HCE - worth buying? (Full Version)

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Unzen -> HCE - worth buying? (8/11/2008 1:01:59 PM)

Afternoon chaps [:)]

Probably a daft question to post on here, but I was after some general feedback about HCE. Is it a good buy in terms of being a good 'game' overall? I have many fond memories of Harpoon from my Amiga days (even though it did crash on a regular basis) - but never really picked it up for the PC.

The one outstanding memory I have was a mission that saw the Warsaw Pact in control of Reykjavik with a seemingly invincible air-cover setup. That was one of my faves - finding different ways in which to crack that Icelandic nut! [8D]

I'm into a lot of FPS, RTS and racing games for the PC these days, but every now and then I want the shear depth and complexity of something like Harpoon. I guess I miss it in a lot of ways and having tried several different 'heavyweight' strategy simulations; none have really struck a cord with me personally.

Does HCE look and feel like the Harpoon of old? And have any of you guys had issues running it on Vista yet?

Cheers!



CV32 -> RE: HCE - worth buying? (8/11/2008 2:14:19 PM)

Someone not so closely attached to the HCE project will no doubt respond to your post, but in the interim, let me say that I think HCE is well worth your money. [:)] [:D]

It does bear a close resemblance (visually) to the original Harpoon Classic, but it is light years ahead. The model is considerably more complex, but HCE remains very playable. The game engine is rock solid and runs fine on Vista.



Unzen -> RE: HCE - worth buying? (8/11/2008 2:53:25 PM)

^^^^ - that sounds perfect. :)

Looks like I'll be placing the order for it today, then!

(....I really didn't need a lot of convincing, did I?) [;)]



Unzen -> RE: HCE - worth buying? (8/11/2008 4:26:16 PM)

Ordered and downloading as I speak. [:D]

Do I have to get all the incremental patches in order, or can I just nab the latest one available?

Cheers.



CV32 -> RE: HCE - worth buying? (8/11/2008 4:38:15 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Unzen
Do I have to get all the incremental patches in order, or can I just nab the latest one available? Cheers.


The comprehensive patch will bring you up to speed. Its pretty large, though, so I'd use a download utility if you have any fears of your download timing out.

Then you can (optionally) download the latest database (currently HCDB-080712) at HarpGamer.



Unzen -> RE: HCE - worth buying? (8/11/2008 5:06:30 PM)

Thanks for the heads-up, Brad. I'll probably trigger-off those patch downloads overnight and get everything ready for a session tomorrow.



TonyE -> RE: HCE - worth buying? (8/11/2008 10:18:31 PM)

Welcome back Unzen, constructive criticism is always welcomed, unconstructive criticism is accepted, silence is discouraged [:'(].




Warhorse64 -> RE: HCE - worth buying? (8/11/2008 11:52:28 PM)

If you enjoyed Harpoon on your Amiga, you'll enjoy HCE. The only Vista issues I'm aware of are a minor message box display difficulty if you use large fonts, for which Tony can point you to a fix if necessary, and the fact that the 16-bit scenario editor doesn't work in the 64-bit version of Vista unless you use an emulator (but it works fine in 32-bit Vista). I guess I get to be the "someone not so closely attached to the HCE project", though I was a beta tester on an earlier version ...[8D]



Unzen -> RE: HCE - worth buying? (8/12/2008 9:20:45 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: TonyE

Welcome back Unzen, constructive criticism is always welcomed, unconstructive criticism is accepted, silence is discouraged [:'(].




Cheers Tony :)

It's funny how some of the unit names have started to come back to me - the aircraft in particular. I was always rusty on the vessel types and capabilities (despite now having a degree in Marine Business - lol!) - but I'm sure I'll get back into the swing of things. I'm sure I'll be posting some of my exploits in the near future. :)



Unzen -> RE: HCE - worth buying? (8/12/2008 9:22:23 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Warhorse64

If you enjoyed Harpoon on your Amiga, you'll enjoy HCE. The only Vista issues I'm aware of are a minor message box display difficulty if you use large fonts, for which Tony can point you to a fix if necessary, and the fact that the 16-bit scenario editor doesn't work in the 64-bit version of Vista unless you use an emulator (but it works fine in 32-bit Vista). I guess I get to be the "someone not so closely attached to the HCE project", though I was a beta tester on an earlier version ...[8D]



Thanks for the feedback, m8. Thankfully, I'm running Vista 32 Ultimate, so I should be excempt from the the Vista 64 issues. I'll look into that message box issue if I come across it.



Unzen -> RE: HCE - worth buying? (8/12/2008 9:47:50 PM)

Heheheh! Its just as I remember it. [&o]

I jumped straight into my 'comfort zone' of the GIUK gap battleset and had a good half-hour on there. The 'Ready Air' buttons, Sensors, etc - all started to come back to me. In no time, I had the AWACS up patrolling Iceland, some Bucaneers getting prepped in Scotland and a worringly close Hormone chopper being detected near my two 'fossil' subs.

Clearly, I've got a huge choice of missions to tackle now and it was great to see the Duel scenario still there. That one used to grind my Amiga to a virtual standstill, so hopefully with a semi-decent PC, it should be ok this time around. [:D]

I'm still trying to work out what it is that makes Harpoon so unique and downright playable. Show this game to any kid in the PS3 or 360 culture of today and they would just laugh. Harpoon has a depth and a scope that goes way beyond most games of today. In fact, is it even fair to call Harpoon a 'game' as such?

I'm so glad I've got it back now. I did have a little concern that I may have been looking back on my previous Harpoon days through rose-tinted glasses and would have been disappointed with it in 2008. I'm really happy to see that its aged gracefully and still grabs my attention nearly two decades later. [:)]



TonyE -> RE: HCE - worth buying? (8/12/2008 10:25:32 PM)

Don't forget to venture into the EC2003 and WestPac battlesets.  They make use of more of the game changes/improvements since 2002 and benefit from crazy dedicated database authors that EC2000 and earlier do not reflect.




Unzen -> RE: HCE - worth buying? (8/12/2008 10:44:12 PM)

Will do Tony. WestPac is probably the next on my list to tackle, I think...



NefariousKoel -> RE: HCE - worth buying? (8/13/2008 7:56:28 AM)

Not to mention..

All the user-created scenarios you can get. Good stuff.

Sign-up and grab extras here: http://www.harpgamer.com/harpforum/index.php?autocom=portal



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