OK - for the record I was one of the first P&C members. Bought it 3 days after they opened the test program. I later upgraded. I played all three demo's and the patched version.
#1- the campaign
It is a VERY long tutorial. Overly long. The FPS portions are there for a storyline - but honestly it was a mistake to put this in. Lacking in story, character attachment and usefullness. I can not recommend the campaign other than just to learn how to do things. For that, however, it is very useful.
The only reason to play out the entire campaign is the on the final mission you fly against a recorded flight by one of the devs and you have to shoot him down. Bragging rights at best?
#2 Strategy challenge.
Very good - but it needs a little tweaking. Additionally, the ability to allow for non-aligned islands - and control over how many islands each side has to start - is very important and will give some legs to this mode. Overally, still very enjoyable.
#3 Gameplay
Wow - I have to say - I love this game because of how it plays. It is faithful to the original to a point, yet takes advantage of a lot of the improvements that were needed. Some people don't care for some design decisions - and a few stick out in my mind as well - but overall its great fun. The strategy for attacking each island - balancing the tactical and the strategic along with the logistics - is just great!
"Walrus" pathfinding..
OK - I guess I take issue with this. I am going to paraphrase what someone once said about Command and Conquer....
Its Carrier Command - not walrus micromanage. The AI is servicable - and that is all it needs to be. The idea here is these are remote drones - with limited ability without a human in control. Being upset because they don't travel well in groups - is silly. The players who complain - are wanting the walrus's to do their work for them - they want to just "assist me" and then run around shooting anything that moves, and wondering why they left their "help" back in the dust.
The game makes it clear they are limited in ability. It makes SENSE. If the players took that into consideration - stuck one AA walrus assisting them instead of another ground assualt, an AA and a "healer" walrus all together, and then went flying up ridges and down valleys where the AI is bound to struggle, they wouldn't have cause to complain.
On the rare occasion I allow the computer to control a walrus - its an AA one that is there to simply follow me and provide antiiair cover. It does great following me and knocking enemy manta's down. Only struggle is when I go up a huge rise or down an incline instead of taking the road that goes the the same spot. I sacrifice a little health for speed - the AI won't. I see no reason to complain about that.
Really - its a non-issue for those who don't want to just tell the drones to go conquer something and sit back to read a book.....
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Good Hunting!
Captain Haplo
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