Matrix Games Forums

ORIGINAL: tevans6220

ORIGINAL: thewood1

It is not the review itself, but the fairly well known information that the reviewer has a running feud with the developers, including accusations of IP theft. Not only that, the reviewer has engaged with government projects using Harpoon as the platform. Either of those should have disqualified him from doing the review for an independent site. He obviously had not put a ;ot of time into even remotely understanding the game and its interface and that makes the review, combined with his history with the developers, have an odd tome to it.

If someone else had done the review I could easily look at it and agree with a lot of individual points. There have already been a couple reviews out similar to it. But the fact that none of the background was considered or disclaimed borders on either incompetence or malfeasance from and editorial standpoint.

Who cares? Did the review stop you from buying? Herman may have been a little biased in his review but no more so than those of you who automatically discredit it because of who wrote it. There's bias all around and it all stems from some stupid feud going back to Harpoon days. He may have got some things wrong in his review but it seems to me his review was pretty detailed which tells me he had to spend a fair amount of time with the game. Nitpicking about things he got wrong is just plain stupid. Name one review that gets 100% right, 100% of the time. There is none. And reviews are just opinions. This game is going to live or die based on it's merits and the support it gets. So far the support has been excellent and the game is too. Why worry about one review?

Unfortunately, the Harpoon database wars were so toxic that it is hard not to have some kind of bias about Herman.

Personally, I think the real issue is that Command just took away a lot of Herman's relevance and he knows it. The people complaining about his review are annoyed, I suspect, because they know it, too, and they feel he is not being honest, but is instead motivated more by ego and a desire to protect his turf than by any interest in the truth.

ORIGINAL: thewood1

Again...its about disclosure and the editorial process. A couple have written if they had known the connections of the author to Harpoon and the developers, it would have changed their view of review.

What difference does it make? You bought the game. I bought the game. People who read Herman's review bought the game. In a lot of ways the RPS review was just as critical. The problem that most of you have with Herman's review is that Herman wrote it. It goes back to Harpoon days and bitter feuding over a game. From what I've been able to read the Harpoon community has suffered greatly because of it. Why bring that crap here?

This whole thing has been blown out of proportion ever since Erik locked the thread announcing Herman's review. It's been downhill ever since. In the whole scheme of things Herman's review and all other reviews don't mean a thing. The game will live or die based on it's own merits and the support it gets. If this is the true successor to Harpoon then past Harpoon history doesn't mean a thing and a year from now all the reviews will basically be forgotten.

Questions to Ponder: If Herman had written a review that gave wholehearted praise to the game, would his review still be discredited because it was written by Herman? Or would it generally be accepted as a good review despite the fact? Would full disclosure mean anything then? And what about journalistic integrity?

So why are you still responding...it obviously matters to me and not you.

The reviewer stated there are "no hot key functions whatsoever in the menu." That is demonstrably False.

In fact, there are hotkeys for the 3 of the most useful items which I routinely use to de-clutter the display as needed: Illumination, Datablocks and Datalinks.

Those 3 items are right there in the menu, and yet he claims there are "no hot key functions whatsoever in the menu."

ORIGINAL: thewood1

So why are you still responding...it obviously matters to me and not you.

Because I don't want to see the bickering and feuding that I've read about going on with Harpoon carry over to this game. I think it's a good game that could do without all the excess Harpoon baggage.

Besides, I really don't have anything else better to do.

ORIGINAL: Hertston


I don't have the slightest idea what you are babbling about. No there aren't hot-keys for the sensors. Yes, there is hot-key to toggle the datablocks, for example. Both are items in the Map Settings menu, not in any other game menu. Hence, some. Hence, the claim there are 'none whatsoever' is 100% false.

There are no hotkeys shown for those menu items. "None whatsoever."


"You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink." [8|]

ORIGINAL: kondor999

The reviewer stated there are "no hot key functions whatsoever in the menu." That is demonstrably False.

In fact, there are hotkeys for the 3 of the most useful items which I routinely use to de-clutter the display as needed: Illumination, Datablocks and Datalinks.

Those 3 items are right there in the menu, and yet he claims there are "no hot key functions whatsoever in the menu."

So in other words because the reviewer, Herman, was mistaken he is automatically a liar and up to no good. Sorry but I don't buy it. You're nitpicking to discredit the reviewer because you don't like him. As I said before no review gets it 100%, 100% of the time. Everybody makes mistakes without there being some underhanded motive involved. If you want to attack reviews try starting with those that give favorable reviews only because the publisher spends advertising dollars with their website. I've played nothing but this game since release and I'm still learning new stuff everyday. It stands to reason that any review of this game is going to miss things or be wrong about something. So lighten up.

ORIGINAL: thewood1

Yeah, that's what I meant by tone. It was bug hunting at its finest. I see a lot of people talking about buying command after that review. It's kind of like..."if that is the worst that a guy like this can find, it must be pretty good".

If it was bug hunting at its finest he would have listed many more.

My god do you have any good things to say.

ORIGINAL: Pii

ORIGINAL: thewood1

Yeah, that's what I meant by tone. It was bug hunting at its finest. I see a lot of people talking about buying command after that review. It's kind of like..."if that is the worst that a guy like this can find, it must be pretty good".

If it was bug hunting at its finest he would have listed many more.

ORIGINAL: tevans6220

Questions to Ponder: If Herman had written a review that gave wholehearted praise to the game, would his review still be discredited because it was written by Herman?

Not really relevant as, as far as I'm aware all attempts to 'discredit' the review have not been on the basis that it was written by Herman, but on the basis that it was inaccurate. That is not say considerable surprise, shall we say, has been expressed that SimHQ published a review written by Herman.

Or would it generally be accepted as a good review despite the fact?

See above.

Would full disclosure mean anything then?

The 'disclosure' thing is a nonsense. If Sim HQ saw a need to do that, they would never have published it at all.

And what about journalistic integrity?

What about it? As the thing was put back up I would have thought journalistic integrity had triumphed. It was all a storm in a teacup anyway. There doesn't seem to be any suggestion Slitherine/Matrix or Warfaresims tried to pull it because they didn't like it, only that somebody got in touch to express surprise, shall we say, at the author given the history. Sim HQ pulled it just long enough to establish what the issue actually was then presumably decided it didn't justify keeping it pulled.

If it were just this, you might be right. But go over to SimHQ and see my other counterpoints.

The review is full of half-truths and distortions. I'm a busy ER doc and I don't know this Herman person. All I do know is that, as I read his review, I was becoming hypertensive because it was clear what he was doing.

He makes vague, re-interpretable statements (that he can amend later), followed by grand sweeping conclusions. 3 cases so far:

1. Cluttered map: Used a non-representative low res screenshot, with every possible label enabled, then called the game "cluttered" and insinuated this made it nearly unusable. False

2. Mission editor: Mentioned the one feature the editor didn't have, then claimed it was so useless that you'd have no choice but to do everything manually. False.

3. Hotkeys: Says "no hotkeys whatsoever" for map features when, in fact, 3 of the most useful are there. Then overstates the impact by saying you'd have to do "20+ mouseclicks" every time you play. False.

Like I said, I'm a busy person who works 12-16 hour days. Even I was able to find these problems very easily. The only reason there are only 3 right now is because I'm just too busy to do this more than a few minutes per day.

So, you can save your cheap ad hominem accusations. I realize this Herman person has a lot of enemies, but I'm not one of them. I still have a few PM's from the guy, asking me to call him. That weirded me out, so I never responded. But I don't have some grudge against him.

Herman knew what he was getting into. He knew his review needed to be accurate and "clean". But apparently he just couldn't resist, and made a lot of poorly-reasoned arguments as he "fished" for things to complain about.

Don't blame me for noticing that his arguments are weak, and then pointing it out.

ORIGINAL: tevans6220

ORIGINAL: kondor999

The reviewer stated there are "no hot key functions whatsoever in the menu." That is demonstrably False.

In fact, there are hotkeys for the 3 of the most useful items which I routinely use to de-clutter the display as needed: Illumination, Datablocks and Datalinks.

Those 3 items are right there in the menu, and yet he claims there are "no hot key functions whatsoever in the menu."

So in other words because the reviewer, Herman, was mistaken he is automatically a liar and up to no good. Sorry but I don't buy it. You're nitpicking to discredit the reviewer because you don't like him. As I said before no review gets it 100%, 100% of the time. Everybody makes mistakes without there being some underhanded motive involved. If you want to attack reviews try starting with those that give favorable reviews only because the publisher spends advertising dollars with their website. I've played nothing but this game since release and I'm still learning new stuff everyday. It stands to reason that any review of this game is going to miss things or be wrong about something. So lighten up.

ORIGINAL: Blighty56

My god do you have any good things to say.

ORIGINAL: Pii

ORIGINAL: thewood1

Yeah, that's what I meant by tone. It was bug hunting at its finest. I see a lot of people talking about buying command after that review. It's kind of like..."if that is the worst that a guy like this can find, it must be pretty good".

If it was bug hunting at its finest he would have listed many more.

Sorry if the truth offends you.

@Kondor,

I am not trying to hijack this thread but what aircraft are in the cool pic in your postings and where did you get it?

It was childish to take the review down, but these continued threads are only showing the level of childish behavior that can continue to further keep this community in the state it is in (an internal state of bickering instead of being constructive and helping move it forwards)...at this point who all cares? I mean really? Couple of patches and all reviews will essentially be obsolete...and people don't have better things to do?

And really Kondor999 all you are doing is personally attacking Hermann and instigating fights. Really? Hermann had his say, we all as adults have taken what we want from it and moved on...why can't you? You really think the review has hurt sales? I mean the only other reason I can for the continued postings attacking the review is your personal dislike of him...

Personally, I never much cared for the guy really, and while the review was slanted, I am sorry but he does bring up a number of valid points in one context or another. But dude, let it go. If anything you are doing more harm than good as you continue to point to the review and keep raising it up in the public eye...move on...

Herman's problem is he's the boy who cried wolf. His behavior in the Harpoon community has been such that it's very hard for a lot of people to trust him. This is a shame because he does actually spot some issues that really need attention, and he should get credit for that, but when he says something wrong, whether he was lying or simply making a mistake, it's very easy to assume the worst about him.

However, I think tevans6220 makes an excellent point when he suggests we don't worry too much about it. We should not let Herman start fights here on Matrix Games (a site from which I believe he has actually been banned). Herman has his opinion and he has expressed it. Most of the people who have tried out Command so far disagree with him, some of us think his review includes some errors, and some of us think he may have an ulterior motive for giving Command a negative review. That pretty much puts an end on it. I suggest we simply ignore him and focus on enjoying the game, working to make it better by reporting any issues to a support team that seems very interested in getting issues fixed, and writing a lot of really kick-ass scenarios for it.

To kondor999:

I'm not making any accusations at all. Just my observations from what I've read. In other words my review of the review of the review. It go could on and on but it's dumb and petty. You say you have no grudge against Herman but seem to go out of your way to prove that he deliberately lied or mislead with his review. As if you have the ability to know what a person is thinking or what their motivations are. I've been playing this game for hours ever since release and I'm still learning something new everyday. It is entirely possible that Herman just got a few things wrong with no malice intended. It is entirely possible that he misunderstood the way some things were supposed to work. That's not even mentioning the bugs that the devs are working diligently to fix. Those would be the same bugs and problems mentioned on these forums and in Herman's review. No review gets it right 100% of the time. In many ways the RPS review was just as critical. I don't see you going after them and pointing out the flaws in their review.

Mate im not offended it is an observation and just my opinion that you seem to like to stir things up in your posts. Thats it.

ORIGINAL: Pii

ORIGINAL: Blighty56

My god do you have any good things to say.

ORIGINAL: Pii




If it was bug hunting at its finest he would have listed many more.

Sorry if the truth offends you.

Kondor you seem to be obsessed with the Sim HQ review..as your posting all over the net about it (well wargame forums)..your coming a across now more militant than Herman. Just don't lety it bother you and enjoy your game.

Second that the game is going to be further improved with future updates. Don't give the guy any satisfaction.