Bad demo, really bad demo.

[shadowburn]

Now I know what you're thinking, if you have played it. "The game wasn't that bad(in fact, it was quite good!)".

However, I am really annoyed at the fact that the demo does not save my control settings.. which wouldnt be that bad, I could probably get all my enjoyment out of it in one run.. if after every mission, it didn't automatically quit the game.

The multiplayer might be fun. I wouldn't know. I lost connection to the host and instead of having the option to join another game, i'm bombarded by ads for this game as it quits.

Seriously, Codemasters, WTF made you think making the demo quit after every mission(single OR multiplayer) was a good idea? Fix it now, you guys are already rapidly dropping from my list of developers I respect.

[FraceR]

Originally Posted by shadowburn

Now I know what you're thinking, if you have played it. "The game wasn't that bad(in fact, it was quite good!)".

Hah, that was the last thing on my mind... It felt absolutely horendous. The throttle felt like it did nothing at all. The only way to get some sense of speed was hurtling towards the ground.
Then there was the weird turning, ignoring of rudder input and no way to check which axis/button was assigned to what. To be fair I tried the default mouse/keyboard setup but basicly was annoyed with the same things.
And the fact that the game immediately quits after a mission ends (be it by death/crash or succesfull finishing) is not helping it.
Fair enough, it looks and sounds great but sadly for me that was where the fun stopped. I was really looking forward to this game it's kind of painfull to say that given the current state of the game it's likely to be removed from my "Want these games" list.

[Codemasters Customer Service]

Originally Posted by shadowburn

Seriously, Codemasters, WTF made you think making the demo quit after every mission(single OR multiplayer) was a good idea?

It's a demo. The idea is to get a flavour for the game, not allow you to play it so much that you get bored and don't wish to buy the full game.

I am still undecided as to wheather I will buy it.
I see it is more arcade style as to a sim.
I really enjoy being able to set your flaps, put your gear up/down.
I will miss being able to land manually.
The planes still seem too small to me.
As with flight sims, you get to damage an enemy plane and see bullet holes.
I noticed if you flame a Zero/plane they are still a threat and mostly keep flying. If I was in a burning plane, I would bail real! quick.

Maybe I am used to having more control over the plane.
I will say the graphices are nice.
It will at least be a new flying game.
I will see...maybe buy it.

[Noppie.nl]

Indeed grafics look good, sound is a bit cheap.
What annoyes me is that I am not able to configure my joystick in this game, wich makes flying for a clumsy guy like myself very hard, not to mention getting opponents killed.
Really dissapointing sofar after all these publications about the game I expected far more than this.



P.S. please excuse my lingual mistakes, my English writing is getting a bit rusty.

[TheRealRoadhog]

It's a demo. The idea is to get a flavour for the game, not allow you to play it so much that you get bored and don't wish to buy the full game.

First demo I had ever tried that ended the game after each event. If you do a search on my posts here, you'll find in the past I've been very supportive of your games that interest me. I guess when the Race Driver 3 demo is released I should warn everyone now that after each race, it's back to desktop. Sorry but this demo has major issues and shouldn't have been put out there as if it were to get a taste of the game, well sour grapes comes to mind.

Hoggy

[Ludeman]

WOW, great GRFX but bad, really bad controls. It feels like it was made for a console. Bahh, you need to tighten up the feel of the planes before I buy it.

[FraceR]

Originally Posted by Ludeman

WOW, great GRFX but bad, really bad controls. It feels like it was made for a console. Bahh, you need to tighten up the feel of the planes before I buy it.

Surely that's the reason... It probably was designed with consoles in mind rather than pc. Call me a whining ******* but that's what killed the CMR series for me.

[TheRealRoadhog]

Call me a whining ******* but that's what killed the CMR series for me.

But at least they did a much better job with CM but unfortunately they never properly finished CM05 for the PC which was a terrible shame.

[NightShadow]

Originally Posted by Codemasters Customer Service

It's a demo. The idea is to get a flavour for the game, not allow you to play it so much that you get bored and don't wish to buy the full game.

Yes, a flavor of the game is good; annoying the gamer is very bad. I am also very disappointed with the demo, the flavor is horrible, and makes me want to avoid this particular meal like the plague.

First of all, with this being a 3D aerial combat game, the control system absolutely must be excellent, and highly configurable. The automatic configuration is good as a base, but the ability to configure the controls is very important. Yes, I realize the full version will allow full configuration, but IMO, it reflects very badly on you that you would release a demo that does not. It gives off the feeling that you don't think the controls are important enough to spend any time on; and in an aerial combat game, that is simply terrible. It annoys the gamer, as can be seen by all the posts about controls, and a demo should not annoy a gamer in this manner.

Then, there is the demo closing after every mission. I have played other demos that do something similar, and to the best of my knowledge, I did not purchase the full version of any of those. This, again, annoys the gamer, especially in an action-oriented game such as this one. The intermissions kill the fun time that was had during the in-game action, and will eventually push the gamer to trying to forget about the game, so that they no longer have to deal with that frustration.

A very important attribute in gaming is replayability. When the game closes after a mission, it sends a very strong signal that the mission is done, over, nothing else to see or do with it. This signal then gets transferred over to the full game; once you beat the game, that's it, might as well stop playing the game because there isn't anything else to it. Do you really think gamers want to spend $40 on a game when you tell the gamers in such a strong manner that the game isn't any good after the first time they beat it?

"...not allow you to play it so much that you get bored and don't wish to buy the full game." Yep, that screams replayability alright. If the demo is done correctly (ie fun and not annoying), then the gamer will play it over and over again, getting more and more anxious to get their hands on the full version. When they do get bored, (due to not having enough game instead of being annoyed into boredom) they'll want the full version even more, to try to recapture the fun they first experienced in the demo. When the demo is done the way you have, only the gamers that have a lot of free cash on hand will be willing to buy the game, so that they don't have to deal with the frustration of it. The rest of the gamers that think they'll like the game, will try to obtain a pirated version of it, to ensure it's worth their cash and so they don't have to deal with the frustration of restarting the game, and then you have to hope that they have the goodwill to spend the money, rather than keeping the copy they already have. And if you're worried the gamers will become too bored from playing the demo a few times, then you should be very worried about them becoming too bored with the pirated version to bother with paying.

I was very much looking forward to this game, and was on my "must buy" list. The demo just left too nasty of a flavor in my mouth, however, and so, currently, will definitely not buy it until I'm proven the game is much better than the demo. That is why I wrote so much here, I hope that you will spend the time to release a demo that isn't so annoying to play; something that will make the gamers think the game is worth their money.

I'll step off my soapbox now. Best of luck with the game.