Jokubas

Now, I know a lot of you don't like Steam, and I think their new Trading Card system has some obvious flaws, however, it seems to be a very popular way to get your games out there at the moment. I'd love to see Bohemia Interactive promote the games they own by spending a little bit of time and effort to put together sets for them. Everything from ArmA to Pound of Ground could get a set. Alpha Prime, for example, shouldn't be too hard. Make a card for each of the main characters by capturing an image of their models, then use something like Eriq Chang's box art design for the profile background, and quickly stylize Glomar's Heart or something for an emoticon. ArmA seems pretty popular now, so I don't know if this would make much of a difference there, but I think this could really help drive sales of Bohemia and their developers' lower profile games. Thanks for considering. I really hope this doesn't come off as me promoting Steam. I honestly just think it might be a potentially fun way for Bohemia to promote themselves.

It's a pretty basic FPS you can get fairly cheap at most places nowadays. It was a really solid game, though, with production values comparable to mainstream releases at the time, which is amazing for such a small company. There are some hiccups with enemy difficulty and the script, but I found it to be an enjoyable experience nonetheless. If you're expecting to find a forgotten blockbuster, turn back now. If you like the FPS genre and don't mind if a game doesn't live up to mainstream expectations, you'll find something that is fun and unique. Just don't expect multiplayer or a sequel, because it seems that despite the ending, they don't seem to be planning one.

The thing that bothers me most about Alpha Prime is that it ends on a cliffhanger and no sequel has been announced to this day. I know a lot of people had issues with the original, but I still found it to be an enjoyable experience that deserves to resolve its story hooks and address the issues people had. The enemies could be unfair and certain things, like taking damage, didn't have enough feedback, but it wasn't impossible if I could get through it. The voice acting was occasionally odd, but I've since heard a lot of things I made fun of in Alpha Prime appear in British TV shows and movies, so I assume that it's not bad writing after all, but regional writing. I'd like to see a sequel that addressed these things. Better AI, better feedback, a multiplayer option. I can't complain about the writing if it really is regional. Plus, it gave the game a unique character I wouldn't want to see go away. I want to see the actors reprise their roles, too. The game could be quirky, but that made it unique, and not just another generic, shaved-head, manly-man-quipping shooter. Is there even a possibility of a sequel anymore? When Black Element Software was acquired by Bohemia Interactive, it was said that it would still operate independently, but I haven't heard anything from them since. Black Element Software was listed as a developer of Carrier Command: Gaea Mission until the new site came up, now they're nowhere to be seen. I'm afraid that since Alpha Prime isn't Bohemia's usual simulation style, we'll never see an Alpha Prime sequel.

I know this is old, but I thought I could add something to the discussion and Placebo agreed. I wrote most of the Wikipedia page as it is right now. When I found it, it was a barren mess that was outdated about the little information that it did have. That said, I don't feel that I'm very good at making articles. I tried to flesh out the parts I knew as best as I could, but I left the things I wasn't sure about because I didn't want to step on anyone else's edits. Anyone can edit though, since it is Wikipedia. If anyone else wants to help make the article more accurate, you're more than welcome to, of course. I find it really unfortunate that the game isn't properly documented in a lot of places, and I've tried to remedy that. I've tried my best, but I'm not so great at it. If anyone can help, or at least provide any extra information like on this thread, it would be greatly appreciated. Answering this is probably not important anymore, but while I'm at it... This game is pretty unfair. The AI maybe isn't the smartest, but they're infallible. They simply cannot miss, and if they're in line of sight, you're taking full damage. On top of that, the indicator that you're taking damage in this game is fairly subtle, so it's easy to miss that you're getting torn apart until it's too late. I've had at least a couple of shooter fans who simply gave up on the game because of that. I made it through, so it's not impossible. It definitely does not feel like it's intended as a feature, though.

Being able to actually pilot massive ships was one of the things that made Battlefield 1942 stand out to me when I first played the demo. ArmA is much more of the simulation that I thought I was getting back then, but I can understand if it's a technological hurdle here. I know that Battlefield's engine had a hard time handling it. Ugh, the rubber-banding! XP

Seems like it has a lot of potential, but when I got to the training mission where I had to fly through all the rings, my helicopter would snap back to its original facing no matter what button I pushed. Guess I missed something important in the previous sections.

That sounds very intriguing. I'd probably end up mixing it up as well, and it's nice that that's an option. I just hope that's showcased properly. I've played a game with optional playstyles that, for some reason, never showcased the one I liked the most.

It obviously wouldn't be for everyone, but I'd like to see a multiplayer mode where all the players work together to pilot a carrier in various ways. Some people were disappointed that Star Trek Online didn't do this, seeing as it's sort of central to the shows. I can understand it wouldn't work for something they wanted to be a mainstream MMO, but I think Bohemia could be more daring here. Puzzle Pirates was a lot like how I'd like teamwork in a game where everyone's working on a ship to be like, though hopefully it would have less puzzles and more strategic action. Hope I got my idea across there, because I don't know enough about this game to apply the idea more directly.

If I've played the game, I don't remember, which is a shame because it sounds interesting. Are there any plans to pack the original as a pre-order bonus or any of those typical promotional ideas?

And if it's the same game I'm thinking of, some of that content came on the disc and they wanted you to pay again to unlock it! I miss the old days when everyone did expansions. Companies were forced to make enough content to justify releasing a new box. Now with DLC they'll put out anything, no matter how small, for exorbitant prices. It's nice to see when a company still has standards.

Some sort of editor would be cool. I'm past the days where I use them myself, but that doesn't stop anyone else from making neat stuff with them. :P

Has it been updated now? (It says Q2 on the website now, so did that happen between the original post and now?) Not shipping with multiplayer is unfortunate, but there are upsides. It just reminds me of Orcs Must Die! though. An excellent game I haven't really been recommending to my friends because the lack of multiplayer really takes away from it's replayability and, well, the potential of having fun with my friends. This game seems to have more potential to add it in later, at least. Orcs Must Die! seems to be done.

Accessibility is what's most important, and that's something I have to say I feel like the ArmA series has been lacking. I've had a really hard time trying to get into it, and it's not because I'm too impatient to find the depth that I know is there, or I simply think it's too cerebral for me, it's just that a good chunk of the game is not intuitive and I don't even know how to begin learning it. There's a really good video I watched before about this concept: http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/easy-games I think comparing this particular series to a hobby sounds very appropriate, but I think Bohemia can help to introduce more people to this hobby. The game already has a lot of depth. For ArmA 3, I hope they'll work on making that depth more accessible.

A gifting system would be nice. The one thing that bothers me about Steam's is that you can't gift on a certain day (as far as I know). You have to gift it the second you purchase, which kinda ruins the whole idea of getting presents on Christmas or a birthday. ;P