Finally Released

After being delayed over 2 years, this game is finally released as a port for the Xbox. I had a feeling that this would have been the last Xbox game released. I'm glad I was wrong about that. The game was released Tuesday November 8, 2005, which was its technical shipping date, I was able to purchase it the following day. I am very happy with my purchase. The terrain graphics do look dated (orignal game was released in 2001), but the character graphics have improved. And the sheer amount of details that can be seen and interacted with is so monumental the dated appearance of trees and grass can be over looked. What is far more important is the immersion level of the game. And it really goes all out in that department. When you are in the vehicles you have a detailed veiw of the cockpits/cabines. Besides all the great military equipment that is recreated in the game (tanks, trucks, APCs, scout vehicles, helicopters, jets, boats) there are also civilian vehicles (buses, cars, motorcycles, bicycles, tractors). You don't lose one of the best features either, the mission editor, so you can make your own missions on any of the 4 giant islands that you can freely explore. Unfortuantly the didn't improve the jet controls, its still a pain in the ass to fly them.

So far the online play has been a little laggy at times. Before I got my hands on this version of the game I had actually been disapointed to hear that it would only support up to 16 players. But so far the best online missions I have done involved only a handful of other players. When there were alot of players involved, they were mostly acting like jack asses. They wouldn't work as a time. It just wasn't worth it. I have met a couple of players that do take these missions seriously, like Timber_mist (think his name was little more complicated though). He really seems to have a hang of making missions, maybe I can get him to make a couple of missions based on my ideas. The mission editor for this version is not as user friendly as the PC version.

By the way, I do have the PC version. It wouldn't run well on my desk top at the time. An I am pleased to see that there were alot of people on xbox live who also have this game on PC. Even though this game has sold millions of copies, it still seems to be on the obscure side in the American market. Which focuses more on mediocre military sims like Ghost Recon and SOCOM, I found those games to be very disapointing. There were alot of players who were new to it and they were very impressed, which makes me happy. Recognition for a great job is always pleasing. As per the official site, http://www.codemasters.com/games/?gameid=1825 , the game has already gone gold, and it hasn't been a full week yet. This is good considering it was so difficult to find any publication about this game since it was delayed so long and that it can still make sales.

I would like this blog to have a visual overhall, reflect the game, maybe look similar to the way the official microsites looked like.