First impressions: awkward camera

[Deadmoon]

Just installed and playing the first mission on PC.

The game plays on a panoramic format so there are a couple of huge black bands above and below the main screen (PSVita format?). The camera also doesn´t allow to zoom out very much so you are stuck with a pretty limited field of view. Very ankward.

As soon as you move the cursor near the edge of the screen the scroll appears. This would be good if the scroll is activated on the very edge of the screen but the "active area" is somehow big and because the game is not played in full screen (those black bands) the camera is always moving when you don´t want to move it. The movement of both the camera and the cursor is not as smooth at it should be, it also have an annoying acceleration.

You must rotate the camera often as the objects in the game have no trasparency if there are troops behinf them and there´s often a huge tree or house blocking your field of view.

To end the turn you must press ESC, a menu appears and must select an option. A "end turn" button in the main screen would be a better idea.



I´ll keep playing. More information later.

[Deadmoon]

After ending a scenario the black bands are gone and you can´t see a brief cut scene in full screen. They can be removed so they should be removed from gameplay to give player a greater field of view IMHO.

Graphics are very dark (not a monitor issue, you can also see it in the preview screens) and sometimes is hard to distinguish your own troops. Night scenarios are pitch black...an option for a floating icon above the soldiers should be considered.

Despite all of this...the game is fun as hell! AI is pretty decent, they know when to fire and when to use grenades to blow your troops is they are bunched together. Flanking tactics are a must since reactive fire could bring your soldiers down quickly.

But something must be done with the camera moves and cursor controls...it makes a very uncomfortable gaming experience.

PD: In second mission you could purchase spanish republican troops. An unexpected and pleasant addition!

[DeathMutant]

I concur with the awkward camera comments. I expected to be able to right-click + drag to rotate the camera (in 3D) at a specific radius around a selected target. The mouse wheel could be used to increase/decrease the radius. If there were no selected targets right-click + drag would just pan the camera (in 2D) across the map.

Also, I expected to see glowing outlines of solders and vehicles when they were not in direct line-of-sight with the observer (me). Enemies would be red, allies would be green. Live soldiers or non-destroyed vehicles would have a bright outline, dead soldiers and destroyed vehicles would still be visible but have a dimmer outline.

ps. Drag = click + move while holding down mouse button

[joshoc]

I agree, great game but I spend half my time moving the camera. Please provide an update with a full set of camera controls so we can tailor it the way we want to. Thanks (and make a ton of expansions, the engine is excellent).

[maximvs]

I play this game on 2 different PCs, on one the game runs very smoothly, but on the other (lower spec but newer) machine the camera/mouse action is exceedingly sloppy as is mentioned above.

[mbpopolano24]

I agree. This game could be so much more. The camera is an issue, but also the mission structure.