V is for Very well received Fulcrum. It’s not often a new DCS flyable gets a reception as warm as the one the new MiG-29A has received. Perusing the forums, praise of the flight model and framerate impact is particularly easy to find. Cheaper faux Fulcrums are available. Finer facsimiles are not.
W is for Wanted 3D: Dead or Alive
Nonlinear, tense, and atmospheric, the Outlaws demo is one of my all-time favourite game trials. I was hoping to get a similar buzz from the gratis bit of Wanted 3D: Dead or Alive, but the tempter for Pavo Entertainment’s upcoming Old West shooter has yet to get under my buckskin. While the level design is outwardly Outlaws, the gun-play and the badman behaviour bring to mind Doom as readily as LucasArts’ classic. I miss ‘fidget AI’ and one-shot demises.
X is for Xceptional honesty
AFV interiors… tutorials… better performance… numerous bug fixes… although Tank Squad has improved considerably since May, even DeGenerals think it may be too early for disappointed customers to return. In a couple of recent forum posts, the studio has warned people to wait a while before reinstalling or investing. Given their financial situation, this unselfish frankness is really rather remarkable.
Ironically, the more wary Panzer Elite and Steel Fury fans that heed DeGenerals advice, the less likely it is the Polish dev will have the funds necessary to bring their exciting campaign plans to fruition. Op map decision-making, and large steppe battlefields sprinkled with infantry, tanks and AT guns are all on DeGenerals’ drawing board.
Y is for Your fault, Misha Glenny
I blame BBC Eastern Europe expert Misha Glenny for the two hours I wasted last Sunday afternoon. After listening to The Butcher and the Poet, obviously I had no option but to seek out the only PC game dedicated to Hungary’s unsuccessful Nineteenth Century war of independence. A lot of water has flowed down the Danube since Hussar Games released 1848 in 2006, and getting this Hungarian hex-em-up to work properly on a modern PC is – I now realise – impossible.
Or is it? At the risk of wasting your time too, maybe someone reading this can suggest a way to fix this frustrating display issue.
Z is for Zodiac Legion
In production for around a decade, Zodiac Legion, a fantasy TBT/RPG inspired by the likes of Laser Squad, X-COM, and HeroQuest, should finally haul itself over the finish line early next year. Generous, good-looking, and tactically rich, the latest trial shows dev Alexandre Boureau to be talented as well as dogged.
Hey there, thanks for mentioning us here – indeed I think we needed at least few months more to develop a better game but money was no more. After four months the situation is better and stable – we just need to continue doing what we’re doing – patching and optimization – and content will come. My dream would be adding western front and normandy – the commonwealth struggle in eastern sector with waffen ss divisions as well as just add more gameplay modes – some career mode with generated missions. First things first
Being somewhat immersed in DCS, I’m always entertained when people comment on flight models (pro or con)- as if your average PC flight simmer knows exactly how aircraft X should feel in a variety of different flight conditions, and better than the SMEs (i.e. actual pilots of that aircraft) that DCS gets extensive feedback from before releasing most every aircraft.