First Impressions

[ArrowRL201 1]

I just downloaded the demo from Steam, and I gotta say, I'm pretty damn excited about it. Moreso than any other game demo I've played recently, that is. It's been a while since someone has made a strategy game that enables you to personally control your units. I've worked a lot on one such game - specifically, Eidos Interactive's Battlestations Midway and Battlestations Pacific. Not only have I worked extensively on their unofficial game guides, but I'm also included in the latter game's credits.

Rather than launch on an epic rant about the game, here're a few points I found about it.

• Being able to witness the launching of your plane or tank from the carrier is among one of the coolest things I've ever seen in a video game.
  
• Upon starting, I experienced huge amounts of slowdown. Apparently my graphics settings were too high; try adding some auto-detect functionality so it doesn't take ten minutes to be able to select the option to reduce the graphics.
  
• Customizing your tank/plane helps a lot when you only have two units to pick from. Good move there.
  
• Flying with the keyboard is really goddamn hard. Granted I didn't fly with my flight stick, but geez. And I have a lot of experience flying in video games, too.
  
• It took me all of five minutes of being shot at in order to figure out that I could switch deck guns on my carrier. Through the mouse wheel. Please tell me to use the mouse wheel!
  
• I completely failed to understand the importance of this "hacking module" thing. I quit the demo when one of my Walruses got destroyed and it lost a hacking module or something. Explain that bit better for your tutorial.
  
• The tutorial seemed a bit disjointed. I remember retrieving a tank from a garage, and then suddenly I'm on foot? Trying to grab a plane?
  
• The RTS segment isn't very intuitive. I figured out that right mouse clicking moved my units, but trying to get my repair unit to fix the other three units (and failing) is ultimately what cost me that hacking module thing, I bet. If there is a "follow and repair" command for a repair Walrus, I couldn't find it. If it exists, such a command should definitely be mentioned in the tutorial.
  
• Transitioning from unit to map isn't very intuitive either. There were several times when I was trying to man my Walrus when it was getting shot at, only to be stuck with my mouse tied to the mouse cursor than to the barrel of my gun.
  
• The foot segment of the demo didn't seem to move at all like an FPS. Maybe it's just my mouse sensitivity? It also took me a long time to figure out that there is no reloading.
  

It also might be better to compartmentalize your tutorial. There were times where I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do, namely when Mantas became available. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to fly in them yet, or stick to the ground (I ended up sticking to the ground, due to the odd flying controls). I also noticed that you guys didn't mention a lot of the controls, instead referring to specific actions ("This deck gun isn't the best at shooting aircraft. Try switching to another gun."). This had me make a lot of guesses as to what to do; next time, use specific instructions ("Use the mouse wheel to switch weapons to something better at firing at aircraft").

I'll definitely be picking this game up, but not now with my overheating laptop and not for $50.

Edited October 14, 2012 by ArrowRL201

[ToxLaximus 1]

Using a xbox controller to pilot the manta is very good indeed, I'm not sure what other controllers are supported.

Self built gaming rigs are way to go in my opinion, much better parts and cheaper that store pc's, my asus AMD 6870 with has excellent cooling and can run games all day without getting hot, along with the coolermaster high airflow case exhausts cold air even in the middle of summer with its quiet 200mm fans, one to pull air in and one to pull air out, just hoover the dust filter once a week, if like me you want a cool pc then there are affordable options without resorting to the more expensive water cooling.

Modders like Thrgrrr, Deano will fix the bugs one way or another, foxhound opened the excellent fan site www.carriercommandaholic.com

In a month or two things will start to hot up.

[ArrowRL201 1]

Sure, but some of us are college students who can barely afford anything. I pooled pretty much my life savings into this laptop and it's already overheating. Although I'll be getting a job sooner or later, PC developers should keep in mind that not everyone can afford a decent rig. And while shiny graphics are always a good thing, being able to make it run effectively on low(er) end computers can result in a larger community. I'm sure it's easy, once you've built a super-detailed world, to be able to tone things down a notch.

I also hate Microsoft on principle, and thus will never get an Xbox controller. I use a Logitech Attack 3 flight stick for all my flying needs.

I also certainly hope things will heat up, as I'd really enjoy writing a guide to this game. I'm working on being a professional guide writer, and I've already written two game guides that were officially recognized by Eidos. I'm even in the latter game's credits. That said, I've bought too many games that have given promises that remain unfulfilled, so I'm erring on the side of caution nowadays. And $50 isn't exactly cheap.

I've also noticed it's...not exactly multiplayer, is it?

Edited October 14, 2012 by ArrowRL201