Twisted_Firestarter

Just finished playing a limited beta of SÖLDNER - Secret Wars, which was mentioned recently in the TG news. Here are some of my impressions.

The game is a dog. It chugs and chugs on my 3GHz system with 1GB of RAM and Radeon 9800 XT video card. Unless something drastic is done with optimizing this, the game will be unplayable for most people. I was able to get somewhat decent framerates by turning off some of the extra eye candy such as shadows and reducing the texture detail. Having said that, though, it is gorgeously rendered.

Being able to destroy pretty much anything in the game is a huge plus. Anyone who has been frustrated in Battlefield 1942 with the fact that your Abrams tank bounces off wooden barricades instead of mowing them down should appreciate this. Knock down trees, create craters with morters, blow up buildings...all this is hugely entertaining and it should make for much more dynamic maps. For example, have you found a nice sniping spot in a house, but there is no window in the direction you want to face? No problem, blow a hole in the wall and voila, instant snipers nest.

For those of you who abhor snipers, feel free to shoot them through whatever wall they are hiding behind and watch them bleed. All projectiles have a penetration rating so, for example, high powered bullets will go through wood, but not concrete. Or, a more amusing example in a demo I saw was someone picking up a tank with a transport helicopter and dropping it on the house the sniper was holed up in creating a delicious sniper slurpee.

The usual vehicles and aircraft abound. One difference in gameplay between this game and similar games with aircraft is that in this game aircraft can not see ground units, but ground units can see and shoot at aircraft. You will either love or hate this design. I personally hated it. I can understand from a game balance perspective wanting to design the game this way, but in my opinion it detracts from the realism and playability.

That's all my impressions for now. One other note is that the offical SÖLDNER - Secret Wars website almost made me not even try the beta. It reads like it was written by twelve year old kids trying to be software developers. I'm hoping it's only because the translation is really, really bad.

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Twisted Firestarter
a.k.a |TG| Harkonian

jex

"Or, a more amusing example in a demo I saw was someone picking up a tank with a transport helicopter and dropping it on the house the sniper was holed up in creating a delicious sniper slurpee."


LOL.

Going back to air/ground units - can helicopters/jets not see tanks and other vehicles then? What happens if you turn down everything to improve framerates.

I have a 2.0ghz, 1gb ram and 9500pro - can the graphics be turned way down to make it playable?

Thanks for the write up,

J.

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Jex

Vap0r

I have more or less same spec as you jex, when I try the beta or demo I'll let you know how it feels.

jex

Thanks Vapor.

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Jex

beep

Oh my...I'm jealous of your status as beta tester. Way to go! And thanks for sharing your impressions...keep it up!

Hmmm...this isn't a shock, but is something of a concern. I like the idea of designing ahead of the performance curve to give the game/engine some "legs" for the future. My hope is that cutting back on the graphics demands to keep it playable/viewable won't undercut the appearance.

:twisted:


Hmm...Badger Blotter? Of course, we'd have to actually FIND him first. The idea of full destructibility AND the incorporation of all those vehicles will make this game very, very interesting. I wonder about the advantages of being a "grunt" with all these toys. We'll have to wait and see.

FWIW, Amazon. com keeps saying this will be available March 30, 2004.

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Beep


Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do. - (Isaac Asimov)

Vap0r

Doh, didn't realise it was a invite only :s

fr1j0l3

me either...

thanks for the notes firestarter!

Jackal

Overall, game sounds pretty kewl!

LegionPaulL

[quote=jex]"Or, a more amusing example in a demo I saw was someone picking up a tank with a transport helicopter and dropping it on the house the sniper was holed up in creating a delicious sniper slurpee."

That was me man!