If you grew up between the mid ‘80s and the late ‘90s, then you most likely have a list of nostalgically appealing elements over which you just can’t seem to get over. Ranging from robots to dinosaurs to action movies, and even to superhero comics, these interests will most likely stay with you for a lifetime.
Oh, and there’s one more thing I nearly forgot about – video games. So of course, having each and every one of those in a decent video game would be awesome in and of itself, so can you imagine if you had two? You probably already know what I’m talking about, but Ark: Survival Evolved is the dinosaur-riding shooter you need in your life.
But is it the one you deserve? Eeh, probably not. At least not yet. Not until it makes a few more shows of good faith and it surprises those that decided to pay for it before it was even officially released. But that is actually the main complaint regarding Ark. It’s just not finished yet, and that’s plenty obvious if you know your video games.
You see, Studio Wildcard, the team behind Ark: Survival Evolved, decided to go the lazy route chosen by many a developer eager to make his money back even before the game is launched. So, they opted for Early Access. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, it means that you get to pay a little less for the game, but play it way before its scheduled release in all of its incomplete, bug-riddled status.
However, as much as I love picking on lazy, money-grubbing developers who care not at all about their fans’ experience (I’m talking to you, Ubisoft, EA, and others!), I can’t really say that making Ark available for Early Access was a bad idea. In fact, it was probably one of the best ideas the developers could have had.
Now, I’m not saying that every game should get Early Access. But in some cases, it can actually work miracles. For example, in Ark’s case, it led to over 30 new species of dinosaurs, more maps, more features, and even a program that allows users to submit mods to be formally introduced in the game.
Sure, the game is still riddled with bugs, and developers do have a good excuse to be lazy and not fix everything as quickly as they could, but the overall experience will definitely be better once the game is fully released during this year’s holiday season. And hey, in a game where you can ride dinosaurs while wielding machine guns to shoot at other people, it’s all about the experience.
This is what Jesse Rapczak, co-founder of Wildcard Studios, had to say about the huge pre-launch success of the game:
Ark’s success has increased our content goals and Early Access players have helped us raise our ambitions with their invaluable feedback. When we first announced, we said 70 dinos, now we’ll have over 100. We never anticipated adding modding, local multiplayer, split screen, or numerous other upcoming features. The game at launch will be far more robust than originally conceived, but it takes a little extra time to wrap it all up.
Image source: YouTube
