🚀 go-pugleaf

"FLY135" <fly_135@(hot not not)notmail.com> wrote in message
news:zzzVb.18853$GO6.2097@newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net...
>
> "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.
>
I was blaming the graphics on myself. I thought that I had some
compatibility issues with my Video Card.

It reminded me of FALCON 3.0 and the shit fit that my father threw trying to
squeeze out a dozen more KB's of RAM. I ended up Rem'ing out several dozen
Autoexe.bat entries and then creating a boot disk when we couldn't get his
other programs to run afterwards. It was the first time that he thought the
magnet school I was attending might turn out to be a good idea after all.
Then we got Memmaker at Egghead and that turned out to be a real sweet
utility.

If you are big on space based games, remember Wing Commander? It came with a
utility that made a boot disk for you. I thought that was the coolest thing
I ever saw.