How do you play this game

[SgtMustang]

I downloaded the demo on steam today, seemed promising enough, but I am really at a loss as to what your supposed to do in this game as well as how to do it. I do the instant action missions, my guy spawns by like 50 vehicles (Which honestly I don't know the difference between them) so I jump in one, and apparently theres enemies heading to kill me, so I get in, and after pressing every single button on the keyboard I figure out how to fly the planes somewhat.

So I takeoff, and boom, dead, dunno what it was from.

After figuring out that enter is your primary gun, I set off to kill them before they kill me. I get up right behind one of em and fire at them, but to no avail, and THEN i blow up.XD

Seriously, am I doing something wrong or is this game just broken?:confused: Maybe I'm missing the point though, maybe this isn't a game, but is more of a toy, judging from the starting area that resembles that of a tech demo, where all the items in the game are laid out in front for testing, i'm just terribly confused.

By the way, I play alot of flight sims so I know how to fly planes, and understand most of their systems, but evidently that doesn't matter much as the planes in this game don't really seem to run on any kind of physics engine.


Pertaining to what I've read online about this game/Disclaimer
I am not trolling! In case you don't know, a forum troll is defined as "someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into a desired emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion." This post is none of those things, obviously, I'm just trying to get some constructive responses lol.

All these precautions i'm taking by the way are cause, having done some research on this game (Trying to figure out how to play, mind you) I found an almost enormous amount of criticism about the devs of this game on numerous gaming sites that the devs of this game don't take kindly to criticism of any kind, and patrol the forums in an almost 1984/thought police-esque way, blocking any post with any sort of negative connotation toward the devs or product whatsoever, now, i don't have any experience with this company, but if i were a dev i would care about how the community saw me, and from what i've read, the community almost universally does not particularly like the devs of this game. I'm not trying to stir anything up, this is just what i've read online, i'm impartial.

If you want constructive criticism on your game, I have a few comments, being an avid gamer of all types of games. Though from what I've read I dunno if the devs want to hear any sort of criticism at all, no matter how constructive. :p

[ShoHashi]

Hi SgtMustang:

First things first, did you read the manual/documentation that came with the game? They describe the keyboard commands and even comes with a tutorial. These are located in the /docs folder in the game install directory.

Also, for any other questions you have, do a search for them in the forum as many of them have probably already been answered.

If you still can't find the answer you are looking for, then by all means post.

-Sho

[SgtMustang]

Hi SgtMustang:

First things first, did you read the manual/documentation that came with the game? They describe the keyboard commands and even comes with a tutorial. These are located in the /docs folder in the game install directory.
-Sho

Im playing the Steam demo, and there isn't any documentation. There is just a save folder.

[ShoHashi]

On Steam, if you go to the game's info page, it has the manual and quick reference in PDF format to download. The links are on the lower right side.

-Sho

[Necronaught]

I played the demo got killed in the first few secs from out of nowhere. I wanted to get airborne and fly about and get to grips with it but constantly dying from missiles put me off. I may re-download it and look at the pdf manual (I didn't know about that at the time).

[ShoHashi]

I may re-download it and look at the pdf manual (I didn't know about that at the time).

Please do. The manual will help you along with the tutorial.

-Sho

[SgtMustang]

Please do. The manual will help you along with the tutorial.

-Sho

I read the manual but it seems as if it were intended for some sort of rocket scientist. Having been a vet of Microsoft Flight Simulator and Orbiter the Space simulator I thought I could figure out most games. But apparently not. This game stumped me completely, beyond getting into a vehicle, shooting and dying alot that is.

However, in your defense, this game is no where near as frustrating as ARMA II. In that game, I beat all of the training missions until the shooting range, despite having hit every dummy, the instructor told me I was an idiot and I failed the mission. I proceeded to try the actual game, and after having sat through an intensely boring chopper sequence, was dumped into some unnamed area and was promply killed the moment I moved by some sniper 5000 meters away with X-Ray vision.

At least in this game you can have a good time watching the entirely broken physics engine allow your apparently god-made vehicles to jerk in ways that would reduce any mortal-made object to shreds as if you had entirely scrapped a physics engine and just opted for No-Clip mode instead.

It also brings me great joy to watch the the physics engines pathetic attempts at realistic car handling and behavior, watching the car glued to the road while traveling at 100 miles per hour as if the wheels were made of some sort of hypothetical tire forged from the fibers of God's beard, and how when you hit a building or vehicle it is sent flying backwards at mach 5 - into space.

Seriously, why has this game been released? It looks as if it should still be in the ALPHA phase if anything. I've seen videos on Youtube showing the game actually CRASHING when he crashes into a building.

It really dumbfounds me though what kind of an audience you guys were going for. I could see the uber-hardcore fanatics would go for a game like ARMA II. And those wanting an easy, and fun shooter experience would go for Battlefield II, TF2, or COD.

People wanting a good flight experience would go for a Flight Sim, and something like HAWX or i think it was Ace Combat if they wanted an arcade experience.

Seriously, what makes this game stand apart from other games?

Even Orbiter is a more functional game, and that was done by one man IIRC, and ARMA II may be frustrating, but its a mostly functional game, at least, its a far more complete game than AAW. Comon guys, you can do better. There really is no reason why I would want to play this game over all of the other, and frankly better games out there.

[ShoHashi]

That's why there are demos. Not every game is going to please every gamer.

You try the game to see if it suits you before making the purchase. If you don't like the demo or it isn't your cup of tea, then you can easily not purchase the game and move along to something else.

-Sho

[Syldan]

That's why there are demos. Not every game is going to please every gamer.

You try the game to see if it suits you before making the purchase. If you don't like the demo or it isn't your cup of tea, then you can easily not purchase the game and move along to something else.

-Sho

I'm sure 3000AD are in gaming industry for a while, but even I, long time player, know that :

- Online documentation is really annoying to read WHILE you are playing in a Full Screen game, even with a Windowed game it's annoying.

- Demo are a promotional product meant to bring in customers, not to alienate them, there so using demo to teach the game is a good way to have more buyers and give a good first impression.

- A tutorial should not be in a game manual or anywhere else than in the game itself as an option to allow active training and not to annoy experienced players.

[ShoHashi]

Online documentation is really annoying to read WHILE you are playing in a Full Screen game, even with a Windowed game it's annoying.

You can always print out the documentation.

A tutorial should not be in a game manual or anywhere else than in the game itself as an option to allow active training and not to annoy experienced players.

If you are an experienced player, then you can always skip the tutorials.

-Sho

[Syldan]

You can always print out the documentation.

41 pages documentation, 20 at best using both side of sheets. Sure I'll waste my ink and time (luckily there is few pictures). Also, mind redoing it, and not in landscape way with huge margins? At least there's a Quick Sheet.

If you are an experienced player, then you can always skip the tutorials.

This was a 'general comment' for the future that is to be used with other 'general comment' : "Have in-game tutorial as active training."