Theatre of War 2: Mouthwash

[salwon]

So, I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one who was disappointed with ToW, which was so close to being exactly what I wanted. I never bothered with any of the mega-patches, since my Battlefront time was taken up with CMSF. But now they've got this sequel coming out, and it looks good, I think? I love the idea of the Tunisian focus (much more interesting terrain than the Alamein/Tobruk areas which get all the attention), so as long as the gameplay works this could be a good one. Hell, as long as my pixeltruppen actually DO WHAT THE FUCK I TELL THEM it'll be an improvement over the first.

1Up Preview. Thoughts?

[Troy S Goodfellow]

So, I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one who was disappointed with ToW, which was so close to being exactly what I wanted. I never bothered with any of the mega-patches, since my Battlefront time was taken up with CMSF. But now they've got this sequel coming out, and it looks good, I think? I love the idea of the Tunisian focus (much more interesting terrain than the Alamein/Tobruk areas which get all the attention), so as long as the gameplay works this could be a good one. Hell, as long as my pixeltruppen actually DO WHAT THE FUCK I TELL THEM it'll be an improvement over the first.

IGN Preview. Thoughts?

1up preview, not IGN. Not that I wouldn't love to write for anybody with Murdoch money.

Theatre of War turned into a good game once they got the line of sight stuff worked out, and I'm happy that 1C is finally letting you occupy buildings. But all we have so far are a few screenshots and their word that this will be a better game. It's really too soon to tell much about it.

Troy

[Incendiary Lemon]

The English demo is out - Link



Lost most of my Shermans in the first three minutes when I advanced straight up the road to Sidi Bari. Two PZ III (?) appeared on the left flank and an 88 opened up on my position.

From just a few minutes it seems much better put together. At the very least the production values have improved. It looks brilliant and it sounds good. The GUI is also quite polished.

[Jarmo]

Pre-ordered it. Saved 10 bucks by having the Theatre of War install code. That game never really engaged me, hoping for better luck with this one.

[flyinj]

Battlefront is the only indy developer to go from a 10 in my book to almost a 0.

I used to love them- they made fantastic games, they were friendly and helpful, just overall a great experience.

Now, I don't know what happened to them. Their forums became some sort of jingoistic cesspool, the developers turned into condescending assholes, and the followup to one of my favorite games ever created was basically shit out the door as an unplayable mess.

Now, I install this demo, and the installer tries to get away with installing a "Battlefront Toolbar" into my browser. Now, there's nothing quite as insidious as trying to sneak your crap onto the top of my browser. Especially when you tack it onto the end of an installer, where you hope people will just hit the "finish" button without seeing what exactly is checked on the final list. Seriously, why in the hell would -anyone- want a "Battlefront Toolbar" sitting there at the top of every web page they look at for the next few years? Is it going to inform you when Battlefront gets around to publishing another game every 18 months? This company sells, what, 8 games? What possible use could it have other than the best ad placement money could buy?

I'm used to shady malware trying to get away with this, but I've -never- seen a game company try to pull this off.

[Calistas]

That is bizzare. Anyone unpacked it to have a look and work out what it is?

[TheWombat]

Heh, so someone else noticed this too, and has the same reaction I have. Well, to be fair, I'm now used to every patch from Battlefront trying to install this toolbar thing, so I know to look for it and uncheck it, but yeah, I do wonder what possible use it is.

Battlefront is the only indy developer to go from a 10 in my book to almost a 0.

I used to love them- they made fantastic games, they were friendly and helpful, just overall a great experience.

Now, I don't know what happened to them. Their forums became some sort of jingoistic cesspool, the developers turned into condescending assholes, and the followup to one of my favorite games ever created was basically shit out the door as an unplayable mess.

Now, I install this demo, and the installer tries to get away with installing a "Battlefront Toolbar" into my browser. Now, there's nothing quite as insidious as trying to sneak your crap onto the top of my browser. Especially when you tack it onto the end of an installer, where you hope people will just hit the "finish" button without seeing what exactly is checked on the final list. Seriously, why in the hell would -anyone- want a "Battlefront Toolbar" sitting there at the top of every web page they look at for the next few years? Is it going to inform you when Battlefront gets around to publishing another game every 18 months? This company sells, what, 8 games? What possible use could it have other than the best ad placement money could buy?

I'm used to shady malware trying to get away with this, but I've -never- seen a game company try to pull this off.

[Calistas]

Flyn, you expressed exactly my sentiments about the company, by the way. Their website sucks and they're proud of it, they load their forums inside a frame (FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WHY?!) they think they're the hottest shit in town and they think they should install a browser bar.

Wish someone would unpack it and find out wtf it is!

TheWombat: They try and ship this thing with every patch as well?

[Calistas]

I blawged this whole browser bar thing
http://afteractionreporter.com/2009/...available-now/

[TheWombat]

As far as I can tell; every patch for the Strategic Commander or whatever it is WWII series has that malarky with it, as do the CMSF patches.

Flyn, you expressed exactly my sentiments about the company, by the way. Their website sucks and they're proud of it, they load their forums inside a frame (FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WHY?!) they think they're the hottest shit in town and they think they should install a browser bar.

Wish someone would unpack it and find out wtf it is!

TheWombat: They try and ship this thing with every patch as well?

[Calistas]

I get the feeling that it is a missguided attempt to provide something for the community which instead makes the geeks among their fans extremely nervous. I am not surprised TBH, the Battlefront guys think they know best. I went to the TOW2 forum and saw some guy posting a warning thread about the system reqs and he immediately got a somewhat snarky-seeming reply from a dev saying the min reqs were well posted. Professional!

[Calistas]

Did an AAR of the Tutorial
http://afteractionreporter.com/2009/...ar-2-demo-aar/

...er I should have done the battle - but didn't realize there was one right away. Doh.

Found it a bit confusing in some ways.

[salwon]

I've only played the demo, but it seems very likely that this is much more fun than the full game.

[Calistas]

I did play the full battle and found it random and tedious. The troops move like a herd of fish (and that makes them die easily) and tanks can't spot an AT gun 15 feet away in bushes. I dunno. I'm not feeling it.

[salwon]

To me, there just didn't seem to be any improvements over the first. There's no good reason to have individual soldier control at this level - I know their selling point is, "But the soldiers all have individual skills! Choose the right man for the job!" but this is bullshit. All it comes down to is me always min/maxing who's doing what on a gun/vehicle, a process that can very easily be automated. Their fundamental play mechanic is flawed. Wake me when CM: Normandy comes out.

[salwon]

Anyone want to buy this and tell me how it is?

[flyinj]

Anyone want to buy this and tell me how it is?

They're charging for that? What the hell...

[salwon]

Best of all, the STRATEGY OF WAR official strategy guide will be released THIS WEEKEND, including a free demo! The full version of STRATEGY OF WAR will cost $20 standalone or $60 (a savings of $5) when purchased in a bundle with the Theatre of War 2:Africa 1943 game! As usual, only available directly from www.battlefront.com!

Free demo!