Wings of Prey half price on Steam

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Just in case anyone is on the fence..Steam have WOP @ 50% off until Thursday.

(probably worth it..not sure it's worth full price personally)...but certainly 1/2 price for a punt

[rabu 9]

Just in case anyone is on the fence..Steam have WOP @ 50% off until Thursday.

(probably worth it..not sure it's worth full price personally)...but certainly 1/2 price for a punt

 

Thanks for the heads up. I was sort of put off by the price, especially since it's a non disk purchase, but I'll go look. The demo, though some what arcade and limited in area, is pretty spetacular in all visual areas, bet I have seen. I really don't like these down load game purchases.. I like to have a disk, and hopefully manual, when I fork out the money for a game and I like the idea of being able to sell it down the line if I get tired of it or it ends up just not being what I like.

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

I'm definately with you on the downloaded game principle Rabu...and it was with great reluctance that I have had to use Steam...but I'm an avid gamer, and more and more these days, it is a requirement (price we pay for the pirates I guess) to activate online at least.

 

When I bought the 2 dvd Empire total war...I was surprised to note how little data was on it (seemingly) and the main file was a Steam Install...so even with the disks...you cant play the damn thing without Steam

[Winston DoRight 3]

This will be available soon on disk: http://www.gogamer.com/viewproduct.htm?productId=95643999

 

Isn't this the same developer as RoF? Is the DRM as intrusive?

[Axgrinder 0]

One in the same I believe Winston!

 

BTW: I just ordered ROF myself. I want to see it for myself. I downloaded the demo but there is not enough there to get a good feel for it. You get one plane to fly and you can't try it online. Oh, and you only get 72 hours to try it out. Very nice graphics though. I was impressed with that.

[Venator 0]

...

Isn't this the same developer as RoF? Is the DRM as intrusive?

 

Apparently DRM for RoF is going to be a thing of the past... see latest dev news.

[+Polovski 456]

It's actually nothing to do with the RoF/Neoqb team btw, except the DVD will be distributed by the same distributor 777 Studios. The DRM is similar in that you sign into Yuplay (and also Steam if you buy through Steam). Not sure it's playable with no connection though never tried.

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Yeah..Yu-Play....possibly even more frustrating than Steam (if thats possible)

 

I got ROF too (just to see if the hype is to be believed)...quite like it...but it doesn't shine a light on BHaH (yes, I know I'm an OFF Fanboi)...but it really doesn't....even if you paid to download all the addon aircraft, it wouldn't even be anywhere approaching BHaH

 

Yes, the damage modelling is good, and some of the effects are in fact Brilliant...but that wears thin as you get used to a game... And so, when it comes to 'substance'...It's still BHaH for me everytime.... But at least I can appreciate some of the ROF fans points of view a bit more than I did...so fair play to them

[Siggi 10]

What a steaming pile of s**te. You can't fly axis planes offline (so good luck getting the hang of them before you go online with them), the missions terminate whether you're ready to quit or not, there are tags all over the screen and the MP crashed almost immediately (I'm patched to the latest version). And all this is in simulator-mode.

 

A complete waste of £15. But at least it was only £15.

 

Avoid.

 

NB: I assumed "Realistic" was "Simulator" but apparently that's not the case, as I still see tags all over the screen in "Realistic" mode and Dimus informs me the tags go away in "Simulator" mode.

Edited February 25, 2010 by Siggi

[Dimus 0]

Although I'm not a big fan of the game myself and I do find it arcadish, I have to make a few things staight here:

 

- You can fly axis planes in training mode. There is just no campaign built for axis (campaigns are silly COD style anyway)

- There are no tags or icons in simulator mode

- MP is dodgy but most times it works. I have been online several times

 

What is most offputting to me is the bad FM (even in sim mode) and the fact that as Siggi says you can not complete the mission by flying back to base and land, it cuts out once you shoot down or get shot down. This game is better suited to light hearted MP shootouts, just to enjoy the stunning graphics and scenery.

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Well, I may be in a minority of one (no change there then) but I find it quite good fun nonetheless.

Yes, the FM is not overly encouraging, and MP can be a little shaky at times... but it's good fun, and light relief from the intensity of uber-accurate simming.

 

Just sometimes..I can't be arsed about whether the plane flies with the 100% realism of the real thing...sometimes, I just wannna kill something!...and it's fun for that

[Siggi 10]

Thanks Dimus, found the axis planes.

 

I don't appear to have the option for 'Simulation Mode', where it allows the 'Difficulty Setting' to be changed I have only 'Arcade' and 'Realistic' (both in a little window that is too narrow to show all the text).

 

I've been trouble-shootimng a network issue and enabled the LAN in my BIOS and hooked up my wireless router to an ethernet cable. Guess what...when I went to play WoP again it told me it had detected a hardware-change and I needed to activate the game again with the serial-number. It tells me I have three activations permitted in total, I'm now down to one left. WTF kind of BS is that? I suppose when I go back to being wireless it'll detect the change and force me to use my last activation. And if I have to go back to ethernet again...no more WoP.

 

These kinds of people are suffering from mental illness in my opinion. You'd think they'd sit down and go "Shall we force-terminate the mission when it's objectives are met, or shall we let the player end the mission when he's good and ready via the Escape-Key?"

 

And this activation BS...it's a STEAM game, why doesn't it DRM itself the same way all other STEAM games do? Oh, of course not, the devs are russian and are barely fit to organize a piss-up in a brewery, never mind implement a system that doesn't have me intending to get straight onto STEAM and demand a refund for this POS.

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Have to agree with you on that one...the DRM is a shambles!...I wish the Ruskies would get their s**t sorted!!!

[Dimus 0]

Siggi,

 

You get three activations and 10 deactivations. So before you reactivate, deactivate first and you save one activation. I've done it once and it works. You have to run a protect.exe or something in the root folder, I don't have it with me now. They claim that you can contact them and get more activations if needed but I would not want to get to that.

 

It is kinda annoying, true.

 

As for simulation mode I think they changed it in the last update and you can have custom realism by switching off the stuff you don't want. I haven't played it lately so don't know how it works. It used to be three modes, Arcade (basic FM and DM, unlimited ammo), Realistic (better FM and DM, limited ammo with labels) and Simulation (no labels).

 

To UK, I'm with you on that, it is good if you just want to shoot at stuff.

 

 

[Siggi 10]

I've submitted a ticket to Steam requesting a refund. According to their T&C they don't give them for downloaded games. In which case I will report them to Trading Standards and I will take them to the Small Claims court.

 

Nowhere did it say I would have to be connecting to some shonky Yuplay server located god knows where. That locks up my PC ("Game Not Responding, Activation not Responding" in Task Manager).

 

The game looks fantastic. And that's it, the rest of it is a steaming POS.

[Siggi 10]

Siggi,

 

You get three activations and 10 deactivations. So before you reactivate, deactivate first and you save one activation. I've done it once and it works. You have to run a protect.exe or something in the root folder, I don't have it with me now. They claim that you can contact them and get more activations if needed but I would not want to get to that.

 

 

 

I am not even remotely interested, or prepared, to get into that kind of BS complexity with ANY game. De-activate and re-activate? Run a "protect.exe" in a "root-folder"? How about they can just shove the POS where the sun doesn't shine. It beggars belief that they have gotten away with passing this trash over Steam. WTF were Steam thinking of?! Oh yeah...the dollar. Whores.

 

It's only £15, but it's the principle. Scumbags like this need to be driven out of the market.

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Oops!...what have I started?

[Siggi 10]

Oops!...what have I started?

 

A war between me and Steam if I don't get my money back pretty damn jildy.

[SGCSG1 0]

I am not even remotely interested, or prepared, to get into that kind of BS complexity with ANY game. De-activate and re-activate? Run a "protect.exe" in a "root-folder"? How about they can just shove the POS where the sun doesn't shine. It beggars belief that they have gotten away with passing this trash over Steam. WTF were Steam thinking of?! Oh yeah...the dollar. Whores.

 

It's only £15, but it's the principle. Scumbags like this need to be driven out of the market.

 

Well said and thank you for saying it. You made my day. I think this is just flat-out nuts.

[Siggi 10]

Switched back to wireless (over ethernet it just locked-up on the online-screen everytime), no further demand for re-activation. About 1 in every 3 attempts it'll let me into online. From then it's russian-roulette if it'll let me get into a game (lock-ups on about 50% of attempts). Started my own, had about six of us dogfighting and after about ten minutes it crashed again, needing task-manager to shut down the processes and clear it off my PC.

 

I have next to no tolerance for this kind of crap when the game is straight out of the box. After an hour of downloading patches (from v.24 to v.29, approx 2gb's worth) and updating to the latest build my tolerance is ZERO.

[Siggi 10]

You couldn't make this s**t up. It's decided to ask me for the activation-code again, but now, when I put in the code I was given in the email, it says "Wrong activation code".

 

So I now have a non-functional game on my PC for which I paid £15.

[Von Paulus 8]

I hate these DRMs.

But look at this last draconian DRM from UBISOFT.

http://www.guru3d.co...quire-internet/

 

People shouldn't buy this as a form of protest. This is just too much BS.

Edited February 25, 2010 by Von Paulus

[Venator 0]

Oops!...what have I started?

 

I wouldn't worry about it UKW, it is precisely this kind of "informal review" that needs to get out to the sim communities. When I saw the price and the game promo (wow!) I came pretty close to picking it up (I've been beating myself for passing on $20 RoF sale now that I heard they're dropping online req'm).

 

Siggi, good luck and need I ask to report back on developments?

[Siggi 10]

I wouldn't worry about it UKW, it is precisely this kind of "informal review" that needs to get out to the sim communities. When I saw the price and the game promo (wow!) I came pretty close to picking it up (I've been beating myself for passing on $20 RoF sale now that I heard they're dropping online req'm).

 

Siggi, good luck and need I ask to report back on developments?

 

I re-booted my PC, the demand for the activation-code has gone away. I went online, first game I tried to join (realism mode) wouldn't go further than "joining game", the second one I was able to join. It was in arcade-mode, the chap in the Stuka was flying a cannon & bullet proof plane, but his rear gun had no problems blowing me out of the sky with one or two bursts.

 

The most games I've seen in the lobby are around ten, most of them with one or two players. I've not seen one with more than nine. Ghost-town, and I'm not suprised.

 

The game is rammed full of bugs, stupid design-decisions and non-functional components. It looks superb and the FM feels 'ok' (exactly the same FM for every plane I've tried so far). It's an arcade game that doesn't work properly even when it's working and crashes repeatedly. IF it would work properly AND not keep crashing it would be worth £15 just for the occasional online blast. But it doesn't and it does, so it's not worth having even if it were free.

[Winston DoRight 3]

Siggi,

 

On a positive note you probably used a credit card to make your purchase, right? After dealing with the company as best you can for a refund, simply call your CC company and ask for a chargeback. They'll either ask you a few questions or send you a form to fill out but most importantly most all CC companies will immediately give you a full credit for your bad purchase.

 

One should not support companies with unreasonable or intrusive DRM, or products that don't work as expected. Not disclosing the DRM is reason enough for a chargeback IMHO. I purchase very few software titles because of excessive DRM or if you have to be "online for single player" requirements and certainly never buy anything at first release; there's so much that can be wrong with a title so I'd rather wait to hear feedback from users. I passed on RoF and may have to pass on the upcoming Supreme Commander 2 that I've been waiting for for so long because of the "online required for single player" issue that may be in effect.

 

The PC Gamer/Consumer must make a stand now before this type of DRM gets completely out-of-control. We need to show the game companies that we are willing to not purchase their products if they offend us so. Spend your gaming dollars on companies worthy of support. Do your research on a new title and ask questions about the DRM. If the ugly monster rears it's head, don't throw your money at it.