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Have the reviews dealt a fatal blow?


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No, CMSF is actually a good game at its core, just needs some refinement. My main concern was whether or not Battlefront will be able to carry on to make better games, which I'm sure they can.

To go back to the Brigade E5 example, the devs left us high and dry as far as patches goes, at least Battlefront has the decency to fix the game as opposed to Apeiron.

Also, for the love of God Steve, make the next modern/future game something epic. Please, China, Iran, Vietnam, Korea, Nato vs. Warsaw Pact, Earth Federation vs. Selene or Mars, Space Lobsters vs. Moon crabs. As tricky as the Syrians can be, they are still like ants against anyone who knows what they are doing.

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I was about to say "but epic is way harder dude", but then I thought... damn, NATO v. Pact.

Mmmmmm.

Anybody ever read "First Clash"? Man, I'd build that campaign in a heartbeat. I'd second the "make something epic" thing.

Although honestly I'll probably buy the next revision regardless. As long as it's not CM: Underwater Unicorn Adventures or something.

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Originally posted by Battlefront.com:

How many of you guys remember the Sierra super-disaster product called Outpost (aka Outhouse). One of the most savaged games in all my years in this business. I just started working for one of their subsidiaries (Impressions) after it was released and was shocked to see the sales numbers. ONe of the best selling games Sierra ever had.

The 93% rating from PC Gamer may have been a factor.
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Seriously, PC Gamer's reviews seemed to have been the most respected in the industry, at least in my area. I constantly heard from people during that mag's "good years" (from start to maybe '01) that their reviews had factored in their purchasing decisions. Their staff grog was GREAT, too, though I don't think he's there any more.

A solid PC Gamer review could have been a big factor in stimulating sales, as dismissive as some folks are of reviews.

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Trotter, that's the guy. His wargame reviews (and his equally excellent recommendations of shareware, etc.) were always spot on. His column and reviews were the reason I subscribed for so many years.

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Originally posted by Muletears:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Battlefront.com:

How many of you guys remember the Sierra super-disaster product called Outpost (aka Outhouse). One of the most savaged games in all my years in this business. I just started working for one of their subsidiaries (Impressions) after it was released and was shocked to see the sales numbers. ONe of the best selling games Sierra ever had.

The 93% rating from PC Gamer may have been a factor. </font>
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Originally posted by Canuck:

I bought Korsun Pocket because he claimed that it was the best wargame ever made.

And is it? I bought it on Mr. Trotter's recommendation but never got around to installing it, I'm ashamed to say. Should I do so now, while waitaing for at least another two patches before trying to play CMSF again?
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Originally posted by Canuck:

PC Gamer's reviews used to hold a lot of water with me-especially Bill Trotter's wargame reviews. I bought Korsun Pocket because he claimed that it was the best wargame ever made.

I myself bought CMBO because of the stunning review PC Gamer gave the game, or rather my parents bought the game for me as I was barely 16 at the time, I believe.
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quote:

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Originally posted by KNac:

Someone said that the game has sold allready more than CMBO and CMBB combined, so guess..

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Link?? Sorry but I really have a hard time believing that this game has already sold more than two games combined over a period of three or four years.
I agree if it had sold more than both over the years it would be in the top 10 sales charts and well it's not. Someone is just blowing smoke without any documentation.
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Personally I have noticed that unless a game gets something like 85% or 8/10 or more it is usually just a waste of time.

But they really kicked their own foot by releasing half working games like TOW and CM:SF. None else to blame if people do not like buggy beta-releases sold as full games.

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Originally posted by CaptainBly:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />quote:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Originally posted by KNac:

Someone said that the game has sold allready more than CMBO and CMBB combined, so guess..

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Link?? Sorry but I really have a hard time believing that this game has already sold more than two games combined over a period of three or four years.
I agree if it had sold more than both over the years it would be in the top 10 sales charts and well it's not. Someone is just blowing smoke without any documentation. </font>
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Just throwing my 2 cents worth, here.

I don't believe reviewers have the same weight in specialised games like the CM series, than with the average Mario Bros.

As some have said, a lot of today's reviewers just judge the eye candy aspect and don't go too far.

Probably due to the console market influence, by the way: find it, play it, win, throw it.

On top of that, I believe the average mature customer will first look for a demo (which is a rare thing nowadays) before going to reviewers.

I personnally do that (don't give a damn about reviews if I got the demo !) and believe some of the recent DRM disasters has taught people, the hard way :D After all, those bloody reviews never speak about the very ability for you to run the game !

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Originally posted by IsleOfMule:

I don't believe reviewers have the same weight in specialised games like the CM series, than with the average Mario Bros.

Depends on who is doing the reviewing. There's a few who really know their stuff; Trotter springs to mind.

Not a big fan of demos for wargames, except to find out (as I did with CMSF) how the game runs on your hardware. There's far too much under the hood of a good one to pick up on without extensive play and a good read of the manual (which I simply can't be arsed to do with a demo .pdf). How do you do a sensible demo for something like War in the Pacific? The best route IMHO is check the game forums after a week or so; filter out the haters and fanboys and you get a pretty good picture.

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Originally posted by Hertston:

Not a big fan of demos for wargames, except to find out (as I did with CMSF) how the game runs on your hardware. There's far too much under the hood of a good one to pick up on without extensive play and a good read of the manual (which I simply can't be arsed to do with a demo .pdf). How do you do a sensible demo for something like War in the Pacific? The best route IMHO is check the game forums after a week or so; filter out the haters and fanboys and you get a pretty good picture. [/QB]

I was of that opinion some time back, check forums , and remove the 5% of both extremes to get the picture.

Unfortunately, while it can work (as it seems to do here and elsewhere), I've seen it fail for me, and also have a counter example showing it fail totally: http://forums.gaspowered.com/

Basically, for a lot of reasons (some due to the mods), the forums is tits up to the point I would have never bought Supreme Commander after being in that scary place where even some mod recently (probably drunk in a bad day) hit the "new topic" button to bash a member (and a good contributor) !! However, the game is brilliant.

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