My impressions of the Theatre of War demo.
Leossa
-Athlon 64 3200+ 754p
-1gb ram ddr400
-80gb hd
-Radeon 9600Pro@9600XT
-Windows XP SP2
Not a very powerful computer, but with it I can play graphic intensive
games like Half Life 2, Doom 3 , Far Cry, FEAR with absolutely no
problems.
I downloaded the demo and had no issues of corrupted files, etc.
The menu overall is very polished and clear.
About the game itself: I had some seroius performance issues. Playing
the game at 1024x768 with medium settings (except shadows that were
off) the game was at 17fps at setup phase. After the game started, the
game was at 12fps, with some dips to 5-6fps.
The camera controls are TERRIBLE. Half of the time you are trying to
change the camera in order to have an idea of what the hell is going
on. 90% of the time I had to keep the camera at a distance that I
could barely see the units, so I had to orient myself with the icons.
The graphics are subpar at best. The textures are very bad, the
animations are jerky, etc.
The AI is also bad. In the only mission in the demo the russians just
charged with their tanks. Some went as close as 20m of the trench just
to be destroyed by my panzerfausts, piecemeal style. Then the infantry
charged frontally only to be killed by my tanks, mgs, etc.
The gameplay itself is extremely dull. In the mission you have the
german trench, a bridge 30m behind it and thousands of gentle slopes
in front. There is no cover to speak of, except for some tress that
can mess with the LOS but give no cover to the troops whatsoever. I
can separate the terrain as TRENCH and PLAINS. It's very hard to come
with any strategy this way, as the infantry also can't get into houses
as everyone knows.
At last, it is also very hard to know what it is going on. You just
have a tiny little box at the botton left to tell who got killed, who
lost LOS, etc, unless you click at a button to show for some seconds a
more detailed history.
I can't say about the game realism, because half of the time I
couldn't know what happened. The game followed like this: Front tank
assault from the russians. Killed. Front assault by troops. Killed.
Front assault by more tanks and infantry, when they just overran the
trench because my tanks were destroyed and no more panzerfausts left.
Overall, I am VERY glad that I didn't pre-order this game. Close
Combat 3, despite the 2d graphics, is 10x more fun and with much more
strategies and tactics for you to choose. Because of TOW very limited
terrain and cover options, most of the battles come down to a frontal
slugfest.
Bloodstar
> -Radeon 9600Pro@9600XT
Hardly a latest graphic card around. The graphic card to play today's games
is at least 6600GT but I wouldn't go below 7600GT. I have 7900GT. And as you
know - Fear from 2005 is not 2007 game and you know how fast graphic demand
in games is happening.
Other than that some people like the game some don't, nothing new on Earth.
Hmm... can't wait to try it myself to see is it really THAT bad :)
Mario