PC Gamer Pod Review

>Has anybody seen this months issue of PC Gamer and their review of Pod? >They gave it a 65%. Pod has had its flaws but c'mon, a 65%. Michael Wolf >obviously wasn't doing his homework on this one. It's a matter of opinion but I would have given it no better - maybe worse. That;s a major problem with shipping software with NO manual or instructions whatsoever. Like me he probably gace up on it before finding out about the***pit view. It may not be "fair", but it's Ubisoft's fault not the reviewers that he didn't review an undocumented feature. The problem is if the gameplay itself sucks, who cares? Joe

Hi Jeff, FWIW, if Mikey don't like, he don't play it...It's all part of the review process, and nothing is set in stone. If you happen to like the game, then great!!...If not, oh well. Mike told me that's how he calls it...just as you stated your opinion about the game, he stated his. If he doesn't have fun, then he usually won't go back to play it. Best Regards, Marc Marc J. Nelson Sim Racing News http://members.aol.com/simnews

: Has anybody seen this months issue of PC Gamer and their review of Pod? : They gave it a 65%. Pod has had its flaws but c'mon, a 65%. Michael Wolf : obviously wasn't doing his homework on this one. It doesn't look like he : played it for more than about half an hour. He makes no mention of the : great internet play and the PodNet. Take a look at the Ubi Game Service. : They're on Beta 1.5 now and still working to make it better. He also : brings up the common complaint that Pod isn't fast enough. From the : screen shots it doesn't look like he even bothered to switch to an in car : view. That's the single biggest thing you can do to speed up the game. : If it were any faster I'd have to close my eyes. He briefly mentions the : Ghost feature of the game which is also a great part of Pod. You can : download ghosts and race against the fastest lap times around. Tell me : that's not worthwhile. He doesn't seem to know what he's looking for and : what his goals are for a racing game. This is what happens when you take : a RPG writer and put them in unfamiliar territory. Here's some advice: : stick with what you know. Cheers. : Does it really matter what Mr Wolf thinks of Pod? Did u buy the game? Do u enjoy playing it? If yes to both my questions, then fine! It is just ONE man's opinion...IF YOU were to be in Scott Wolf's shoes and u wrote a review giving it, say 90% (Just an example), there's gonna be a Scott Wolf person out there posting this article on this newsgroup, saying the exact opposite of what u wrote! He's gonna say stuff like, "Ghost cars? That's lame!", "Superfast gameplay? What's he got, a Cray?", etc... I have read alot of articles of people complaining about crazy scores in magazine reviews....PLEAZ...'nuf already! Who's the one holding on to ur wallets and brains? -- -- Name : SlAsHeR aRcAnA -- -- Webpage : http://minyos.its.rmit.edu.au/~chcc -- --- Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain. ---

>Does it really matter what Mr Wolf thinks of Pod? Did u buy the game? >Do u enjoy playing it? If yes to both my questions, then fine! It is just >ONE man's opinion...IF YOU were to be in Scott Wolf's shoes and u wrote >a review giving it, say 90% (Just an example), there's gonna be a >Scott Wolf person out there posting this article on this newsgroup, saying >the exact opposite of what u wrote! Correct. In fact, I think a negative review of POD is long overdue - their are lots of people who don't like this game for the same reasons mentioned in the review. But the vast majority of the reviews on the net are overwhelmingly positive, too much so - if I'd read a more realistic review before buying it it probably would have saved my 60 bucks. Joe

: Correct. In fact, I think a negative review of POD is long overdue - : their are lots of people who don't like this game for the same reasons : mentioned in the review. But the vast majority of the reviews on the For what it's worth, the new issue of Next Generation gave Pod a rating of 3 out of 5 stars which, if you want to put it on a 100 point scale, works out to a 60%. They cited the same problems Mr. Wolf did - no feeling of speed. TABE http://www.colosys.net/~ctabar/index.htm

>>If it were any faster I'd have to close my eyes. He briefly mentions >>the Ghost feature of the game which is also a great part of Pod. You >>can download ghosts and race against the fastest lap times around. >>Tell me that's not worthwhile. >The problem is if the gameplay itself sucks, who cares? IF it sucked. To me the steering of the vehicles is pretty nice, reminds me of all the hours of driving real mini cart racing. Also, the physics of the game are very realistic, when you e.g. hit the walls, drop from a ledge etc. Try e.g. the new Atzhec (sp?) track to find out what I'm talking about. I'm still waiting for the explanation how someone (?) thought the cars in POD handle like pinball machine balls? ;^) I haven't seen that happening even once.

One of the main problems with POD is that it doesn't have a great sense of speed. I was told by Ubisoft at E3 that there will be a patch released that will speed things up quite a bit. I noticed POD was running quite a bit faster on their demo machines at E3. Anyway, POD 2 looks very good as well with more spectacular graphics and track design with a great sense of speed. I was told a patch hadn't been released sooner since it could have potentially caused problems in multi-player situations which had to be worked around so that the extra "features" are disabled in multi-play (or something?). Allan Cole

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>>Correct. In fact, I think a negative review of POD is long overdue - >>their are lots of people who don't like this game for the same reasons >>mentioned in the review. But the vast majority of the reviews on the >>net are overwhelmingly positive, too much so - if I'd read a more >>realistic review before buying it it probably would have saved my 60 >>bucks. >One of the main problems with POD is that it doesn't have a great >sense of speed. I was told by Ubisoft at E3 that there will be a >patch released that will speed things up quite a bit. I noticed POD >was running quite a bit faster on their demo machines at E3. Anyway, >POD 2 looks very good as well with more spectacular graphics and track >design with a great sense of speed. I was told a patch hadn't been >released sooner since it could have potentially caused problems in >multi-player situations which had to be worked around so that the >extra "features" are disabled in multi-play (or something?).

Interesting. I'm always willing to give even a poor game a 2nd look if they fix enough of the flaws to make it enjoyable for me. I'll play the demo first this time. Joe

Did you get a chance to see the Duel PentiumII + 3Dfx arcade setup? That gave quite a good sensation of speed. =) -- http://ebusch.akorn.net

I feel the review is right on. 65% is a good number for POD. I bet you MotoRacer gets ALOT better score. Gee, wonder what u would do if you played Motoracer? Shit your pants and go running for mommy mayby? :)

>For once I agree with a reivew from PC Gamer, POD is a very weak game, Many people disagree. To me it seems much more bug-free than e.g. Moto Racer. The championship race can be saved after every fourth race, I recall. Not a bug. Who talked about a "cockpit view"? You requested for a "in car view", and that's what you got. If you want a "real 2D***pit", draw one yourself on a paper, cut it by the lines and stick it on your monitor screen. ;^) My rating for the 3Dfx version: 80%.

>>For once I agree with a reivew from PC Gamer, POD is a very weak game, >Many people disagree. Only those with very low standards. Anyone who likes quality will not like POD. Joe

I don't know why - lack of frame-rate is NOT the problem with POD (it was probably about 50-60 fps on my P200/3dfx). I don't know exactly what does make POD feel so slow - I'm still trying to figure out how they made it feel that slow despite a fast frame-rate. Joe

One problem I had with the review was they complained about the system requirements. Heck, with a 3dfx card, pretty much any ol' Pentium will do. Scott

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> >>For once I agree with a reivew from PC Gamer, POD is a very weak game, > >Many people disagree. > Only those with very low standards. Anyone who likes quality will not > like POD. > Joe > I'm getting sick of this crap. Either you like the game or you don't.

Everyone has likes and dislikes. If you have a 3dfx and you don't like 30+ fps,downloadable tracks(9 already about 1 a week),downloadable cars(8 so far),multiplayer over internet(PODnet),adjustable car settings, and a great feature called ghosts don't buy POD. If you have a T2 and a 3dfx and would like a fast arcade race game get POD. If you can't stand arcade racers then keep racing your sims and quit crying. As for PC Lamer the review as with all reviews are just opinions. Gee and for some odd reason there is actually different opinions for diff people, imagine that. It's funny how some people believe if a game gets a good review they will like it and if it gets a poor review they won't. As far as I can see unless your brain is exactly the same as the reviewer's the review doesn't mean jack. I bet almost everyone who dislikes POD either doesn't have a 3dfx or has only played the demo. Sorry about this post, but I coundn't ignore this BS any longer. Mike, Rendition and 3DFX owner.

=>My rating for the 3Dfx version: 80%. You've got to be joking. You are, aren't you?

An 80% score for POD seems right. The game looks great, the cars handle well, car settings actually change your race result. It's only a tad boring after a while, but which game isn't. - Bob Smit - > =>My rating for the 3Dfx version: 80%. > You've got to be joking. You are, aren't you?

Well, I have a 3dfx and had the full version of Pod and didn't like it. (Thought the AI sucked for single player--might be ok as a multiplayer, but I don't do it much.) But I'm certainly not going to crucify anybody for having a different opinion. Different strokes and all. . . I do wish some of the other outfits would take a look at the Pod online site and learn a few tricks, though. (Sigh) Jerry Morelock

>I bet almost everyone who dislikes POD either doesn't have a 3dfx or has >only played the demo. I have a 3dfx, P200, love good arcade racers, bought POD, and hated it. Pay up dude. ;-) Joe

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> >I bet almost everyone who dislikes POD either doesn't have a 3dfx or has > >only played the demo. > I have a 3dfx, P200, love good arcade racers, bought POD, and hated > it. Pay up dude. ;-) > Joe > Do you have a wheel? Just wondering. Did you change cars settings? Did

you download any new cars or tracks? Check out Ubisoft's web page and here are some other reviews of POD. http://www.ubisoft.com/pod/ENGLISH/france.html http://thegw.com/archives/pod/reviews.html

>>I bet almost everyone who dislikes POD either doesn't have a 3dfx or >>has only played the demo. >I have a 3dfx, P200, love good arcade racers, bought POD, and hated >it. Pay up dude. ;-) I also recall you said you didn't even try all the tracks before returning it, so it seems you didn't even try to get into it. And the "love good arcade racers" bit surprises me a lot, considering how from your other messages it is quite obvious you are a sim freak, and dislike arcade racers. "Why so many arcade racers for 3Dfx cards?", "So Wipeout XL is nothing but an arcade racer? Good, now I know I won't buy it."

> Do you have a wheel? Just wondering. Yes, a T2 - that was a big problem, it has very poor support for wheels. Jopystick control was *slightly* better, but not much. Joe

>I also recall you said you didn't even try all the tracks before >returning it, so it seems you didn't even try to get into it. No, it stunk to badly for me to want to "try to get into it". Bullshit, I've said nothing of the kind. I never said that. Please don't make up bullshit quotes like that and pretend I wrote them. It is most dishonest of you. I did point out that there are no racing sims for 3dfx, and that is a problem. I love good arcade racers, like NFS 1 for example, Road Rash, and Moto Racer. Another fictitious, made-up quote. I did say I hate *futuristic* racers, like POD and Mega-race. I guess the game really must suck if even it's fans must resort to made-up quotes to support their position. Joe

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> > Do you have a wheel? Just wondering. > Yes, a T2 - that was a big problem, it has very poor support for > wheels. Jopystick control was *slightly* better, but not much. > Joe > Worked great for me. Calibrated T2 in windows, started game,went to

options, and picked wheel. Next Week I get to race in the Race in Space Contest. First place=$10,000. What are you going to be doing? Hopeing someone will build a game completly centered around you. Find yourself a game you like and play it. Of course you would rather b#%$h about games you dont like. SEE YA, Mike Rendition & 3DFX owner.

>I also recall you said you didn't even try all the tracks before >returning it, so it seems you didn't even try to get into it. You people slay me... You want a person who just doesn't like the game to play the whole thing through? So in essence, you want then to turn their opinions from something of apathy and dislike -- to outright loathing by playing the whole game through? Some people just don't like what's been offered in what they've seen of it. It doesn't mean that they're INVALIDATING your opinion of the game by saying that they didn't like it -- it's just their personal opinion on a game which they didn't get into. What's the matter? You can't stand people who have a difference of opinion on something than you do? Perhaps a good flam war on which Web-Browser is better should be rekindled just to give y'all a reminder of what happens when there's a difference of opinion. ("\''/").___..--''"`-._ `9_ 9 ) `-. ( ).`-.__.`) *******************(_Y_.)' ._ ) `._ `. ``-..-'*********************** ******************(il).-''**((i).'**((!.-'******************************* http://www.mindspring.com/~mbaldelli -----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----- Version: 3.1 w++++$ O M$ V$ PS+>$ PE Y+>$ PGP++ t++>$ 5++(++)>++$ X R tv(-)>-- b++>$ DI++(+) D G e++ h r y+ ------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------