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Yankee66 -> RE: Early Impressions (9/26/2013 5:07:45 PM)
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While the price being undisputably high, it's also damn fine piece of software for an audience that is still considered being a rather small niche market.
I started playing these strategical/tactical wargames back in the day with Harpoon II, which was followed up later by Fleet Command and then Dangerous Waters. Inbetween came the "land combat" simulations like "Armored Task Force or Close Combat.
As of late, I played more "Total War" than any hardcore simulation. So I consider myself a returner to the warsim-genre. Not a complete newbie, but someone who once learned the ropes a while back and became rusty.
So, my first impression after playing it for a couple dozen hours:
The performance is good and it seems to run rock-stable. I am playing it on a Win7, 64Bit with 16 Gigs of RAM and a GTX 570 and haven't run into any problems so far.
The tutorials work really well. The way they are executed makes you read a little and think a lot. They take you by the hand and explain the basic concepts of the game through hands-on experience, while being clear and concise.
For me, they worked so well that I only looked into the manual to find out what custom overlays and the 1/3rd rule are, and I can still hold my own in most scenarios. :)
The "flow" of the game is impressive. Especially when looking at some rather clunky interfaces of other hardcore wargame titles.
Nothing you can do in the sim seems "hidden", and overall I had no problems putting missions together for my Units, then have them execute manual movement and firing orders in an emergency situation, before giving control back to the AI. This makes reacting to new situations easier than I thought and cuts down on the micromanagement.
From what I've seen of the AI, it pulls off believable and challenging tactics without making me feel like it's "cheating". I need to see more of it in more hours of gameplay to make a more detailed assessment. But the fact that it seemed to react to my actions in an appropriate way, and also differently in similar sessions, makes me like it from the get-go.
Something I always love to do is starting the scenario editor. And I did so with "Command" after just 2 or 3 hours of gameplay. And I love it. Again, nothing seems hidden or hard to reach, the concept of Triggers, Events and Actions isn't hard to grasp. Not entirely easy for those without prior knowledge, but also not hard to understand.
I was able to put together a very small test scenario, containing a carrier with a custom contingent of planes, a Sub and some land-based targets on a custom overlay in under an hour. The hardest part, if you can call it that, was setting up the custom overlay for the first time. Your explanation in the manual is really good and works well. The second time went much smoother and faster. Custom overlays are fun! :D
The sounds are kind of ok, although generic, and not without crackling. But looking at how much a game like this generally needs sound – like a cow needing a bicycle – it's not a big drawback or an annoyance. And I am sure there will be sound mods soon.
To conclude my early impression:
If you want to get into wargames, get back into wargames or get a modern wargame that's worth playing and also shows a lot of potential – get "Command".
The price of admission is high, no sugarcoating that, and the learning curve, although lower than in most hardcore sims, is still high, but if this game manages to build a strong community, I am sure it will provide years of wargaming fun.
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