Wardo

Well, my non-steel steelbox experience has been good. It wasn't I, but a friend who opened the mail package, and although yes, the box did suffer damage, it still impressed my friend a great deal, who thought it very pretty indeed. I thought it was nothing too special, but I'm a cynical bitch and I've been spoiled by Flight Simulator 2004's, I think it was, or CFS3, I don't remember. That was a pretty cool full real metal metalbox. Solid, sturdy. Anyway, the box is pretty indeed, my friend approves of it, and I approve of its look. Very nice. Sadly, there's no promotional accompanying mouse pad. Dude, where's my mouse pad? CMSF's is getting worn out... Also good was the lucky sneaky passage of the package through customs, without eliciting import fees. WHERE'S YOUR GOVERNMENT NOW?! I'm glad this place isn't as efficient as IngSoc. So, ok, cool, nice box. The sepia over sepian-gray manual wasn't the best of choices, but it's also not as bad as it looks on the PDF. It's easier to read than the PDF IMO actually. Still, please don't go artsy in manuals, at least not on the important bits, i.e. the main text. On the bad side, the box got damaged both in the front and back. The front damage was very slight, a minor depression near the top. The rear damage was deeper and more pronounced, actually extending to open a crack along the height of the inner plastic body from top to bottom, near the top inner corner of the box. Meh. I'm not a collector and didn't buy this for the box; the game mostly works, so we're still in business.

Oh, those poor 4-hour battles! Why were they excluded from the Quick Battle set up? Yes, I know you'll answer "because the Quick Battle feature is meant to provide a 'quick', as in short, battle'. Or is it? One can read instead the quick as meaning a shorter way of setting up a battle when compared to the time-consuming full-blown editor, and not in reference to the length of the battle itself. The quick path to fun, however long, or short said fun is. Therefore: 1) Battlefront.com is justified in patching a 4 hour option for Quick Battles in the next patch. 2) Battlefront.com is not only justified, but compelled and willing to do it. Nearly obliged actually. They can hardly wait to announce it in the changelog. In fact, it's already done. 3) I have your cat. If you want to see it alive again you better patch in 4 hour Quick Battles. Best Regards, Fourman Tom

I don't care for the misleading steel named non-steel book in a box. I don't even care for a printed manual anymore. Yeah. Shoot me. I do care for a printed keymap card and a quick-reference card along with any other basic stuff guide. These are actually useful and keep forgetful information. Next to my monitor lies a notepad precisely because games don't come with quick-reference/keymap cards anymore, and so I have to make my own and write down all the stuff I'll forget next time I take a break (or go back to real-life from a break, depending on the perspective). Bummer. I don't recall if Shock Force came with one of those, but its mouse-pad is a kind of reference... pad. Which I am using right now, not for the reference, but as a mouse-pad. Excellent prime-quality mouse-pad it is, impressively. Not what you'd expect from a supposedly promotional item, and a far more useful novelty than any fancy non-fancy box. Still, was it Combat Flight Simulator 3 or Flight Simulator:2004 that came in an awesome metalic non-plastic cool metal box?

I didn't knew of this restriction, and though I'm not blaming Battlefront for my failure to read the fine little lines I believe it should be made clearer and more obvious that after one year you're out, seeing from this thread that I was not the only person unaware of the restriction. I did not knew why Battlefront offered me to buy Shock Force both as a download and as a box, I chose the box aswell for novelty, for a proper sense of ownership. Now I understand it is a genuine advantage. By no means do I intend to say that Battlefront is behind the competition, I never knew that Matrix games also expired their downloads, all you publishers/devs have been quite discreet about it. I do not criticize your business model, as it's obviously working and providing me with good games, nor do I seek to smash you with the hammer of government regulation, the government never gave me any good games, it actually only makes them more expensive by taxing every single step in the chain of production and of my own use. But I do suggest Battlefront take a step ahead of the competition and make this information clear before the buying process is finished. Add it where we can clearly read, not in clause 7853 in the bottom of the contract: Warning: your download will expire within an year. This is the standard procedure in the market, and our competition does the same. We imperatively suggest that you back-up the installation file in a DVD or another drive so that you can install again whenever you need. That said, I indeed compliment Battlefront's customer service, especially the proactive guy who does the gift wrapping for international orders; ask him, he'll know what I mean, and send him my thanks.

What he said.

Lots of empty air for friendly forces.