When to Purchase?

[scrapser 11]

I'm an enormous fan of Carrier Command and hold BIS in high regard. I played it endlessly on my Amiga 500 back in the day. Now the remake is on sale and the troubleshooting forum is filling up as expected with issues. Question is...how long to wait for the dust to settle before purchasing the game. I don't want my experience to be composed primarily of debugging issues and workarounds. I want to play the game. Obviously this was much easier with the original as it was nowhere near as complex as games are today which is why I was able to simply buy it and play it. So I guess I'm trying to deliberately create that situation with the remake as much as possible by delaying making my purchase...hence the question.

[Guest]

Or, you could just download the demo and enjoy that for the time being?

http://www.carriercommandaholic.com/index.php :)

This way you wont spend your money and can test for yourself how the game plays.

[scrapser 11]

Thanks...don't get me wrong as this game is a definite buy for me. I wish nothing but success for both BIS and this game. I guess it's not that easy to have a real sense of when a game or sim gets past most of the major issues. I'm just hoping to avoid them this time around.

[Bansheedragon 1]

I understand your concerns, I was a big fan of the original game myself.

I know just how bad things can seem when reading the troubleshooting forums.

I have played the campaign to completion once and already started it again.

I actually pre-ordered the game and participated in the P&C beta.

Right now the biggest issue with the game is the AI pathfinding.

Walruses cant find their way to waypoints you set.

I seen them run into rocks and trees, and drive around in circles when trying to find their way to their destination.

However BI are currently working on fixing that problem, they made an announcement about it.

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?141129-Carrier-Command-Gaea-Mission-AI-pathfindng-to-be-addressed

The game has had some problems, but nothing so bad that the game is unplayable.

The game is actually very polished, and the majority of the players are giving the game high praise.

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?140871-Reviewing-time!

If you want to wait before purchasing then thats your choice of course, but if you are as big a fan as you say you are, then I think you will be able to overlook these problems for the most part.

Personally I almost cant put the game down, despite the issues with the pathfinding.

I just have to micromanage things a little more, thats all.

Its difficult to tell how long you should wait, as these things vary from game to game and developer to developer

If you want to wait I would say come back every few weeks, perhaps even as often as once a week if you want, and check for updates and then buy it when you feel its the right time.

Edited October 6, 2012 by Bansheedragon

[Scepticer 1]

I have played this game for 30-40 hours (on PC). First the campaign, then a round of strategy and I'm now on my second strategy round. I'm totally hooked at the moment.

I found a few bugs, but no one of them have been game breaking or very frustrating.

Walrus AI that's being complained about is now only a small annoyance for me, it is just something that *should* have been improved before release. The walruses do well for the most part but need monitoring and some help now and again.

For me there are so many high points with this game it easily overshines the few quirks.

If you like me are the kind of gamer that enjoyed this on the Amiga I think you should just go ahead and buy. Chances are you'll love it like me. Fixes are coming and so are various mods.

[Savant1974 1]

I've yet to complete a strategy game, as it eventually breaks so badly that progression is impossible. This is why I didn't want to get in on the 'play and contribute' thing, as I wanted a polished experience out of the box. Instead of getting absorbed into the game, I'm bug-spotting. :( Just when the battle is heating up and stuff is flying everywhere, another crash. It's tedious, but I've had a better run on this campaign than the others at least.

Having said that, it's absolutely gorgeous to look at, and plays fairly well for the most part. Independent orders seems to help the mantas and walruses do their thing, and I'm actually kinda hooked. There's nothing like beaching the carrier and deploying everything at once when assaulting one of the really tough islands. It's just bloody brilliant to watch it all go down :D I'm sure the devs are working on the issues it's got, because this game is a violent work of art. I suggest waiting until the next patch and then buy it and jump right in, because they've put a lot of work into it so far and once the issues are all fixed, it's going to be a permanent resident on my hard-drive ;) Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta try and take that tough island again :D