sanic]

It looks like they've re-released this in a (supposedly?) functional state with additional content.

link to store page.