Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Inquisitor on July 19, 2004, 12:05:05 pm
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I am curious. Did you play it? Were you ABLE to play it?
I figured it would be good to have an informed opinion, and, it's less than 20 bucks retail, 10 bucks used, I figure that's a worthwhile investment to be able to have an informed opinion.
It sounds like it's a complicated version of X2, if I may over-simplify it. Does that gel with peoples experiences?
I know the demo of UC was buggy, but apparently fans of the series (and there are some, if you've been following Avault) love it, and those bugs might be mostly gone in the most recent patches.
Anyone?
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There is a "not so bought" version of something called Battlecruiser 2000 or something lying in my CD storage, but I never could install it.
The person who gave that CD to me was completly in the sky over it, though. Mind you, he liked Bridge Commander too for the smooth graphics and damage models, while he still hates FS for not being able to shoot a hole in a ship, so it might no be the most NPOV review ever.
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I have BCM, and in my opinion, it is ........ok. it's a good game, but the complexity of he controls interface makes it somewhat confusing.
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Yeah, I think the earlier games suffer from a Install shield issue not being able to ID Windows version. That happened to me when I tried to install the gamespy download of BC3k. Blame Microsoft for changing around hte registry strings and how Installshield evaluates them for that one :)
Shadow: Apart from the control issues, what did you like about it?
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I couldn't play either BC3k nor BCMil. I tried. Several times. Couldn't figure it out......
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hated UC, especially the controls
But, I only got the demo
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I haven't really touched UC though I have played BC3k quite a bit. Personally I like it and think it's a good game. Though it one of those game that you really need selective tastes to truely appreciate.
However the issue of the control system is quite true. It can take a while to get your head around the controls, even if you are used to extensive and complicated control systems in most of your games. Another issue is the bugs in the game. These weren't bad enough to cause a crash out or major fault for me but they added up to create some bizarre effects and collectively annoying results at times.
Though despite these faults I still feel the game is quite playable and personally found it to be a good play.
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I installed Battlecruiser Millenium.
Everytime I went to the "settings" place, it crashed. Though that might have been fixed in a patch, I was expecting a pretty bug-free game the first time around.
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My post over at Nodewars:
"I played the gold version (of BCM). Was ok, good ideas, poorly implemented, and complicated as ****..."
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I have BCMG and UC. I still don't know why people say it's complicated, because I find Flight Sims much more dificult.
It is in my opinion a good game for those who feel good about playing in a very big universe without any direct objectives. I find it's only weak point on the planet actions, because I am not used to that sort of FPS. But that's ok because I only do space stuff and if I really need some fire power on planet I'll just send troops and control them from ship (TacOps). :p
Think of the game as a militaristic version of X2
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Could install Battlecruiser Millenium, but not run it, or (sometimes it worked) not play it...
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I actualy liked the fact that i could roam wherever i liked. It was different in that aspect. Totally non linear. Now we have bashed him pretty hard, because at best i find BCM to be a "good" game, but the truth is, one hell of a lot of hard work went into it. You choose what race/caste your character is....you can play a marine, an atmospheric pilot, a starfighter pilot, a captain, all kinds of crap...and depending on your choices, you had certain allies....and certain areas of space that...shall we say...we less desirable to be found in. But a few different choices early on and the people in those areas were friends.
Basically i think it was a good idea....when you couple choosing your character, with a free roaming non linear campaign, you have endless scenartios and endings. The only real ***** i have is that the controls interface was so cumbersome and unwieldy that you never really get past it. It took the fun out of the game for me....which is why it sits on a shelf. I think that if it were a bit easier to control, it could have entered the realm of "great" games.
The only other thing i didn't like was that it wasn't set up for multiplayer in the box. I never checked to see if a patch fixed this or not, but according to the instruction manual, there was supposed to be one coming.
The manual i think was subpar. Not derek's fault on this one. It gave a brief overview of the game itself, and went in depth on certain areas, but if i remember correctly, it wasn't in depth at all in some areas that needed to be discussed in depth.
anyway....i still say it's a good game.
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I have BCM I say it was descent game
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Couldn't even install the mother****er. Apparently it don't like XP or something.
You can download Battlecruiser 3000 at HOTU, though, Derek made it freeware. Which was cool of him, it just doesn't, y'know, install.
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That's the windows string thing and install shield.
If you can get a 98 machine, you can probably install it and copy it over to the xp machine.
UC Demo installs and runs fine on my XP system though. But, according to what I have read, it really is not representative of the actual game anymore. But, if you don;t have 10 bucks, it's a a place to start.
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Err, no way. The copy I talked about wouldn't install on 98SE, while the guy who gave it to me used XP. Tell me how it all works, and if there are hacks to the reg to get it to work.
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"Derek Smarts Desktop Commander"
WEEEEEEEE! ;7
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Hmm, it looked JUST like the old install shield errors when new versions of windows came out.
The copy i downloaded claimed i had the wrong version of windows.
Dunno, if that's not it. UC demo installe fine.
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I saw a review for BCMillenium in PCGamer one day.
Decided not to touch the series with a clown pole.
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I tryed out BC3K a long time ago, I couldn't get past the menu...
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Originally posted by .::Tin Can::.
"Derek Smarts Desktop Commander"
WEEEEEEEE! ;7
"How does he do it?
Easy!
He's powered by the
souls of the damned!"
Edit: If one doesn't know, that was a prank which can be found here in SA. (http://www.somethingawful.com/awfulvideo/).
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I've played both (came in a bundle). While the idea around it was pretty good and great potential, the implementation was simply awefull. The learning curve was... long. Once you got used to it was semi-ok but still not very user friendly. The non-linearity was a good thing as well, but again, it was very poorly implemented.
The initial retail version was buggy as hell and crashed on me every hour or so. Not to mention the difficulty I had installing the damned thing. And even after that it wasn't over with the problems; I had to edit my registry keys to make it work properly after finally getting it installed.
The online support was also minimal at best. I asked a qustion on a few of the fan community boards 9very small ones at that) and all I got was "Shut up, n00b." while I was just asking for hlp in a normal manner.
Overall both games were in my opinion bad to mediocre but hanging more on the 'bad' side. No more no less. It can't even begin to compete with classics such as Freespace.
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Tiara's experience is pretty close to my own. I bought BC in a bargain bin, returned by someone else. It was in good shape and was cheap so I said to myself why not. Got it to run, the basic idea is good but the implimentation of it was lacking. The GUI was unintuitive, it crashed, etc. However I avoided the forums after hearing horror stories.
It's a mediocre game leaning on the bad side. It can not compete with WingCommander, FreeSpace, or Independence War.
Someone could take the overall concept behind Battlecruiser and make a classic.
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I owned BC once, many moons ago. I can't comment on whether it was good or bad, because I don't actually remember it. I can't say whether I just never got it installed or whether the learning curve put me off though :(
I suppose that is an opinion in itself.
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I own the original Battlecruiser. Played BCM. And own Universal Combat.
Personally I didn't mind UC. Really. I got it running, no problems, and had a bit of fun with it. Though the CD is misplaced since I moved into my new appartment.
Then again, Like I've said before, I play games like Lock On where you need 50 buttons to initiate take off (well not litterally but it feels like it ;) )
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I own BC3000AD. As far as I remember, I had no problem installing it, but honestly, I had even less problems uninstalling it one hour later :p
I don't mind complicated games if there's that thing that makes me want toreally try. But it was an ugly package of impersonal menus and ugly 3D. So bubye the boring thing.