[DaBrain]

You download Universal Combat for free now...
(No multiplayer though.)
http://www.worthdownloading.com/download.php?gid=490&id=13639


I could write some cruel comments about that game now, make some jokes about bad games, but I'll leave that to you...

Derek Smart kept out of the FS2 business, so I don't reall feel like doing that.
 

[Prophet]

I have a question. I could find the answer for it on my own, but since this is a Derek smart game and I haves waste enought of my time for tonight. And maybe others might like to know as well.

Is this in any way relevant to my interests as a Freespace fan?

[Inquisitor]

The people who like his games, really, really like them.

They are not my cup of tea, a least not for relaxation. Complicated, possibly overly so.

But some people DO like them. No better way to have an opinion that is not simply parroting frantic sreaming of "oh no Derek Smart" than to find out for yourself.

Free is good.

[Polpolion]

When I have the time, I figure I'll try it. According to wiki, it has a huge learning curve. Sounds interesting to say the most so far.

[Ghostavo]

Enter Jupiter with one of the carriers and then try to get out. Always good for some excitement.

[Jeff Vader]

Hmm. An 80-page tutorial? If, as Derek himself has stated, games are supposed to be fun, this must really be directed at a specific gamer group. I for example refuse to believe that a game can be fun if learning to start up your spaceship takes hours of reading several excessively lengthy manuals and such. I think I'll skip this one. But, as always, if someone likes it, be my guest. I won't criticize.

[haloboy100]

5.9
    mediocre

This wildly ambitious simulation is torpedoed by an almost incomprehensible interface, the absence of a tutorial, numerous bugs, and many fit and finish issues, including dated production values.

Sounds pretty bad. but i might try it.

[WeatherOp]

Free is good.

Maybe, but my time is valuable. 

[Unknown Target]

I like to play bad games like this, I find it fun to laugh at. I'll definitely download this for the plane trip home as well

[Kosh]

If it wasn't a wildly ambitious game with an interesting premise that fell on it's face because of bugs/bad design/whatever, it wouldn't be from Derek Smart.

[DaBrain]

Well, I have to admit, I like that the games are very ambitious. They even feature some things that sound impressive.

It's only sad that nothing is done really well. The games need a big gamedesign rework, way better graphics and a lot more budget and time.

[Snail]

Bah. For Derek Smart, games are just a way to make money I think.

[Unknown Target]

Wow, I just played that game again...I'm keeping it on my hard drive to show my friends, that is just too funny. I played a marine mission (one of the FPS parts of the game) - I started running in one direction, clipping through the various wildlife was about, and running past the low resolution bitmap trees that were at least 5 times too big. I kept getting urgent messages, but nothing on my radar was showing up, so I turned around and there, standing next to my three friendlies, were three enemies that looked almost exactly the same. They were just kind of sitting there, so I started shooting at them. I'm not sure if I was getting shot or not, though, because they'd fire at me and nothing would happen. The absence of any hit effects or indicators whatsoever (no sound/audio indicators) meant that I didn't know if I was doing anything to them until they fell over. Finally, I killed them all, but somehow ended up in prone position. I ran around like this (at the same speed as standing!), scooting across the ground for a few minutes. I then started trying to randomly press keys until I stood up, but as soon as I did so I died and the mission ended.

Chuckling to myself, I tried the space combat. I figured hey, that's pretty easy to do, maybe he didn't screw it up. Upon load, however, I was greeted with so many cryptic HUD abbreviations, flashing lights, and "Urgent messages" - (where to check those freaking things I do not know), that I had little to no idea what was going on. At the very least the radar worked, and I turned myself to attack an enemy. Not only were the speed keys NOT in their normal places, but Derek must have the smallest hands known to man, because only a pygmy would think that putting the turning keys on the arrow keys and the fire key on the enter key is comftorable at all. Soon after, however, the enemies began to shoot at me (no hit indicator whatsoever, I could only tell that I was being hit because my shield strength started dropping and some sort of mild blue fuzzy stuff - my own shield being hit - appeared around me).


Suffice to say this game has little to no redeeming features to it's gameplay. It's slow, boring, and basically just everything bad we remember about Derek.

[Snail]

So from what I can see it's still better than Big Rigs, right?

[Dysko]

I downloaded and tried it (well... since it's free... I'll give Derek a chance . Only one though).

Space combat: despite having throttle set on my joystick, my joystick's throttle doesn't work. I tried if it was set on another axis, but I couldn't get it working. Also, in space you have flightsim controls (if you push the stick to the left or to the right, the ship rolls, and twisting the stick the ship turns, like on a flightsim. Usually, in spacesims yaw and roll are inverted...). Friendly ships go much faster than mine, so they kill all the enemies before I can even get in firing range.

Ground combat: I saw friendlies going and shooting everywhere, but I didn't find a single enemy. I found quite boring just to stand there and watch my friends...

Atmospheric flight: you can't control your vehicle with the joystick while you're taxiing (since, as everybody knows, Real Life^TM airplanes use a steering wheel for taxiing, and a yoke for flying ). As soon as I took off, I found rotation around the roll axis too slow, and rotation around yaw axis too fast. I headed for the red labels, but before reaching any of them the screen went black, saying "You've been killed in action".

[CP5670]

So from what I can see it's still better than Big Rigs, right?

Nah, Big Rigs is equally buggy but looks more fun.

[IPAndrews]

I can find **** for free in the park.

[Jeff Vader]

But this **** is digital, dude.

[Ghostavo]

Friendly ships go much faster than mine, so they kill all the enemies before I can even get in firing range.

Choose a faster ship then. There is no AI penalty/bonus regarding ship's status. If you fly a big carrier don't expect to get to the action faster than a fighter or a cruiser.

[IPAndrews]

I have to play this. It sounds like a cross between PSI-5 Trading Company and Wolfenstein 3D without the fun of either.