awdougherty

I think this is a great idea. First, nothing wrong with diversifying your products to help the company out. Taking the Universal Combat franchise into a more action-y direction seems like the perfect thing to do. Sounds sort of like Planetside, maybe a little Operation Flashpoint in space? Going the console route is always a good bet for a game company if you want to simply consider the financial bottom line. I also wish you luck with the new BC game. I'm interested to see how it develops with its renewed focus.

I own all three and I feel they all have their strengths and weaknesses. Freelancer has a fun, turn your brain off approach, nice graphics, and a fun multiplayer mode. The main thing Freelancer really did well for itself was the interface and the control scheme. The things it did poorly were the static economy, the lack of in game customizability (no real difference to any of the ships regardless of what you do), and the lack in variety in random missions. Basically, there's not much reason to play on your own after the story ends. Multiplayer can add some life to it if you want to roleplay a job for a bit, but that can get tired fast. X2 is really cool in my opinion, but it also has glaring flaws. It has a great dynamic economy, a huge selection of ships and upgrades, the ability to control a whole fleet, very nice graphics and music, plenty of in-game random missions, and a decent combat model. But the downsides: combat model could be better to make it more interesting, the main storyline is pretty bad (especially the cutscenes), no mouse support for the interface, and it's really slow. It will take a lot of time to make any headway in the game, but once you do, things come much faster. I kind of wish X2 had Freelancer's multiplayer capability. Now Universal Combat is the one I know the least about, so this is more of a first impression type response. The good stuff, the gameworld seems absolutely huge, even bigger than the other two. The ability to go from the command of your ship to a fighter to landing on a planetary surface to driving a vehicle in ground combat is unprecedented. The scope of this game is one of the more unbelievable things I've encountered as a gamer. The bad things, least polished, but then again this isn't being backed by Microsoft the way Freelancer was kept breathing regardless. Of course, I find the level of polish extremely admirable for an independent developer. The interface... it's going to be complex for this type of game, it has to be, but sometimes I get the feeling it could be more streamlined somehow. I guess it's the tough choice between organization and functionality sometimes, at least that's how it strikes me. The only other complaint I have is that the game isn't friendly to newbies. I've read through the manual and the information is definitely all there to be found. Little things could help though, maybe a list at the front of the manual compiling every abbreviation and what it stands for, diagrams next to explanations, things like that. In fact, for the way my brain works, I would love to see the first part of the manual showing a screenshot of a certain interface with a number pointing you to the name and a brief description. Then the second half could be a bring it all together written part like what's there. Of course that would blow the time and money required by the manual through the roof. Anyway, in the end, I can't really say which I prefer. I've had fun with all three but I can see Universal Combat being around the longest on my hard drive. X2 has a huge, open-ended style, but it leans toward a much less exciting gameplay. UC has that open-endedness down, but it focuses on a much more exciting premise. Add in multiplayer and you've got a title that never gets old.

I will be buying this game because I enjoy space sims with huge open-ended gameplay and I look forward to playing some multiplayer with friends. I also respect Derek's dedication to his game and his independent approach. Even if I didn't enjoy space sims, I might buy it just for that reason. Anyway, is the best place to get it online or is it showing up in shops?

Obviously depositing money directly into a Paypal account is the shortest road to supporting 3000ad (which I would glady do), I was curious if buying 2 copies would give you the royalties you were entitled to at the 40$ price point? I know you mentioned not being able to discuss details, not sure if this question qualifies.

Congrats, a score of 89% is definitely one to be proud of. Hopefully more reviews will start rolling in soon.

Well, all I can say is good luck. It would be a shame not to have post release support (always a nice thing to have just in case). If they do pump it out at $19.99, I'll just have to get 2 copies.

Well, all I can say is good luck. It would be a shame not to have post release support (always a nice thing to have just in case). If they do pump it out at $19.99, I'll just have to get 2 copies.

Congrats, looking forward to checking this one out. I'm going to try to talk some friends into it as well for some multiplayer sessions.

I voted release it now because those items don't seem like they would really affect gameplay too much. I personally don't mind patches. But it's not my name on the box and I can understand the desire to release it in the best shape possible. It won't bother me to wait, but I can definitely live with those bugs.

I voted release it now because those items don't seem like they would really affect gameplay too much. I personally don't mind patches. But it's not my name on the box and I can understand the desire to release it in the best shape possible. It won't bother me to wait, but I can definitely live with those bugs.

Not sure if SC will answer this one, but after reading some of his past Soapbox articles, specifically the one concerning video drivers, I was wondering what he thought of the Geforce FX series and the ATI 9500 and up series. There's been a lot of talk about NVIDIA's 52.xx drivers and how they potentially improve DX9 performance at the expense of quality. I don't really care about too many details, but has the Universal Combat experience been good with both lines?

I have to say that I was extremely disappointed with SWG beta. If you were looking for some type of evolution to the MMORPG genre, you'll be very disappointed. If you're looking for Everquest in space (except for that part isn't shipping upon release so it's essentially Everquest with slightly different rules and setting), then you'll be happy. They add, improve, and tweak the Everquest model. Oh well, I'll pass, but hopefully people who pick it up and know what to expect will enjoy their purchase. Seems like everything related to Star Wars has turned to crap ever since the added dance number in Return of the Jedi (or maybe since Greedo shot first depending on your taste).

I have to admit, I found the whole thing really funny, but it's also very untrue based on my experience. It's the same as if a bunch of Mac heads poked fun of Windows for flaws it had in Windows 98 (like stability). I run Mac OS X at home on my film editing machine, I also use it as an FTP server and for some other things. It's rock solid stability-wise and pretty quick. That doesn't change the fact that people pay WAY too much for older hardware, but oh well. Notice he didn't trash his G4 tower? I guess he wants to keep the thing around after all. Did people seen the mac gamer switch spoof? Now that one I thought was hilarious and dead on.

I do freelance commercial and film work in NYC. Trying to work my way up from the bottom. Slow going but hopefully patience is rewarded.

quote:Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr: That wasn't even a review. And its not worth the aggravation of even being angry. It speaks for itself. In volumes. I agree 100%. I read that this morning and was shocked that somebody would publish that. Let's face it, that error message when you first start the game may not be the best first impression (I excitedly loaded up the game as soon as I finished installing it, my first instinct wasn't to read the FAQ)... ok, but this review just used that as a launching platform for an ad hominem attack. Personally, it seems like the reviewer started the game, got immediately frustrated, didn't like SC to begin with for some reason, and quit. Then, like a true professional, the reviewer put his extremely emotional thoughts to paper and gave us the poetry that is his review. Luckily the Editor stepped in and very professionally one-upped his reviewer's jack-assism. Serious, SC, when are you finally going to learn your lesson and make a BMX XXX version of BC for the "rest of us?" By the way, check out scores for other games. It seems obvious that BCMG was doomed to be mistreated (hey, I even liked Freelancer, but come on).