one thing i thought of recently, while looking at the quickstart wiki guide, is all the menus you have to go through just to start the game up. Team, commander vote, squad selection, class selection, skill selection, spawn selection.... I don't know for sure, mainly because I couldn't care less about the excess buttons, but perhaps combining some of the menus somehow? I have no idea what kind of solution you could make. Also maybe dumb down/make easier user interface for saving your own custom layouts, as he hits the VF hard in the review--I'd say spell out how to save your own tank builds, then find a way to implement it in game with just one click. I say spell out and dumb down because I assume the reviewer is like me-- I've never taken the time to actually make custom builds, I just go through the menu each time. Except in his case, he gets annoyed by it. And I mean REALLY dumb it down- like 10 year old css freak dumb. (That's about my level :p) As for graphics, that just takes a lot of elbow grease to fix, right? idk. I love the empires voice commands... but i guess some sort of extra regular CSS menu... :p Honestly, the solution to BOTH of these omg-empires-too-complex issues would be something like implementing pre-gen character and tank list that comes with every install of empires-- something i have mentioned before.
Menus could be remedied quickly, though. Implement them all as tabs of a single menu, add tooltips, done.
I think it's a pretty good review. I didn't saw any lies or comments that made me think that the reviewer didn't know what he was talking about, which is something that happens way too often. Nice !
I think this is a great review. We've known for a while that the GUI isn't quite up to scratch (with talk of redoing the HUD, and making menus easier to use), this is just a big area that would have delayed 2.0 too much to be justifiable. He says that the gameplay is fun, and it's a good score, that's all that matters.
I totally agree with this guy except for the zxc part. I mean wtf? F is way more easier to press.. Although I must agree that the voice menu isn't that intuitive and really rather complex (I still make mistakes :/) btw maybe make an options submenu (like controls) where you can create and alter vehicle customizations?
zxc menus always confuse me. I wonder if they knew you could use the mouse to navigate =0 Either way, seems like a fair review. I don't particularly agree with their comparison to HL1 graphics but that's their opinion I guess.
Same here. I still have to search for the correct menu to say something, after 1.5 year, by checking them all untill i see what i'm looking for :D Some of them i can remember, most of them not.
I spent a while talkin to "RAVE" explaining stuff and I think the review aint too bad , COD got the same 8, and it seems to be the highest score they give. There is a degree of complexity to the game which makes it more long lasting than Cs or TF2 . Noobs are having fun with just the basics , wait till they become pro's and find out all our secrets. Considering the 2 reviewers didnt spend a lot of time "Reviewing" they seemed to have picked up on most of the games features. I dont think they got to see any good explosion effects, blue/green etc. The bad points are first impression's but if we start changing everything that works well we might make it worse, the next thing to focus on should be "Aircraft" , that would make Empires totally unique and bring with it its own problems. The F menu and build/research is going to multiply so this is when a simpler user interface will need to be incorporated. Its fantastic to see so many players on the servers and have seen only ONE person really moan about it not being his cup of T. He didnt leave though lol. Most of the games ive seen or played in so far have been totally different to our usual PUGs showing how diverse the game can be, beware these Recruits are gonna take over the world, Empires will never be the same again, Awsome job Krenzo.
Some of the things in the menu aren't where you would expect them to be either. Like requesting ammo and stuff is in global when I'd have expected it to be a local command =o
Yeah, but the ammunation icons shows on the minimap and you have a bullet on top of you showing that you need ammo. So they are actually in correct places. And about the review: "The Radar building provides the team with research facilities, which over time give upgrades to just about everything – your men, your vehicles, your weapons." What?... How?... Edit: "Viper: I have just talked to the mod's leader and a soon to come update will have updated graphics and better looking buildings. It indeed looks like the team cares now and is going to tweak the graphical part of the game a lot." Wow new building models? Whooo!! Edit: "The vehicles, too, give host to complete different styles of play. There are 10 different vehicles in total, each as important as the next. The majority are varieties of tanks, ranging from the Light Tank to the Heavy Tank – the former being the cheapest, the latter being the most destructive. With huge firepower and the ability to crush enemy infantry underneath their tracks, tanks are beasts. The APC is equally as useful, acting as a mobile spawn point for your team and providing additional firepower. The Jeep can cart your team around the map at lightning speed, which is extremely helpful in dire situations. Finally, the Command Vehicle, easily the most important vehicle, nay, the most important unit on your team is where the Commander sits watching his minions. If this is destroyed, it’s Game Over for your team." THEY FORGOT ARTILLERY!!! Edit: Also looks like they forgot that when you have +20 tanks, and 10 infantry guys on your screen the performance comes before graphics. I don't like to watch utterly amazing graphics at 1 frame per hour. In my opinion Empires has very good graphics/performance balance. I use medium settings even I could use high settings but when my screens fills up at all kinds of vehicles and infantry units, I prefer medium settings to get enough performance.
Mmkay...he says separate the f-menu into old-fashioned zxc, but thinks there are too many menus.... :confused:
ZXC would have been better...but now, I really like the new GUI for F menu (mine's bound to X btw, as F is flashlight, c is prone and my menu's have moved to n, fullstop and comma). I don't really think the F menu should be given up, as it makes Empires that much more its own game, but it may be possible that the system needs a little tweaking
Hey guys, found this thread and thought I might as well respond! Thanks to Melee, dizzyone and the rest for showing me around Empires, it was of course a lot of fun and hopefully my review displayed that. I stayed up most of the night/morning playing, so I was able to get a general feel for the game in quite a short length of time. Of course, it's never possible to fully explore a game in one day, but I think I did the game justice. Anyway, thanks for all your comments and maybe I'll see some of you playing in the Steamfriends servers!
