There is a little area in the manual that has the story of the Indonesian Freedom
Fighters and the UN Approved Joint Operations force and man, are the politics
a little queasy making. If you stop to think about them (don't: there's no
impact in the game), there's a certain ambiguity going on here. There are no
real good or bad guys. The freedom fighters are terrorists. The peace keepers
are "keeping the peace" by keeping the militant leaders in charge. Really
makes you want to fight hard, doesn't it?
Snipers are loose in Jurassic Park
The result is that the setting has no real emotional resonance for
most people, unlike the loaded imagery of Vietnam that makes the newest
Battlefield game such a visceral experience. Indonesia is a filler setting, and it
feels like it.
Registration bedevilment
The thing that really peeved me was the fact that after the game installs, you have to create an account
with NovaLogic (in "Novaworld") before you can play online. So after you purchase their
US$40
game they also require you to give up your e-mail, address, and a bunch of
other crap before you can play online. Don't feel like divulging that
information? Well, then either lie or don't play at all. After giving up the
information, you'll need to
input your CD key again, which locks your account to that particular key. I wouldn't lose
your password if I were you.
This sort of thing is asinine and invasive. I bought your game, I don't
need to give you my information before I can play it online. Normally I
would have uninstalled in disgust and returned the game when faced with
something like this, but unfortunately I had to review it. The only way to
keep game makers from doing things like this is in the future is to vote
with your wallet, so even if you do buy this game I'd write an e-mail or a
letter complaining about the lousy account system. And then when I finally wind
my way through
the long and convoluted account creation process and download the update, I'm
greeted with advertisements to rent servers from NovaLogic. Gee, thanks
guys.
On the upside, character creation is nice and has a lot more options than
what I'm used to in this sort of game. You can choose between different
types of troops, from US to French GIGN to Australian SASR. Now that's
diversity for you. You don't know fear until you're being hunted by the
Australian special forces. You can then select voice, head style, etc. Its
pretty nifty, but in games most of the soldiers look pretty similar anyway.
Still I appreciate the effort.
"Taxi!"
Allright NovaLogic. I've made a character, sat through your crappy account
creation process, and now I'm ready to play. Let's go free Indonesia, or
something.
