Order of War and IL-2: Birds of Prey Demos

[CaptHawkeye]

So yeah, I tried BoP and am downloading OoW. Someone download these demos and help me talk about them fast.

BoP seemed stupid at first only because the training missions forced "Arcade" mode only. After completing the training missions you unlock "Realism" and "Simulation" modes. I played a mission on Sim mode and when I stopped playing the game I realized that 2 hours had passed. The Sim mode was the shit. BoP has convinced me you CAN do a realistic flight sim on a console. The controls take getting used to, but once you grasped them it'll feel like the detailed, deep flight sim it is at heart. So far this demo has scored with me. I'm very impressed by what they paid attention to.

It's cool to jump from Ace Combat, where nothing you do except "zomg teh turn n burn" matters. And then jump to this game where things like high altitude performance, visual profile, subtle plane characteristics ACTUALLY MATTER. This game has earned the privelage to carry the name of IL-2. It blows HAWX and Ace Combat away. Last I saw of Blazing Angels he was running under the table screaming "don't hurt me".

OoW is still coming. I'll talk about it later.

[Stark]

Now for the most important issue.

Does it have textures?

[CaptHawkeye]

Yo man its textures are boppin. It blows them panzy ass panzers away man.

OoW can be summed up in phrase. WiC:1944. The UI is literally ripped right out of WiC.

[Stark]

I just played the Order of War demo, and I'm a bit torn. On the one hand, it's like World of World War 2, or Company of Conflict. The maps are large, the play is fast (and has reinforcement system), there's TA options, etc...

But it seems very static. Units don't appear to have special moves, so the demo is a series of 'line you tanks up and let them shoot, then move on'. It's not very dynamic, and I'm not sure what cover bonuses woods give infantry (it's unclear). It runs like shit relative to what it looks like (it looks like WiC but runs far worse).

[CaptHawkeye]

I had the same experience, things like LOS don't seem to matter and the only useable cover for infantry is trenches and buildings. I like unit selection, but I don't like how you can't chose individual units like tanks if you want to and place them behind buildings or treelines. I like the squad control mechanic in RTT games, but I think devs are getting a bit carried away with it. It's starting to turn into just another excuse for blob spam.

Like I said, the unit design is wonderful, but it feels lacking in areas.