byron13 -> RE: I gotta admit, I find it amusing the back-n-forth (12/2/2004 4:26:10 AM)
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Swamp Fox: You must keep in mind that this game is a tremendous undertaking, seeking to combine in one game air, ground, and sea units. And, of course, within each of these general types are numerous sub-types, each of which require special treatment, such as cargo carriers, fighters, amphibous-capable, level bombers, dive bombers, radar-equipped night fighters, etc. Most games that have attempted to meld these three into one game usually do so abstractly - either by design or because of the scale of the game. But this game gives you hands on control at a remarkable scale over all units covering approximately half of the globe. It is truly a remarkable achievement. Add in the fine details like some ships can only carry infantry or light weapons, while other specialize in heavy equipment; tracking fuel usage for ships but allowing refueling at sea; affects of malaria; requiring tenders to refit and rearm certain types of combat ships . . . the list goes on and on. Because the game is so much more complex and detailed than any other game on the market, the coding is more complex. The game as released is very playable, but there are a couple of quirks that you see people focusing on. No game is ever perfect, and because this one is based on history and not fantasy, anything that is not precisely historical is deemed a design error or, in some cases, even a bug (and, yes, some are actually bugs). I, frankly, haven't even noticed some of the issues people are railing on. The biggest problem is probably the accelerated land combat. But trust me when I say that the people that declare an issue/bug to be a "gamebreaker" or render the game "unplayable" are out of their heads. To the contrary, this game is very stable and imminently playable. There is simply no other game like it on the market today. The scope and grandeur is breath-taking. Most of the problems either balance out or affect a very small portion of the overall game so that their affects are negligible. If I ever actually notice the issues of which other people complain, I will write it off to an odd happening that will, in all likelihood, be well within the spectrum of possible outcomes. Unplayable? Hardly. If anything, it has rendered many of my other games virtually unplayable because of their relative simplicity and the frustration at not being able to micro-manage. It's like going from an immensely complicated board game, like Campaign for North Africa, back to Tactics II. You can't make the switch. Tactics II is no longer a military simulation but is just an abstract board game like Risk or chess - possibly fun, but not a simulation. Looked at another way, if you scaled this game down in both size and ability to micro-manage to the size of other games, the problems would also scale down to such a small level that they wouldn't even be noticeable and would beat all other games hands down. Bottom line: there simply is no other game like it and there is no substitute. I would gladly pay $80 again for the pleasure of playing it.
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