Entitled: What The Hell? or How could I be convinced a good game could be srewed up so bad in 5 easy steps.
First step to screw up a good game, easy, cut the best elements...
The actors and crew must have cost a lot of canadian dollars if Eugens and Atari decided to remove the movie aspect of the game after Direct Action...
Hell, the first game was filmed in Quebec where professionals costs less than americans and do more (no offense to Hollywood but those guys are paid a lot more 'cuz the industry there is more developed) they did an amazing job making us believe a sand pit in the woods 30 mins from Montreal could be an african or Middle Eastern desert... The actors were ok, well better than most games so I gotta say good, but the quality was really there, it really seemed like a real movie... And now in this brand new Act of War, we get crappy animations with bad voice overs, new voices that don't sound close to the old ones, and really how many times must I say it, it just plainly sucks....
Second step, cut on the writers paycheck....
The scenario is awful, you don't believe in the story at all.. You never get to be immersed in the story, there's no introduction so you need to play the first one to get at least an idea of whats going on... Also, you don't believe in this new threat, it was like a bad VVS movie (for all of you who are working in videostores) hell I was like: ( Are they really going to modify a virus to kill millions, plunge the world into mass panic???? Oh my god I never heard of a story like that, they must have hired Tom Clancy or Seth MacFerlane for that one!! ( THAT WAS SARCASM!!) **** i wasn't even able to see that those terrorists (I can't call em Consortium cuz they are jsut a bunch of amateurs to me) had any hostile intentions other than pissing off the Major, Jefferson and Vega (Where's her bikini btw????) lol... Cut the the paycheck of the writers and they deliver you a story even Hollywood considers not buying the the rights for it...
Third Step, Cranking up a weekness doesnt always means it becomes a better game...
See in Direct Action the AI wasnt all that good, but here I must say the AI is great, maybe even a bit too great... In DA i could do campain or skirmish at the most hard difficulty blind folded, here, well I'm just happy I know my controls by heart and my tactics even better.... They made the AI so good that I was actually happy to play skirmishes in single player, but reading some reviews here and thinking about it it a bit, the normal difficulty for this game is still pretty rough for begginers or even for hardcore RTS fans who never played Act of War... They did their job a bit too perfectly here also aiming for the hardcore fans of the serie...
Fourth Step, When the new **** isn't that great....
Naval units, I thought hell, THIS is gonna be fun, i was half right...
Sure naval units and the concept of it in this games makes it cool, but there are flaws which must be adressed... Controls may be realistic it doesnt mean it's not sometimes a pain in the ass to move a single unit on water... Well let me just say it's nice but be a bit patient cuz realistic here means a bit less fun than if you were playing a game, it sounds more like a job tro move those thigns around... The new units are cool yes i must agree but they certainly dont balance things out, the only unit that may balance somethigns is the sniper vehicule for the Consortium which gives the 3 factions use snipers now...
The mercenaries, (mercs) should not even exists in this game.... Let me explain, the idea is great, put a bunch of unit anywhere you want on the map for a fee... Problem is the units arent that cool except maybe for the search and destroy squad to pick up POWs and the Nuke truck but still a nuke costs 3ks and flies wherever u want it to, so 10k for a Truck moving a nuke around??????? sounds like a waste to me.... Anyway it's just that it's a waste of money, a waste of time cuz the cooldown ( not a bad idea) is just too damn long, and well it makes mercs hard to use strategically cuz u need 1 plane to fly over your merc chopper and u have dead mercs on ur doorstep claiming an insurance policy... All you can do is laugh with despair and scream: Duck and cover!!!!! just before ROFL with a sick desperation in your laugh... If you're friends with Riddick dead mercs MAY sound good to you so I recommend using a lot of mercs and let them die, costs less than going to a comedian show althought you may like
Chris Rock more than mercs dying in AOW.... lol I'm just too pissed to be serious... (Chris Rock does rule thought )
Fifth Step, Doesn't new version of a game means better sound and graphics???
I'll be short and sweet, graphics and sound and this game, well, THEY SUCK.... I'm done what could I had to that, I've seen better, you did too, AOW DA was just plain better...
So For all you game developpers out there if you want a wellfare check more than a new contract follow theses guidelines and you shoud be in bussiness ( or out of it actually)
Thx for reading me, I know it was long.....
Anarky86
P.S. AI is great in this game so please dont cry like babies cuz u find it too hard, you should be ashamed of yourselves, beaten by a computer ;) lol practice some more and show them who's the boss