I posted this without a title, but now I've edited one in.

I’d apologize for not updating the past few days, but A) I never promised an update schedule and B) I’ve got an audience of like five people.  Either way, this is another quickie.

Dear game designers: If you’re building a sandbox, let me in.

I’ve played a few games – Light of Altair and Plants vs. Zombies – where all I wanted was a free-play mode, but it was either ripped out or made an unlockable. You probably haven’t played the former, but PvZ was pretty popular, so you get the gist. I don’t want to run all the way through the campaign; I play Starcraft, I know how to build up my econ without getting rushed. Maybe if I could crank up the difficulty (dynamic difficulty adjustment, maybe?) I wouldn’t mind the campaign; as it stands, I just want to play with all the tools and all the frantic oh-God-zombie-swarm that I know the game promises.

As for Light of Altair, the plot’s the kind of amateurish attempt that just comes off as half-baked and unintentionally racist, not to mention occasionally saying that you need to run from the threat you (weren’t supposed to) completely conquered. Even though it’s the only mode the game has, the campaign feels tacked on. Building a sandbox, solar-system-size-and-AI-aggressiveness mode wouldn’t be very hard, either: using the existing AI, I’m pretty sure that even I could program it. Instead, I’m stuck playing a campaign where the American and European factions are the good guys, the Asian Industries faction is selfish and warlike, and the African faction invariably turns into pirates.

Of course, the flip side of this is games like Hearts of Iron II – I don’t mind having a life vest and getting pointed towards land, I just don’t want to be smothered by buoys.