🚀 go-pugleaf

"Shingen" <Shingen@aolsukd.sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:n6bb20hrd19rs9pmeglkg9t4a9gu8nl66c@4ax.com...
>
> Well I just got my copy of UC and it's most certainly NOT a "value
> product." Hell, the manual alone is worth $20.00. Key-card/map is
> excellent, and the box art-work is killer.

I just picked up my copy.  The manual is quite substantial and the keycard
is also a welcome addition.  However I'm fairly certain that DC picks up the
tab for the costs asssociated with production.  That they would include
these items and still lower the price to $20 tells me that they have some
serious issues with the value of the game itself.

Discounting the great looking box and above average quality printed docs and
keycard, my impression is that this *is* a budget quality product.  I just
started the game and immediately ran into both irritating bugs and laughable
gameplay.  And this is only after messing with the game for 30 minutes tops.
Most of the 30 minutes was spent checking the options adn checking the ini
configuration file to see if I'm doing anything wrong.

1) The game forces roll axis in the J/S x axis.  This is fine for a flight
sim but it's backwards to how I've configured every space sim I've played.
The key card lists a key for swapping this.  It didn't work.  Checking
further into the FAQ, I find that it's only for sticks that don't have roll
axis.  The FAQ go on to say I can override with a command line option.  I
add this and it doesn't work.

2) The into BC3000 and DC splash screen anuimation cannot be bypassed with
ESC or mouse press.  This is unlike an modern game.  The FAQ shows a command
line parameter to bypass.  It does work.

3) The keypress for toggling HAT mode did not work.

4) The throttle on my MS Precision Pro2 J/S does not work properlu.  It will
allow you to reduce throttle but not increase.

5) I only played instant action mission.  The planets had textures that any
12 year old could create in Paint Shop Pro in 10 minutes.  They had zero
features.  I'm not a stickler for great graphics, but this was ridiculous.

6) The laser animations are a joke.  Two skinny lines that shoot from your
ship with sound effects reminiscent of an 80's coin op machine.
Coincidently I bought Intellivision Lives for the XBox at the same time and
if I closed my eyes I might have gotten confused about what I was playing.
In one of the other instant action games the laser painted two static
looking little starbusts when you fired.  It was quite funny as to how crude
it was.

7) The first instant action mission I tried to attack the enemy.  I couldn't
even get much closer at full throttle for minutes until it turned around and
came to me.  The combat was literally a joke.  The enemy ship moved like
someone from the 50's recanting a flying saucer episode.  If you could
imagine a flying object randomly moving in every direction including to and
from you with no apparent rhyme or reason, then you've got it.  It is a
completely amateur attempt at simulating space combat.

I have seen plenty of budget games that are far superior to UC in production
value to UC.  Take a look at Activision's $20 Apache Air Assault.  Putting
aside whatever preference one has in genre or gameplay, from a production
point of view AAA is a far superior title.  The graphics are superior.  The
voice acting is superior, the modeled environment is superior, and the
physics are superior.  Also was of the most important facets of modern games
is presenting the game in such a way that the new player is drawn into it.
UC fails to do this just as every BC game before it.

DC rightly saw that UC was simply a niche title that could only appeal to a
small subset of gamers.  DS failed miseralbly to create a compelling title
that draws in the unitiated (to the BCM series) gamer.  This game fails in
numerous ways to compete as a modern offering.  The printed materials are
it's only redeeming feature as it is only an incremental improvement over
it's predecessor, which have always lagged the gaming world in terms of
"state of the art".

I'm not trying to say that UC could not possibly appeal to anyone.  It
obviously does.  But this game will never appeal to the average space sim
fan.  The fact that the box looks great and the marketing blurbs sound
wonderful, just means that too many people will get something they didn't
think they were buying.  I would have to nominate DC for a humanitarian
award for lowering the price.

I will still attempt to put some time into this game to see if I can find
any redeeming features.  Just maybe somewhere in there is some fun gameplay.