Is this game complete?

[gpete]

Seems very buggy or unresponsive. Way too many "lockups" on alternate possibilities for strategy or even choices. Good grief! It's just a game--- not the real World War Two. Animation screens a joke! Just give me straight icons or even NATO symbols....my PC is not a Nintendo gamecube. I downloaded the patch, maybe that will help things out....

[Grotius]

Thank you for your post, but I respectfully disagree with you. The game is very stable for me, and I have encountered only a couple of minor bugs after many hours of gameplay.

And for goodness' sake, there are a ton of strategic choices. As Germany, do you take Spain? Portugal? Gibraltar? Norway? Do you focus on taking Suez or the Mideast, or do you instead hurl yourself against the Soviets early? How heavily do you invest research in submarines, fighters, land bombers, flak? Once you do invade Russia, do you push north to Leningrad, or south to the Caucusus? In a PBEM, do you seek to convince your Japanese ally to invade Russia too, or do you urge them to hit India?

As Japan, even more choices. Attack Russia? Commit to a land war in China? Move on India instead? Follow the historical choice -- seize the Dutch East Indies, brace for war with the USA?

As the WAllies, tons of choices, starting with what to research. At first you may have to react to Axis moves, but then you'll get some leeway: do you plan on an early invasion of Italy, or focus on raids on the Atlantic coast, or an offensive in North Africa, or an early D-Day? If Japan starts an early war, do you go Europe first or Japan first?

There are a ton of choices. Don't let the graphics fool you: this is a deep and deceptively complex game. Hey, I prefer NATO icons too, but that's just window dressing. The substance is what counts. This game is not Risk; it's a serious treatment of WW2. You can't conquer the world as Japan. You are constrained by historical reality. I'd suggest you play the game a bit more before you pass judgment.

[Tac2i]

What are you system specs mate? The game has been running beautifully for me since I bought it about two weeks ago. I'm having a blast in a PBEM game. The next patch will fix a few minor things and perhaps toughen up the AI some. Another patch down the road will add online play via a LAN or TCP/IP.

I would agree about the combat animation screen. For me it just distracts from an otherwise great game so I just turn it off. The units pieces are ok for a game on this strategic level but it certainly would strengthen the appeal of the game to have a choice of nato symbols.

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Roy, old wargamers never die

ORIGINAL: gpete

Seems very buggy or unresponsive. Way too many "lockups" on alternate possibilities for strategy or even choices. Good grief! It's just a game--- not the real World War Two. Animation screens a joke! Just give me straight icons or even NATO symbols....my PC is not a Nintendo gamecube. I downloaded the patch, maybe that will help things out....

[Budge4]

Yep i agree with Grotius, loads of choices of which strategic path to take and what research options to take. Not too fussed about the graphical combat screens because underneath is a very good game imho. Also the game runs very smooth on my system too, no problems at all. Perhaps you should post your sys specs as Webizen said gpete.

Budge

[Badbonez]

I like my tanks to look like tanks. One of the greatest asepcts of A&A was pushing those tanks around. But the animation screen, just silly.

[rhondabrwn]

ORIGINAL: Badbonez

I like my tanks to look like tanks. One of the greatest asepcts of A&A was pushing those tanks around. But the animation screen, just silly.

I have to agree with you. It was worth about 30 seconds of viewing the first time it popped up for a battle and then I'd rather forget it exists. What is so difficult about making a realistic battle screen that would show units in a recognizable battle line, advancing or defending with combat losses then showing up on the affected units. How about artillery being at the rear providing support etc etc etc. There is so much more that could have been done here.

[Joel Billings]

You give us the artists and programmers and/or the money to get it done and we'll do it. This was a classic case of having to make do with a minimal budget. We decided we needed a screen to help show combat to beginners so that they could see the flow of the battle (who fires at who and in what sequence), but we couldn't afford to put a lot of time and money into it because as with most features where there are no player inputs it becomes the first thing the players turn off (no matter how good it looks). Our choice was to not do the screen or do it at this level. We felt that doing more was just not something that we could afford to do, as much as we all would have enjoyed a nicer looking animation. Remember that our art and sound budget is a fraction of what gets put into an A title these days. Given how much we've been hammered for the look of this screen, you could certainly make an arguement that we should have just skipped it entirely.

[Uncle_Joe]

Well, FWIW, I kind of like the combat screen. I think you are quite correct in that is it necessary to get the flow of combat down. Simply looking at the stats screen does not allow you to see all the nuances of the combats.

So, while its not a big special effects show, it adequately portrays the combat in a graphic fashion. It allows a little 'suspense' watching the battles unfold.

Nowadays I tend to skip over most of the combats, but will still watch most naval battles and relevant portions of other small battles.

Either which way, without it it would be much harder to get a firm grasp on exactly what is happening the combats.

[pyrhic]

actually, i like it too. Yeah, you could have it flashier, but so what? the end result would be the same and the entertainment effect regardless of how flashy it was would wear off in time....substance>style

[Oleg Mastruko]

ORIGINAL: Uncle_Joe

Well, FWIW, I kind of like the combat screen. I think you are quite correct in that is it necessary to get the flow of combat down. Simply looking at the stats screen does not allow you to see all the nuances of the combats.

So, while its not a big special effects show, it adequately portrays the combat in a graphic fashion. It allows a little 'suspense' watching the battles unfold.

Nowadays I tend to skip over most of the combats, but will still watch most naval battles and relevant portions of other small battles.

Either which way, without it it would be much harder to get a firm grasp on exactly what is happening the combats.

Agreed 100%, it's great for beginners to get the grip of how the game actually works.

Like Uncle Joe I still watch most naval combats...

O.

[MrQuiet]

I am glad the combat animation was included and I watch them all. I even wish to watch the ones I receive from pbem but obviously can not and have to settle with scrolling through the combat report.