Superpower 2 Impressions

[Orgull]

Hi there.

Anyone have impressions of Superpower 2 yet? I know the first one was awful but the previews claim that many of the problems have been fixed in this sequel. Today is the official NA release, so I was wondering if anyone had tried it yet?

[Charlatan]

I don't have impressions of the game, but when I saw that it shipped yesterday, I went out and downloaded the demo of SP2.... I gotta say, the guys who developed this need a pointer or two on developing demos.

From what I could tell you MUST play as Russia, and furthermore, you're given one hard military mission, and it's timed. Since they realize you don't have any idea what you're doing, they complete a bunch of the sub-goals for you. All this they tell you. However, that's all you get.... you're dumped into the game with a nice globe and some tanks here and there on it....

and it just sits there with time passing....
... and passing.....
... and passing....

"Um, what the heck am I supposed to do here?"

So I click a few buttons. Ok, I can bring up a report of some sort. No idea what it means though. Oh, look i can move tanks around! My little green tanks can move. Let's ove a few tanks here and there. All of a sudden I've invaded Poland! Hey maybe that's how WW2 got started, with a careless click by Hitler.

So anyway, a bunch of nations declare war on me, I see some tanks moving around here and there and after a while I get battle reports. Win some lose some.

Well, at least it's something. So I drag select a bunch of tanks and just send them everywhere - I invade Latvia (or is it LIthuania? Estonia?), cross the border in Tibet, move south in the middle east, heck I invade Finland just for the hell of it.

Now we're rolling... I get LOTS of battle reports. Hm, I think the whole world declared war on me though, that can't be a good thing.

So when the excitement dies down, I exit the game and uninstall it. This demo has failed. I was actually thinking of getting the game but it seems pretty obtuse to me from my brief experience. And the demo has convinced me to pass it by.

I did like moving all the tanks around though.

[CeeKay]

The idea of being able to nuke New Zealand is appealing to me for some reason.  OF course if my PC were working....

[Zekester]

Heh....any game with nukes is appealing to me  

[dbt1949]

I'm downloading the demo now myself. Demos won't sell me on a game but they can stop me from buying a game.

[Jancelot]

I think I'll snag the demo too as I really dig the premise of this game. I want to know if they addressed the issues from the first one.  I recall reading that the developers said they tried to put a lot of effort in to doing just that.  <crosses fingers>

[Tony]

I hope they fixed the issues from the first one too.  I had to quit playing because of a serious bug.  Otherwise, even with the poor graphics, the game could have been in my top ten of all time.

[Jancelot]

I haven't had too much time to mess around with it, but I have to agree with Charatan on the presentation.  For a game of this magnitude it's almost necessary to include a tutorial.  I'm going to have to wait for some play tips to start showing up before I can truly wrap my head around it.  Did you have better luck dbt?  You're one of strategy game masters so we're counting on you to figure it out and learn us all.

[Orgull]

Well so far the demo is underwhelming. But so was the demo for Rome: Total War and look how great thtat turned out to be.

I think I'll wait for a few solid impressions before I buy this one.

[Hetz]

This game looks really amazing, but I hear it has the dreaded Starforce copy protection on it...  :\

[Jancelot]

Really?  Well crap.  I assume the demo does as well.  I'll have to run the cleaner tonight to make sure.

[Hetz]

Actually, I hear that the demo doesn't...but the full retail version does.

I was really looking forward to this game, but if they are using Starforce, then forget it.

[GoblinToe]

Yup, I am in a full-on Starforce boycott as well.  I just refuse to support that kind of crapola.

Starforce = No purchase.

Wasn't the first Superpower a bug-ridden mess with no gameplay?  I remember being slightly interested in it until I read reviews, and then it sounded horrible.  It seems like people are forgetting the first release, unless I'm wrong, and the first game had some merit.

[Tony]

NOOOOO!!!!!!  As much as I've been looking forward to this game, like you guys, I'm not going to buy it if there's Starforce on it.  
    Rome:  Total War is probably my game of the year, but if it had Starforce on it I wouldn't come within a mile of the game.  *sigh*

[Tony]

*bump*  Anybody played it yet?  Though I did read in the official forums it does have Starforce.  And there are some serious issues related to the copy protection.  Hehehe, imagine that.  

[Samurai]

Yup, from what I hear, it uses starforce.

No buy from me either.. I hope this game tanks.

[Hetz]

Here is what the devs are saying about using Starforce...

It's saturday night, 4AM, so it takes a little longer for responses...

Yes, Superpower 2 was shipped with the latest Starforce copy protection software, which was applied at the reproduction plant. We've been told that this version (which I think we're the first game to use) doesn't have the problems some users had with the previous versions, and it shouldn't impair or interfere with your system in any way whatsoever.

Now, if anyone has real problems with it (real in the sense that it affects something else on your computer), I encourage you to contact the company that makes Starforce at:

http://www.star-force.com/protectio...y=13&type=5

We cannot, of course, debug a third party software, like we cannot debug Gamespy or DirectX, also bundled with Superpower 2. If problems aren't solved, we'll disable the starforce copy protection in future versions and patches we'll make for Superpower 2.

[Tony]

I'll buy a copy when the cd comes with no Starforce, not just when I can download a patch.  It's like having sex with a girl who has Syphilis.  Yeah, a condom might protect you, but why take the chance?

[Clanwolfer]

Yes, they were told that users weren't going to have the problems they used to.  However, if you look at the company that produces Starforce, they've been telling USERS that they're not really having the problems they're having with previous versions.

[Samurai]

I think we have a great opportunity here to strike a real blow against SF.  If the Superpower 2 devs decide to dump it in a future patch, it sends a message to the entire gaming community.

Ah, my little thread has grown up so nicely over there.  

[Tony]

Wow, nice thread Samurai.  You really got people going there.  

[Godzilla Blitz]

Yuck. I was interested in that game. But Starforce = no purchase.

[Samurai]

I'm always amazed how some people, no matter what, will defend Starforce like it is the salvation of humanity.. guh.

[stiffler]

Samurai, what forum are you talking about with these posts?  I couldn't find a link, so it's like sitting in the same room with someone talking to their friend on their cell phone.

Just curious what your last post was in reference to, as nobody here is defending Starforce as far as I can tell.

[Falator]

I'm always amazed how some people, no matter what, will defend Starforce like it is the salvation of humanity.. guh.

Every program has fanbois. If half life 2 comes out and it turns out that the uninstall process reformats your computer, you can be 100% sure that there will be fanbois defending them with lines such as "why would you uninstall it idiot" and "oh they could't have known that anyone would be stupid enough to uninstall it."

[Tony]

Stiffler, Samurai is talking about this link, http://www.golemlabs.com/forums/showthread.php?s=213c67dd0e6e4703ab758615508721bd&threadid=15894.  Sorry for the long link.

[Samurai]

Damn!  Sorry, I thought I already linked to the thread.

Yes, I was referring to posts in that thread with people defending starforce, like the following gem, for example.

...
too many people are trying to run this game under the MINIMIM (not reccomended) requirments, and then u ***** about it not working.


STFU get a better computer, that meets the requirments, then maybe ill care what you have to complain about.

Sigh.. as if having a super fast computer had ANYTHING to do with starforce.

[Orgull]

Wow Samurai, I went and read the entire post over there on the Superpower 2 forums. Some people are really morons.

I guess I'm not getting S2, I've managed to avoid Starforce until now and I won't suport a compay that uses such invasive protection measures.

[Samurai]

Thanks for the encouragement Orgull.. I felt the same way about some of those people.

At this moment, it doesn't look to good towards them removing the copy protection.. so my boycott still stands.

[Falator]

Don't forget that the starforce makers said/implied that the only people complaining about starforce were the pirates :roll:

[Jeff]

Don't forget that the starforce makers said/implied that the only people complaining about starforce were the pirates :roll:

Which is silly, considering the pirates are the ones who don't have to worry about Starforce, as it's stripped from their versions.

[bimbo15]

Ok, here is an actual impression in the IMPRESSIONS thread.

I've played for around 4 hours.  Yes, there are bugs, yes, there are weird copy protection issues, yes, they are working on all of the above and along with the community will work on balance issues and other issues.

BUT, It is a very interesting concept and if everything gets ironed out...quite fun.

To give an idea of everything one can do in the game, I'll give some examples of a game I played last night for 2 hours:

I started a sandbox game as Canada.  I immediately moved many troops South near Mexico and attacked.   The world didn't like this as around 20 countries declared war on me and sent ships and some troops to take out my military in Mexico and my Navy off both my coasts.  So, I realized I was toast and declared a truce.  After this I had many covert actions in my country..most of which I fended off.  

So I turned my attention to politics.   My approval rating was 87%.  I put a limit on family size and my approval went up to 91%.  I declared illegal the Conservative party who had 5% of the Gov. and my approval went down to 88%.    I then decided to cut a lot of the infrastructure of the gov. as it was keeping my country in a deficit and after cutting most everything such as education, environment, health care, I was out of my deficit but my approval rating was down to 67%...a good tradeoff.

I then decided to dismantle my military as the upkeep costs are very high and affecting my income.  I disbanded some unneeded units and put others on the open world market.    I sold a few groups on the world market but have some still up for sale.  I then bought 40 tanks (can't remember which) and put then in my home province for future military concerns.  

The resource model is fairly complicated but I tried to raise the production of some things my country lacks and also taxed a few items I deemed taxable.   I need to spend more time on this part of the game!

I then went to the military area and decided what aspects of my research I wanted to concentrate on.  There are many possibilties here.  I also designed a new unit and put some money into missle defense.  There are many ways to build an army such as buying researched units, buying on the open market, designing new units, researching better technologies.  

In some games such as Hearts of Iron I tended to business for a few minutes but sat around for long periods of time watching and waiting.  In this game, for the whole two hours last night I was kept busy, but not hurried, looking at the different aspects of my country, checking out what wars were going on in different countries, creating covert actions to use on others, deciding if I wanted to create an economic powerhouse or deciding which tanks on the open market I wanted to buy.  

I like the game quite a bit...I'm a very jaded long time gamer who plays and gets bored quite easily but even in the state its in I am having a better time than I've had in quite a while with any game.   It's unfortunate that the reviews will probably be based on the release non-patched version of the game as I'm sure they'll get hit hard for the bugs...but, it hasn't stopped me from enjoying it.

James.

[Orgull]

Thanks James.

I appreciate the impressions. Sadly I won't be getting this game due to Starforce but I'll enjoy listening to others AAR's.

[bimbo15]

Your welcome.

Yea, the AAR's from the first game and some from the demo pushed me to buy it...I love how there are weird occurances with some countries at war or helping other countries which would never happen in the real world...that's what makes the game fun to me...it's the randomness in games which creates enjoyment for me and makes games less stale.

[StormcloudCreations]

Your welcome.

Yea, the AAR's from the first game and some from the demo pushed me to buy it...I love how there are weird occurances with some countries at war or helping other countries which would never happen in the real world...that's what makes the game fun to me...it's the randomness in games which creates enjoyment for me and makes games less stale.

Exactly! Randomness and replayability I think are cornerstones of a game that stays on my hard drive for awhile, as long as its decently balanced and done well. Though Superpower wasn't a fave of mine (many huge early bugs and interface was a nightmare) it intended to create "alternate" histories of warfare and country relations, which I think is cool.

[JuniorDan]

It's unfortunate that the reviews will probably be based on the release non-patched version of the game as I'm sure they'll get hit hard for the bugs...but, it hasn't stopped me from enjoying it.

If it gets low reviews it will be there just deserves. This is the second go aroud with this game and it should be perfect.
I owned the first game and downloaded countless patches for it and for them to bring out a 2nd game that is bug ridden is bullshit.
I had such high hopes for this game.
hopefully Sid Mere will work on something like it

[bimbo15]

Yea, its amazing how some of the bugs got past not only testers but developers...I mean, if the music skips for every purchaser playing it no matter what machine they play it on, wouldn't SOMEONE catch that problem before release.   There are some others also.  Crazy.

[CeeKay]

They just released a patch.

[Tony]

What does the patch do?  Don't make me go to all the effort of clicking on the developers website to find out.

[Zekester]

Well....
I just picked this up used from EB last night for a whole $5.99.

I wonder if I should even install it?  :?