First Impressions

[Agua]

The camera controls are different, but you get used to them pretty quickly. Off the top of my head, mouse top of screen = forward, sides = L/R, bottom = back, top corners = rotate L/R. Mouse right click and manipulate moves camera relative to map. Mouse scroll wheel increase / decrease height. Finer control is gained from WASD (forward, left, back, right) and QE = rotate left / right.

[Pvt. Ryan]

I tried printing the manual on my Epson line printer. Big mistake! The boxed ? mark doesn't appear (which is great), but the greyish text on yellowish "paper" emptied the LightMagenta printer cartridge. (And the printer stops working if ANY cartridge is empty.) So now I have a printer I can't use until I get a new set of cartridges for $70 or so,

In the future you should print these things in black and white so you don't waste your color ink.

[dan/california]

Their is a much more readable/printable PDF version of the manual coming with the game itself.

[phil stanbridge]

Goodness me! Where do I start? It's totally amazing. Even I am surprised just how 'good' this feels. I've spent a couple of days on the missions (as the attacker in all of them, we all know how it feels playing defensively in these games) - and have spent the best part of 2 hours tonight on 'closing the pocket'. What an astonishing simulation.

Just a few of the things I've picked up:-

-Feels much more 'balanced' than Shock Force. Harder work, but plenty of toys to play with.

-Graphics/animations are superb, especially the death throws! They are amazing and varied and really add atmosphere. IMO it needs some saturation work and perhaps a few little things here and there, but otherwise top notch. I'm sure mods will eventually see to these little niggles however.

-Love the extra little detailing in the buildings and amongst the scenery - it feels authentic. You want to look around the place first, then completely ruin it with artillery. Love the way buildings rubble and scenery changes. It reminds me so much of CMBO, but so much more advanced. Everything about it seem significantly improved. I know this is stating the obvious, but when you compare every tactical sim to CMBO, well, enough said.

-Fighting in the bocage is going to be tough! This game is going to be hard work, especially for the novice. Casualties quickly mount - especially under mortar/artillery fire, which seems pretty accurate apart from the occasional total miss. It's quite painful to see. I'm sure there are some little bugs to be ironed out there! I stuck a 81mm mortar squad in some trees and they promptly killed themselves firing the first round! Airburst?

-Some of the sound effects are impressive - the 20mm meat-chopper sounds great, as do some other 'meatier' effects, and the ricochets are awesome but then some feel quite weak and distant. The artillery might be an acquired taste to some. Needs some more work I feel, but this will be down to the modders. They are significantly improved anyway. Also have to have coloured icons.

I think what I'm really waiting for is the HUGE epic battles. Battalion sized engagments are going to be so much fun to play, on large sprawling maps. Campaigns will obviously lend themselves quite well to this. Also, I know it's a way away, but I'm really looking forward to the Arnhem module. If the scenery/graphics are this good already, imagine how it will feel playing in a more 'urban' environment. It's pretty nasty up close, and it brings it home to you just how crazy and intense some of the battles must have been. I think this is as close to perfect in my eyes. Sure, there are some little bugs, but they will be addressed in due course.

Well done guys for an amazing simulation!

[MOSwas71331]

Just after the material you quoted from my earlier reply were the following two sentences in parens: (I dread to think what the pages would have looked like if the printer driver had given me a choice to print just black and white instead of color. I might have had grey text on greyer pages and emptied the black cartridge.)

1. My printer's driver does not provide a choice of black and white printing.

2. As the text is in grey and the background color is a darker yellow shade, I expect the printed result of choosing B&W would be light grey text on a darker grey background. It wouldn't drain the LightMagenta cartridge, but the various shades of grey would certainly use some (probably a lot) of my Black cartridge.