User Reviews (1 - 11 of 25)

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Horrible

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: May 05, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I first heard about this in 2004 and the idea for it sounded incredible and like it would be a lot of fun. When the game actually came out, I was so frustrated with it that I hardly even got the chance to actually play it. The instructions are very confusing and it feels like they have left things out. I had to go to the Internet and read fan sites to figure out how to play the game. The main problem however is with the user interface. It is incredibly poorly designed, and it is difficult to interact with quickly enough to have an enjoyable game.

This game might be fun if they took the story and gave it to another designer, but as it is now it's trash.

MindFever

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: August 11, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I heard that the reviewers who gave the previous release a 5 star rating (Battlecruiser Millenium: GOLD) were all devoted fans or even "orchestra" of Mr. Smart.I would really suggest all of you to check to a website like gamestop or something like that before geting a somewhat objective review of the game.
The thing that is the most ridiculous is that all of Mr. Smart's devoted fans are talking the same garbage about X2 and Freelancer ("...it has ONLY good graphics.The immersion sux...blah blah blah" ... something like that). So please, read the reviews on a more objective site.
I was a customer of his (in the past years) but my status totaly changed when i challenged my opinions on his forums.Does "Fascism" ring a bell? In a democracy you can speak up - negative points of view are flamed and people get banned (even not being able to DL a patch afterwards - stay away from the forums)

About this game: Its quite a potential that all other developers had picked it up before this game was up.Just look E.V.E. ONLINE - now THAT's a game.X3 shows much promise. Its the depth that lacks and the broken promises that Mr. Smart (not so smart anyway) made years back. (Like transporting to other ships, a "WORKING" interface,far better graphics,able to controll SEA vehicles...etc.).The thing that frustrates me most is how he gets away with that :) In my opinion,flaming others because someone doesnt like the game is self-explainatory. Its just toping the fact that the game is done pretty bad for these day's standards - no excuses !!! WE ARE THE ONE'S WHO BUY IT !!!

Graphics:old and poor (no spatial effects like debris and a real feeling of SPACE.There is only a bitmap of nebulae and thats about it).The shielding effect is the only one i liked most - and the spaceship's design is impressive but not unseen in other games.
Sound:bad and boring.
Gameplay:Has huge potential.Its a verry complex game but lacks depth and a sense of having a part in the UC universe.AIR SEA SPACE LAND ... well ,SEA missions do not exist - no SEA carriers to play with and thus being in command of such :).Good if you love going to planets,discovering (dead) "new" places on all the globe.The idea of a "nuclear" war is somewhat cool,but dissapointing.Its nice to play for about a few hours,but then it gets really boring - no NPC interaction leave everything to your immagination.The idea is great,but Smart's work is not so SMART :)

I hope i didnt hurt ANYONE's feelings :)

Cheers!

Universal Combat

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: July 14, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game would be great if it had a tutorial on it and a manual that actually told you how to play it, the maker has a good vision but he alone only knows how to play the game.

Do not buy this game and you'll be very happy and still have $20 in your wallet.

Aweful! Avoid like the Plague!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: April 19, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game has a horrible user interface and a nearly useless manual. The premise is awesome but the execution is terrible. I don't think that I have much more to add to the reviews here other than to say that I truly tried to like this game. The premise is so darn cool that I really really wanted to like it. I read the manual. I re-read the manual. I played it with the manual next to me. Finally I had to give it up.

I am very very disappointed in this game.

DO NOT BUY!!!!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: March 27, 2005
Author: Amazon User

When I started to play this game it had terrible graphics and the game commands are very complicated. I am glad that my friend opened it before I did, because I am returning it right now! Its horrible!

It's bad...

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: December 27, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I've played computer games for about 20 years, and this game is by far the most difficult to play. The 91 page manual is vague and does a very poor job of explaining how things are done. The 69 page PDF tutorial manual that I got with the 2.0019 patch cleared things up a bit. However, the interface is still nonintuitive, filled with three letter acronyms like PDF, and mainly for people who have memorized the reading material.
The gameplay itself is somewhat better. On the ground, it's a simple first person shooter that can be a bit fun if you know how to get into empty vehicles. I haven't seen any navies yet. Air combat is like a simplified flight simulator, but it's fun to shoot things. Flying a capital ship in space is very time consuming. It takes so much time to fly anywhere. Hyperspace jumps that shorten your trips take 2-4 minutes. The game desperately needs but doesn't have time compression. Repairs and crew recuperation require over 10 minutes of real time. The game designer wrote that it's best to do stuff like watching paint dry while waiting and waiting.
I gave it two stars instead of one because I do enjoy the times when I blow up the bad guys' spaceships and fighters. There is a large area of space to explore, and I like trying to increase my commander's level the same way I like trying to get the highest level in massive online role playing games. It's also somewhat emotionally rewarding when I finally figure out how to do stuff like order a shuttle to land a tank on a planet.

I want my $16.95 back!!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: December 10, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I have never been motivated enough to review a game before this one. Good or bad, I pretty much just played until I got bored and figured I had my money's worth.

All of that changed with Universal Combat.

To put it simply, the game is absolutely AWFUL! Everything that has been written about it - the lack of stability, the graphics straight out of the 1980's, the incredibly complex interface, the myriad array of choices that really don't impact the gameplay in the slightest - are all true. This game truly is a piece of garbage.

The only good thing I can say about this game - and I am stretching here - is that the box art is cool.

I can't even sell the game to someone else... I'd feel too guilty about it.

There is, finally, a tutorial!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: August 26, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The latest patch (2.12, from early August 2004) includes, in the 'docs' folder, a 60-page PDF which leads you by the hand, step-by-step, and shows all that this rather amazing piece of programming is capable of. As a game, it's not to everyone's tastes, to be sure, and the interface still needs major cleanup, but it's not terrible, either.

Oh, and you DO have to register to be able to download the patch. 3000AD had to send me a new registration code in order to be able to register (the one on the manual didn't work). A pain in the ass, right? Well, cat@3000ad.com responded with hours of my emails, and I was up and running with the new patch and tutorial in hand 24 hours after I had bought the game. Much better service than I normally expect from a game company, I must say.

At the $19.95 street price, if you're interested in exploring one man's quixotic dream of what the ultimate computer game can be, you won't regret it. Just print out that tutorial first...

Dabler of all and master of none

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: August 15, 2004
Author: Amazon User

OK let me first give you all a little bio of me before you read this review. I'm a old school gamer from way back (vic 20, C64, apple, Atari, Amiga, TRS80, ect.) I've played a open ended game called Elite for the C64. If your not familiar with this game let me break it down for you. You start out with a very basic ship and let loose upon the Universe. The game let you trade, raid and fight.

This game is no Elite. When I read the box for Universal Combat and read some reviews I thought wow a game that is full of depth and will let me roam space and find cool "areas of interest". I purchased the game and read the manual front to back and decided to pick the missions. OK I will warn you now, don't do the missions first do roam mode. The first mission slaps you into a Space carrier and informs you that you must go and hook up with a fleet and escort some poor alien race getting picked on by another. Now that sound simple enough so I look at the map and checked where I supposed to meet everyone. It was on the other side of the map and plenty of hostiles on the way there. Now being a Newb I got killed after 2 min into the mission. There is no tutorial in the game and the first mission is a lesson in frustration.

I did better when I picked roam mode. The problem with roam mode is that it lets you pick from a long list of careers and races. And each of them have a limitation to them. It took me awhile to find any info about any of this. The printed manual was no help. I did find what I was looking for in the Manual Appendix in the game file itself. Be warned that key commands cannot be changed and you will use Alt, Shift Ctrl a lot. But that isn't a problem, the one that is, is the Windows key, hit that one and bang the game is crashed. Save the game often. The only way to save is to use the Save & Exit option. That's right to save a game you must also exit the current game you where playing.

Now for the graphics and the issues I had. The graphics are good looking, for 1998. There is also issues with objects and your person. In FPS marine mode if you run into the building you will jump back 6 or more feet.. sort of a rubber banding effect. I attempted to land on a planet a few times and ended up crashing into the planet. INTO the planet not ON the planet. I was stuck in the planet and the only way out was by calling a Tow ship. I was on Earth at the time (my home base). The Tow ship towed me to another solar system!!!!

I need to wrap this up. There is a lot of stuff in this game. It just isn't implemented correctly to work. They are working of fixing some of the major bugs. But that will be it. Derek Smart is already working on a expansion for this game and is spending most of his time on that. Read the forums first before purchasing. Derek Smart is the "Supreme Commander" read his responses to people. Just as a side note: I did expect a lot out of this game and it has it, except for one... fun. This game is not fun, at least for me. I wish I could have played a Demo first.

Oh what could have been

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: August 10, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Universal Combat could have been the best thing since sliced bread. The scope of the game is absolutely unreal. You can pilot a capital ship, opt for a fighter, cruise around in a transport, defend ground installations in a tank, man a SAM silo, orchestrate combined-arms attacks on enemy installations and much more. On top of that, many of these things can be done in a single saved game. A single character can pilot both large and small craft (in space, air and ground) with relative ease and continuity. This flexibility and diversity of available options could have made for a thrilling game that seamlessly and elegantly rolled together all imaginable forms of combat (from hand-to-hand to cap-ship to cap-ship and any other intermittent combination). Unfortunately, every individual aspect of the game is sub-par (or at the very best, average).

Space-borne ops are the most clearly developed, but even then the design, balancing and interface have a greater affinity for the author's own idiosyncratic preferences than any standard principles of human-computer interaction. While there is an elegant continuity between the capship, fighter and shuttle aspects of the game, there is a haphazard restriction on capabilities between ships and many common activities made difficult by an unnecessarily complex or restrictive procedures. Personnel/Security management abroad the capship is interesting, but actions get bogged down in a clunky UI.

Planetside operations are not very well developed at all. There is tremendous breadth on even a single planet, but not a great deal of depth. Many city structures serve no other purpose than to take up space, and while attacking a defended city may be challenging, the lack of interactivity with different parts of the city leaves one with a "why did I bother" feeling. Complex, ground-based operations are disappointingly difficult due to the idiosyncratic UI - while you can plan a complex op, changing strategy in the middle is absolutely unwieldy. The first-person mode is unforgivably weak, playing more like something from 1996 than anything modern.

The quality of Universal Combat is definitely greater than the sum of its parts. The connection, combination and continuity between the different elements is awe-inspiring. However, when I played this game, I experienced each individual part in succession rather than "the whole," and the aforementioned flaws in each individual part make gameplay frustrating as you go from one shortcoming to the next. The game's steep learning curve (a sure sign of pride amongst BC3k fans) is partly a natural consequence of the game's scope and complexity, but mostly due to the game's idiosyncratic design and clunky interface.

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