Funny thing: Steam apparently does not differentiate between disc-based versions and Steam-based versions of Soulstorm because once I "activated" it, it added Soulstorm to my Uninstalled list (because I had not downloaded it through Steam).
First thing's first... the beta seems stuck at it's default resolution. I tried to up it to my laptop's 1440x900 resolution, but all that did was shrink the image a-la-old-school-DOS-mode game.
Secondly, I was a little surprised to find the beta to be multiplayer-only. That is, it forced me to activate a Windows Live account. Don't let the names fool you: it's an Xbox Live account. It's free. But you will get a "gamertag" if you don't already have Xbox Live. Sign in with your usual Windows Live email though - just like you would with Live Messenger.
In the Multiplayer menu, you have a choice to auto-match (which didn't seem to work for me) or manually join a game (or host one) as usual. There are slim pickings at the moment as the demo only has a few maps to choose from. And games are 1-on-1 or Team-Matches.
Once in the game I was quickly lost. In my limited exposure, I did recognize a few Company of Heroes elements (you don't reinforce your squads anymore). But since I didn't play CoH, that limited knowledge didn't help much. There's also no emphasis on building up a base... and I couldn't find a builder-unit. Instead, either you capture a victory point or you don't. You can also capture a power point and build that up (by clicking an Activate icon in that point's menu). But other than that, I didn't see how I could increase my requisition rate. So for one of the pitched battles, I just kept using up my requisition to constantly revive my Force Commander.
It'll take a few more rounds to get the hang of this. The disappointing thing is simply that I feel like a fish out of water. But this is a beta, not a demo. I remember the first DoW demo back in 2003 left such an impression on me (it was actually a full tutorial plus a demo level against an AI) that I couldn't wait to play the full game. This time around, I feel as though I can afford to wait because I'm not sure what it is I'm getting myself into. If not a tutorial, then I wish there were a single-player mode I could use to poke around the menu system and gameplay mechanics before being a total n00b with strangers online.
On a related note, here's a status update on my Warhammer 40k army:
As you can see, I did indeed finish that Terminus pattern Land Raider after all. And the Drop-Pod is finished and painted. Still need to finish paint detail on several of troops (you can see on the far right of the photo that the Terminator team is simply spray-painted white for now).
2 comments:
That army together like that looks really awesome, dude! Good work!
As you know, it's constantly in progress. I'm happy to report that the illegal team with the Metlagun and Multimelta upgrades have now received their reinforcements to turn them in a full 10-man team. Yes, look carefully at the photo - there's an illegal team. :p
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