I ordered this game after going through the demo, which was fun but extremely limited, with only one single player mission and one skirmish map...now, most demos only have one level/map to test, but they don't weight 1.7 GBs.
However the full game is here and I gave it a quick play, completing the tutorial and a couple of Russian missions, one of the three factions the game proposes.
Right from the start the pace is fast and missions are hectic and a few times I felt like playing Odama, constantly shouting orders to my troops that were either acknowledged but never carried out or completely misinterpreted.
Maybe the situation isn't that bad, but the game learning curve is harsh even if the rules are simple and even the second mission can pose some problems to complete.
Voice recognition is not bad either: using the Logitech USB headset and my Italian accent I'd sa that 70-80% of the orders are understood immediately, although "unit X move to alpha" is often interpreted as "unit x attack hostile 1" for whatever reason; ordering to secure an uplink is also often understood as attacking it instead and apparently the game doesn't like how I pronounce "alpha" at all.
What I've learned that orders are to be told at a normal voice level, not shouted and while the game is coded to accept fluent sentences rather than "unit. two. attack. hostile. one", they have to be told over a second or two, or the game will fumble understanding what the unit has to do and where.
It's a good system, and sometimes I'm amazed that it can undestand garbled words like "brffrxfoxtrot", my impression of changing destination from bravo to foxtrot on the fly. The game also seem to accept the attack order even when switching "attack" (proper verb understood by the game) with "engage", probably recognizing the rest of the sentence and filling in with the most appropriate action.
Unfortunately there are a few instances that orders are understood but not carried out; if this happens (or your accent is so heavy that the game refuses to acknowledge it) you can also issue orders via pad.
The PS3 version also supports Dual Shock 3 and you can engage the sitrep screen by shaking the controller instead of speaking "sitrep" or pressing select (note: select is the easiest and quickest option) or to change unit by turning it left or right (instead of using the d-pad; also the easiest solution).
However, when using voice controls you can't ignore controller-issued orders entirely as ordering infantry to move into building or behind cover needs some button pressing, just like moving units to anywhere except uplinks. I'll have to dwelve further into this, but it looks impossible to set custom waypoint for troops: it's one of the many minor flaws that summed up make the game a bit worse and less user-friendly, like generating unit groups: first you can't set them up before beginning the mission (nor you can inspect the area...I don't know why this is always left out in briefings: the game is set when there's a satellite network armed with lasers and I can't check the mission area before deploying?) and there isn't a command to order all tanks or infantry or gunships to do something, you need to create a group and the move it, or issue orders to single units.
Now, the game takes what I define the "Ground Control" approach to units, with up to 12 units each composed of four elements (four tanks, four helicopter, four artillery pieces, four infantry squads) to favor its simple rock-paper-scissor mechanic and not to overload the player with too many units to command, but sometimes you need more time to manage your tanks into a group rather than simply ordering all of them to attack a single target.
Camera is locked on a unit and can only be moved within its sensor area: it makes sense and makes C3 vehicles incredibly useful as you can survey the whole battlefield with a cozy birdeye camera and have a firmer grasp on the situation.
It's fun, but you'll have to get used to it.
Technically speaking the game is solid. There's a lot of detail on anything visible and when I was fighting in Copenhagen I was able to spot real landmarks...I don't how much Ubisoft changed the cities to adapt them to the game but it's rather striking to see US, European and Russian unit fighting on known ground.
Speaking of factions, the accents are downright ridicolous. Americans talk like they've been through countless wars with their grizzlied voices, Russians have this highly stereotypized accent that makes you laugh every time you hear it and Europa (a United States of Europe, as the game puts it) is a mix of French and German accents; sometimes the French accent is so strong that in battle it's hard to understand...heck, sometimes I've troubles in understanding Europa commanding officer during the briefing.
I know that accents make characters more rounded but really, sometimes they sound like they're out of a comical sketch.
Oh, and again, don't have all commading officers say "for America", "for Europa" or "for the Motherland": they sound like hopeless nazis. I'm all for patriotism but everything has its limits.
However the full game is here and I gave it a quick play, completing the tutorial and a couple of Russian missions, one of the three factions the game proposes.
Right from the start the pace is fast and missions are hectic and a few times I felt like playing Odama, constantly shouting orders to my troops that were either acknowledged but never carried out or completely misinterpreted.
Maybe the situation isn't that bad, but the game learning curve is harsh even if the rules are simple and even the second mission can pose some problems to complete.
Voice recognition is not bad either: using the Logitech USB headset and my Italian accent I'd sa that 70-80% of the orders are understood immediately, although "unit X move to alpha" is often interpreted as "unit x attack hostile 1" for whatever reason; ordering to secure an uplink is also often understood as attacking it instead and apparently the game doesn't like how I pronounce "alpha" at all.
What I've learned that orders are to be told at a normal voice level, not shouted and while the game is coded to accept fluent sentences rather than "unit. two. attack. hostile. one", they have to be told over a second or two, or the game will fumble understanding what the unit has to do and where.
It's a good system, and sometimes I'm amazed that it can undestand garbled words like "brffrxfoxtrot", my impression of changing destination from bravo to foxtrot on the fly. The game also seem to accept the attack order even when switching "attack" (proper verb understood by the game) with "engage", probably recognizing the rest of the sentence and filling in with the most appropriate action.
Unfortunately there are a few instances that orders are understood but not carried out; if this happens (or your accent is so heavy that the game refuses to acknowledge it) you can also issue orders via pad.
The PS3 version also supports Dual Shock 3 and you can engage the sitrep screen by shaking the controller instead of speaking "sitrep" or pressing select (note: select is the easiest and quickest option) or to change unit by turning it left or right (instead of using the d-pad; also the easiest solution).
However, when using voice controls you can't ignore controller-issued orders entirely as ordering infantry to move into building or behind cover needs some button pressing, just like moving units to anywhere except uplinks. I'll have to dwelve further into this, but it looks impossible to set custom waypoint for troops: it's one of the many minor flaws that summed up make the game a bit worse and less user-friendly, like generating unit groups: first you can't set them up before beginning the mission (nor you can inspect the area...I don't know why this is always left out in briefings: the game is set when there's a satellite network armed with lasers and I can't check the mission area before deploying?) and there isn't a command to order all tanks or infantry or gunships to do something, you need to create a group and the move it, or issue orders to single units.
Now, the game takes what I define the "Ground Control" approach to units, with up to 12 units each composed of four elements (four tanks, four helicopter, four artillery pieces, four infantry squads) to favor its simple rock-paper-scissor mechanic and not to overload the player with too many units to command, but sometimes you need more time to manage your tanks into a group rather than simply ordering all of them to attack a single target.
Camera is locked on a unit and can only be moved within its sensor area: it makes sense and makes C3 vehicles incredibly useful as you can survey the whole battlefield with a cozy birdeye camera and have a firmer grasp on the situation.
It's fun, but you'll have to get used to it.
Technically speaking the game is solid. There's a lot of detail on anything visible and when I was fighting in Copenhagen I was able to spot real landmarks...I don't how much Ubisoft changed the cities to adapt them to the game but it's rather striking to see US, European and Russian unit fighting on known ground.
Speaking of factions, the accents are downright ridicolous. Americans talk like they've been through countless wars with their grizzlied voices, Russians have this highly stereotypized accent that makes you laugh every time you hear it and Europa (a United States of Europe, as the game puts it) is a mix of French and German accents; sometimes the French accent is so strong that in battle it's hard to understand...heck, sometimes I've troubles in understanding Europa commanding officer during the briefing.
I know that accents make characters more rounded but really, sometimes they sound like they're out of a comical sketch.
Oh, and again, don't have all commading officers say "for America", "for Europa" or "for the Motherland": they sound like hopeless nazis. I'm all for patriotism but everything has its limits.
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