rec.autos.simulators

TO ACCOLADE:
This game is severely flawed. I was awaiting this game hoping it would be
more of a simulation than Monster Truck Madness or more closely modeled car
physics than MTM(which isn't a bad game, especially compared to this one).
Unfortunately, the only way this thing feels like a truck driving off road
is if you are under the age of 16,  don't have a license and have never
been in a moving object before. I have and many, many other people have or
own four wheel drive vehicles(cherokees, land rovers, explorers, etc)
and with the recent resurgence in sales of 4WD sport/utility vehicles,
there are few people who havent at least ridden in one.                
        I have tried this demo with the keyboard, Flightstick Pro, and a good
steering wheel, and this is the first "simulation" that I've played that
the keyboard is the preferred control device(and I use that word control
very, very generously). This control system and the feel of the steering in
these trucks make you appreciate the "feel" of the trucks in monster truck
madness. Awful, Awful, mind numbingly annoying control. There is no feeling
when you accelerate, when you turn, stop. I mean it really needs work.Big
time.
        A hint for you guys, 4wd's do not handle like sleds. When you cut the
wheel to the left and floor it on dirt snow or mud, depending upon the
depth of the tire tread, you will move in that direction. Real fast. There
will be a big mess, but you will power slide in the direction your turning
the wheel. Try playing MTM, and seeing what happens in turns during
acceleration braking.
        One more thing.. The goddamned signposts, barrels, other extraneous ***
you have lining the track should move A LITTLE BIT WHEN STRUCK BY A 2 TON
plus TRUCK BARRELLING AT FULL SPEED!!!!Cmon now Do you know how annoying it
is to be winning a race and then get hung up on a damned sign after I
should be slamming through it. Try to use some common sense in designing
these games.
        For those who were looking forward to playing A MTM type game with better
trucks, SKIP THIS ONE. Unless you like godawfully horribly handling
vehicles, convoluted tracks lined with signs, barrels, traffic lights able
to stop a 4000 pound truck traveling at full speed with not taking any
damage, and just generally getting excruciatingly annoyed especially after
the goddamned download time and the size of the file(13+megabytes).

Phew!! Off my soapbox.

 Sadly, as the owner of a Wrangler, I must agree. The controls are
absolutely pitiful with an intolerable time lag followed by
over-correction. This on a 75Mhz motherboard with a 166 processor (running
at 188) and 32 meg ram with a Matrox Millennium. Hoopefully the released
version will be better. (Couldn't get much worse.)

Mike Carrothers

MC> >>This game is severely flawed. I was awaiting this game hoping it
MC> would be >>more of a simulation than Monster Truck Madness or more
MC> closely modeled car

MC> >I have to agree completely. While the graphics are nice enough the
MC> >control and physics models absolutely kill this game.

And in the face of these multitude of fairly hopeless sims this
conference continues to worry about the lack of rain in GP2, the exact
angle of a pit road in N2, the lack of options to change the sponsorship
logos on your pit crews socks......

Hmmmmm!!!!   B-)

Cheers!

---
 * RM 1.3 U0414 *  You mean I'm supposed to read the _messages_ ?!?

Great point Toby, I wonder if there is any sim that will ever make everyone
happy.

I remember back when Indycar1 first came out there were a bunch of people
who complained that the graphics were too slow for the average sim computer
at that time (386), and how Microproses's F1GP1 was much better and faster
with its graphics, now a couple of years later and the table has turned,
everyone is flaming F1GP2 saying how much faster ICR2 and Nascar2 display
graphics etc..

The one thing the Net has made me realize over the years is that
people just love to gripe, and no sim/game will ever be good enough.
We just have to be smart enough to overlook a few flaws if the rest of the
sim provides an enjoyable experience. I only hope that the programmers of
these sims/games who drop by USENET newsgroups are thickskinned enough to
realize this and not get scared off, or lose loose enthusiasm for their work.
Their presence and involvement is greatly appreciated by the majority.

Cheers.

--John
--
 Note: my real e-mail address is below. Delete the asterisks.
------------------------------+--------------------------

  Seattle, Washington USA.    |    http://www.cool.com/~jsilva

Well put, John! :->

The Rusty Wallace Miller Lite stock car, awsome when opened up!
GO#2!

        Mullins Motorsports Inc.
        http://www.***tron.com/~ddmj

Wait a minute goddamit. If you read my original post I am NOT ***ing
about minor grievances like logos or whether a particular track is modeled
precisely. If you took the time to download the 13 + MB of the Testdrive
Offroad, and took the time to install it properly, like I did, you would
have been as pissed off as I was to play such an inadaquate, unfinished
game. I was not looking at it from a strict simulation's perspective. I was
just hoping the demo would have been mildly entertaining. It was, to be
VERY kind, simply awful. If you took the time to notice, every single post
was the same about this game, and I've never seen any game(even
Battlecruiser 3000 AD) get 100% negative press from people who have tried
it. I am SO sick and tired of game companies, like Accolade in this
instance, and most notably Bullfrog, superhyping games with all of these
incredibly ingenious new innovations and original features only to have it
fall short. WAY short in this case. Also in this genre(simulations) you can
either go one way with your game design strict simulation(Nascar, GP2,
Indycar 2) in which the greatest amount of time is spent in precisely
modeling every aspect of the vehicle and racetrack(with the ability to
adjust down the level of realism from that strict model), or you can design
a game based on certain cars but with no real pretense todesign a strict
simulation(NFS, Monster Truck Madness, Need for Speed 2). Games which will
model an automobile just enought make the experience enjoyable and
thrilling. NO attempt was made made here to go in either direction, just
another poor attempt at getting more money out of the consumer by releasing
a bad game. Therewere so many problems with this game I cannot take the
time to go through each and every one.  And finally IF I am just ***ing
for the sake of ***ing, why is it that the Accolade pulled the demo from
all of the sites it sent it to? Could it be that it heeded the criticism of
the demo-players, and decided more time must be put into this game to make
it worth the money? If it did it would renew my faith in the Consumer
Industry(kidding), Actually I and most interested parties would respect
Accolade if they actually did rework this project.

Steve,

Relax for a minute, what Toby was commenting on, and I was agreeing with
was that, with some REALLY BAD sims out there like Test Drive Offroad,
there are still some people here on r.a.s. nitpicking on good sims like GP2
and Nascar2 for some relatively small problems they have, and when you compare
these small problems with everything bad you mention about Test Drive Offroad,
it seems funny why these other people refuse to enjoy these other games
despite a few nitpicks they have with them.

See, we weren't talking about you at all, just commenting on some people's
attitudes here on r.a.s.

Oh and by the way, I do appreciate your review of Test Drive Offroad,
it sounds like a stinker of a game and I will stay away from it.

Cheers.

--John
--
 Note: my real e-mail address is below. Delete the asterisks.
------------------------------+--------------------------

  Seattle, Washington USA.    |    http://www.racesimcentral.net/~jsilva

I apologize for making it appear that this was directed towards you. It was
not. It was directed towards the respondent to your post, the

"The one thing the Net has made me realize over the years is that
I was responding to this persons assertion that I was griping for the sake
of griping. Trust me after taking the time to download that mess, you'd be
a little testy too. What this genius doesn't realize is that this usenet
feedback, especially negative feedback is extremely valuable to game
designers, as many have responded to my... hehe...lengthy posts. And I have
been asked on several occasions to beta test games as a result of my
criticism(and I am beta testing one PHENOMENAL game now). So it is my hope
that these designers are not thick-skinned and listen to what people say
about the games they are designing. Thats all. Anyway again I apologize, I
should have more precisely directed my temper tantrum.

I apologize for making it appear that this was directed towards you. It was
not. It was directed towards the respondent to your post, the

"The one thing the Net has made me realize over the years is that
I was responding to this persons assertion that I was griping for the sake
of griping. Trust me after taking the time to download that mess, you'd be
a little testy too. What this genius doesn't realize is that this usenet
feedback, especially negative feedback is extremely valuable to game
designers, as many have responded to my... hehe...lengthy posts. And I have
been asked on several occasions to beta test games as a result of my
criticism(and I am beta testing one PHENOMENAL game now). So it is my hope
that these designers are not thick-skinned and listen to what people say
about the games they are designing. Thats all. Anyway again I apologize, I
should have more precisely directed my temper tantrum.

The Rusty Wallace Miller Lite stock car, awsome when opened up!
GO#2!

        Mullins Motorsports Inc.
        http://www.***tron.com/~ddmj

No apology necessary :-) I guess I had forgotten the smiley in my
response post too.

I wasn't offended by your response, just wanted to make sure you
realized that when I was talking about people griping I meant the
people who for some reason keep griping about the same old things
we know are wrong with good sims, (i.e. GP2's framerate, Nascar2's
spotter etc.) not with legitimate and usefull griping as shown by
your very usefull preview of Test Drive Offroad, I had thought about
downloading that demo, you saved me the time and disappointment so
thanks.

Also you have my curiousity peaked about which PHENOMENAL beta you
are testing :-) I hope it's either NFS2, X-Car, or Papy's F1 sim,
I look forward to all of them.

Still I do hope these programmers listen to our constructive
griping on r.a.s. and not get frightened off by some people beating
a dead horse with a stick (i.e. GP2 framerate griping etc.)

Cheers.

--John
--
 Note: my real e-mail address is below. Delete the asterisks.
------------------------------+--------------------------

  Seattle, Washington USA.    |    http://www.cool.com/~jsilva