Sun May 15, 2011 10:21 am
Here are my thoughts for what it is worth.
1. DRM - Yes, I had an experience with Microsoft where they had a DRM on one of their software’s, in the end, I was moving around Asia and Africa a lot and had only a work computer, so I'd install, uninstall, install. Finally, I couldn't install it anymore, tried to fix it via email, and they could never get it working again. I had to buy the software again. Also, it seems to me that if the company goes away, unless they put out a patch to get rid of the DRM, then you lose the software eventually. Is it a illegal? No, but I can imagine these cases will be in the courts in the future, maybe as a class action law suit. For me, $30 isn’t the end of the world, I’ll play it as long as it works and not get worked up over the legal issues of it.
2. Price $30 - I can't believe software only costs that. I paid $20 for AACW and also thought it was too cheap. Basically the price of a dinner and a movie, and think about how many hours you will play it. It seems to me that games are cheaper now than in the 90s, and now we get more upgrades and endless forums on top of that.
3. Game style - It is very different to AACW. Basically, there are 20 scenarios for all for Gettysburg, a "make your own scenario" and multi-player. I've only done the 1st 2 scenarios. They are realistic, hard, and fun if you want a real-time battle. Perhaps most fascinating, there is a realistic "historical" setting where you control the battle by couriers. There are also the easy settings like the "Total War Series" if that interests you. Personally, I only use the courier setting as I played Total War too much. The commanders are meant to behave in a historical fashion and don't always do what you say, like history!
4. SOW community - There seems to be a pretty active community. Like all games these days, it takes patches to get them up to spec. The 1.2 patch just came out. Also there are other mods that change things from music to smoke to artillery fire.
5. In summary - I would think the game is only for ACW fans (me) or people that have a serious interest in commanding a battle using the realistic courier method. I listened to a Podcast the creators did, they said the game is meant to move at a glacial speed, and that is intentional. If you are looking for artillery to move at unrealistic rates and fire like a machine gun, look elsewhere. If you want artillery to limber, move, unlimber, load, aim, shoot, and then this might be your game. The demo, which is also at 1.2 now, if free, as usual. I bought it a couple weeks ago and have played a little, but it's been fun.
Hope that helps,
Charles