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DON'T BUY ! DANGEROUS COPY PROTECTION WILL RUIN DVD RW

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 38 / 42
Date: February 24, 2006
Author: Amazon User

DO NOT BUY KING KONG OR ANY OF THE FOLLOWING GAMES (provided by Glop.org)
A lot of PC gamers have joined together, and decided not to purchase any PC games that use the Starforce copy protection method.
I will provide a list of games that install the Starforce device drivers, as well as a list of publishers that incorporate Starforce.
What is Starforce?
Starforce is a software copy protection tool installed by PC game publishers, which is designed to prevent the casual copying of retail CDROM applications. It installs as a hidden device driver, without the end-user's knowledge or consent.

Why are we boycotting it?
Starforce has received criticism for installing its own device driver onto computers. The Starforce drivers are often linked to system instability and computer crashes.

For example, here's one of the common problems brought by Starforce: under Windows XP, if packets are lost during the reading or writing of a disk, XP interprets this as an error and steps the IDE speed down. Eventually it will revert to 16bit compatibility mode rendering a CD/DVD writer virtually unusable. In some circumstances certain drives cannot cope with this mode and it results in physical hardware failure
Update: It has been reported by many users that the slowdown caused by StarForce on some recent multiformat DVD writers can cause irreversible hardware failures on those drives (they aren't recognized anymore), as they aren't supposed to write at slow speeds.

Moreover, the Starforce drivers, installed on your system, grant ring 0 (system level) privileges to any code under the ring 3 (user level) privileges. Thus, any virus or trojan can get OS privileges and totally control your system. Since Windows 2000, the Windows line security and stability got enhanced by separating those privileges, but with the Starforce drivers, the old system holes and instabilities are back and any program (or virus) can reach the core of your system by using the Starforce drivers as a backdoor.

Is my system concerned?
Starforce installs itself as an hidden IDE driver, during teh installation of a game, without letting the user know about it. It's not displayed in the add/remove program.

Game RELEASED STARFORCE GAMES

7 Sins
American Conquest: Divided Nation
Anstoss 4
Bandits: Phoenix Rising
Bet on Soldier
Beyond Divinity
Black Mirror
Blitzkrieg 2
Blitzkrieg: Rolling Thunder
Breed
Brian Lara International Cricket 2005
Broken Sword 3: The Sleeping Dragon
Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood
Castle Strike
Chaos League
Chaos League: Sudden Death
Codename: Outbreak
Codename: Panzers - Phase One
Codename: Panzers - Phase Two
Cold War
Colin McRae Rally 2005
Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars
Cross Racing Championship 2005
Curse: The Eye of Isis
Cycling Manager 3
Cycling Manager 3
Cycling Manager 4
D-Day
Dead to Rights
Demonic Speedway
Desert Rats vs Afrika Korps
Domination
Emergency Fire Response
Enigma: Rising Tide
Etherlords II
Fire Chief
Fire Department
Freedom Force vs The Third Reich
Gangland
Garfield
Gooka: The Mystery of Janatris
GT Legends
GTR: FIA GT Racing Game
Heroes of Might and Magic V
Horse Race Manager
Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter
Keepsake
Kicker Manager 2004
Kill Switch
King Kong
Knights of the Temple 2
Korea: Forgotten Conflict
LMA Professional Manager 2005
Lock On: Flaming Cliffs
Medieval Lords
Namco Museum 50th Anniversary
Neuro Hunter
Nibiru
Obscure
Pac Man World 2
Pac Man World 3
Pariah
Pax Romana
Perimeter
Perimeter: Emperor's Testament
Pferdehof - Pferd und Pony
Pop Star Academy
Postal 2: Apocalypse Weekend
Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
Pro Rugby Manager
Psi-Ops
Pure Pinball
Rally Championship Xtreme
Restaurant Empire
Restricted Area
Revolution
Runaway: A Road Adventure
Scrapland
Second Sight
Silent Hunter 3
Silent Storm
Silkolene Honda Motocross GP
Singles 2: Triple Trouble
Singles: Flirt Up Your Life
Sniper Elite
Soldiers Heroes of World War 2
Sommerspiele 2004
Space Rangers 2
Splinter Cell 3: Chaos Theory
Star Wolves
Steel Saviour
Still Life
Street Racing Syndicate
Sudeki
SuperPower 2
Syberia II
The Fall: Last Days of Gaia
The Moment of Silence
The Suffering: Ties That Bind
The Westerner
TOCA 2
TrackMania
TrackMania Nations
TrackMania Sunrise
Traitors Gate 2: Cypher
UFO: Aftershock
V8 Supercars 2
Virtual Skipper 3
Virtual Skipper 4
Vivisector
Wildlife Park
Wintersport Pro 2006
World Racing 2
World War II: Frontline Command
Worms 4: Mayhem
X3: Reunion
XIII
Xpand Rally
Xuan-Yuan Sword 4
Game is missing ? List not complete ? Post a topic about it in the forum
Note: work in progress, this list is not comprehensive.

Released Starforced software
Starforce is hitting the software market. Avoid getting one of those if you like to be able to do some backup of your legally bought software

Super Architect 3D Platinum
Un-Starforced games
The games listed below do not have Starforce included anymore. The editor of the game released an official patch to remove the Starforce protection, and thus fixed all the problems related to Starforce. Thanks to your support everywhere ! Keep spreading the word !

Area 51
X2: The Threat

Thanks for the alert about Starforce on this game!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 10 / 13
Date: June 27, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I appreciate everyone letting the public know this game installs Starforce on your PC. I'm sure not everyone is experiencing the problems some have reported with this - that it slows down your drive speed when attempting to burn a CD/DVD, or possibly leaves you vulnerable to a virus or trojan that knows how to exploit the installation of this driver.

However, there ARE a couple of things that may potentially affect everyone. First, uninstalling the game will NOT uninstall Starforce. Second, and most importantly, it has been discovered that Starforce is NOT compatible with Windows Vista. So if you upgrade your PC with Microsoft's new operating system coming early 2007, you will no longer be able to play this game! That alone is enough to make me never buy this in its current state.

There is also a high resolution version of this game available only by download. I considered purchasing that one, then discovered that even gamers with high-end computers are reporting it to be very slow and buggy on their machines. Even more disappointing is how the high resolution version doesn't even support SLI! (Talk about lazy code writing.)

Man - I would LOVE to play this game, but even the DEMO installs Starforce! Come on, Ubisoft. Release a patch that fixes these issues with either the retail version or the high resolution version so I can gladly give you my money. Until then, I'll have to join in with the boycott.

Dangerous Virus included

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: February 01, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This software contains copy protection that will slowly ruin your cd drive. Thank Star-Force for their copy protection that does this. It slows down your CD/DVD burner until the hardware stops working. Do not buy this game

Problems, problems, problems

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: December 29, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Problem 1 - Bad textures. Bland washed out green textures that clip way too often. Walking up stairs is a major problem. Quite often you'll walk through them and fall off the map to your death. At several points in the game, even the NPC's I was teamed with, fell through the map and died. It made the game very frustrating.

Problem 2 - No save games. Now they offer you infinite saves, you just cant load them. If you get killed the game loads at the previous save checkpoint and you start there, even if you had saved your progress after that checkpoint. I know your thinking, why not just load your saved game right? Wrong, because there is no load game feature. I particularly liked that one.

Problem 3 - Now if your like me when your playing a game, you tinker with the keyboard config to get it just right. In King Kong this involves exiting the game, having to select YES I REALLY WANT TO QUIT several times, until you get to the main menu. Then after your asked if you REALLY WANT TO QUIT the game yet again you can exit the game back to your desktop. From there you can pull up the King Kong config menu and remap a few keys. The only thing you can do from the in game main menu is change the sensitivity of the mouse. Cool, because I didn't want to be bothered with resolution, sound features and keyboard config anyway.

Problem 4 - Now the game gives you the classic FPS view when your controlling Jack Driscoll, and it works fine. But during the sequences when your controlling Kong, the game takes a turn for the worse. The box says, "control Kong from the third person perspective." This is not true. I would say your controlling Kong from an audience perspective. Your always looking directly at King Kong never from the traditional over the shoulder 3rd perspective. You can make Kong move any direction you want, however only Kong will move in that direction, your left feeling like your holding a remote control for some computer generated ape off in the distance. Worst yet, because the controls are so bad, the fight scenes involving Kong become very tedious. Often you'll just end up rapidly pushing buttons at random until your arm is sore. It is so bad you wont look forward to the scenes where you have to control Kong.

I gave this game 2 stars in the fun category only because the sequences involving Jack Driscoll were somewhat enjoyable, however ultimately King Kong is just a bad game rushed out in time for Christmas and not worthy of anything more than 1 star, save your money.

Looks great but....

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: January 19, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game looks great but it isn't. The graphics are awesome. Unfortunately, that is all that is awesome in this game. Controls for Jack and especially for Kong are awful. The game is extremely linear. You must follow in the direction of the game. Forget about exploring skull island.
Save yourself forty dollars or try Serious Sam 2 (way more bang for your buck).

Great achievement, deeply flawed

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: October 17, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I am here to blow off a little steam. I should say that during most of this game I really enjoyed it, even though it's very linear/scripted, and the limited difficulty is almost entirely artificial. This game doesn't excel as an action title - it doesn't have the physics, speed or responsive controls for that. And as an adventure game it really just presents the same easy puzzles over and over again. However, it is really is groundbreaking as an interactive, cinematic experience. The game is rich with atmosphere and free of conventional video game HUD elements, and the little vignettes that comprise the story are enough to keep you engaged. Hence the generous overall rating. If you'd asked me yesterday, I might have rated the game 4 stars of "fun" rather than 2.

So today I come to the bad news - some dramatic battle between Kong and... well I won't spoil it... big enemies. Which do you hate more, your mouse, or the tendons in your wrists? Either way you're in store for a treat. Controlling Kong in battle essentially amounts to the worst button mash I've ever seen in PC gaming - and maybe the least fun I've ever had. This scheme might work with an XBox or PS2 controller, but with a mouse button - and especially the mouse WHEEL button, it's weird, ineffective, and no fun. Also, for whatever reason (for me, did I miss something huge in the instruction manual?) impossible.

So I'll be uninstalling this game, trying not to think about any additional pretty content I've missed, and putting ice on my wrist. I've already ordered a new mouse.

A seamless blend of cinema and gameplay.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 7
Date: December 31, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I got this game for Christmas and started playing with decidedly low expectations as games based on movies are usually, in my experience, rather bland and limited in interactivity and immersiveness.

King Kong is truly an exception. I was pulled in from the very beginning, where as Jack Driscoll you and the other main characters row from the Venture to Skull island in the midst of a violent rainstorm. The boat rolls with the waves as rocks precariously tumble into the water around you, and the game does a wonderful job of making you feel like you're really there. I usually prefer third-person games, but this is a situation in which a first-person perspective truly enhances the feel of being part of the game.

A simple but very effective aspect that makes the game stand out is that there are few "cut-scenes" where you just sit and watch the action. In the scene above, for example, while you don't really have any mobility as you're sitting in a boat rowed by some oarsmen, you can freely look around, seeing the Venture out across the turbulent waves in one direction, the island in another and, as you get closer, up at the tall imposing cliffs above you. Again, this makes for some beautifully immersive gameplay.

It should also be mentioned that the whole game takes place in a widescreen "letterbox" view, like most movies. It also has no GUI by default (although I think there's an option to have it show how much ammo you have for a given weapon and possibly what other objects you're carrying). This could be seen as a drawback, but I personally prefer it, as it makes it easier to forget it's just a game and lose yourself in the adventure. You don't have "health" in the traditional sense (thus eliminating the need for a GUI that would contain a health bar); when something hurts you, your vision takes on a red cast and goes a bit blurry, and the sound becomes less distinct and blearier (this effect might require an EAX-capable sound card), and the music is replaced by a haunting, very "cinematic" vocal melody. The effects increase as you take more damage and you will die fairly quickly if you continue to be hit, but you will recover within a few seconds if you can avoid being further wounded. Some may call this unrealistic, but in my opinion it beats arbitarily-placed first-aid kits that magically heal your wounds the second you touch them.

Most of the "Jack" portions of the game are largely about survival. There are guns that you can pick up in crates dropped by the rescue plane as it searches for a safe place to land, but you can only carry one gun at a time and ammunition is scarce, which means you can't go around with guns blazing as you would in a traditional first-person shooter. You have to utilize your environment--often resorting to spears or sharp bones as weapons to fight your enemies, ducking into small crevices or ruins to escape some of your larger foes, or using fire either as an impromptu weapon or to clear an overgrown path.

Your companions also play a pivotal role at times; some can get to places you can't in order to complete a task, and you need to occasionally protect them and make sure they stay alive (although they will grab weapons for themselves and use them when given the opportunity). Likewise, they'll cover you when you're in a situation in which you can't use your weapons (such as when swimming across a river) or give you a hand up when you're below them and unable to climb up on your own.

Playing as Kong, it takes a bit of practice to master the controls, but once you manage that it becomes a tremendous amount of fun. In contrast to the Jack levels, in which you are a tiny human in a land of giants with little more than his wits to survive, as Kong you are a powerful wall-smashing, dinosaur-wrestling, native-stomping giant, perfectly at home on Skull Island. Even with the feeling of power you get as Kong, the game still manages to be challenging as you not only fight for your own life, but also protect Ann from the legion of dangers of the island.

The game does have some of the drawbacks I've learned to associate with those based on movies; mainly that it is, of course, a linear plot and perhaps a little on the short side, but this is vastly overshadowed by its immersiveness. In part due to the amazing graphics and animation, in part due to the excellent voice acting, and in part due to the unfolding plot and the simple art of cinematic storytelling (even if we DO all know how it ends), the world the game creates feels very dynamic, dramatic, and real.

Somehow, the makers of King Kong: the Game succeeded in creating a game that feels like a movie in and of itself while, at the same time, fully including the player in the experience.

junk

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 11, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Real problems with this, don't waste your money. Judging from the UBISOFT web site forums a lot of people can't get this game to play, myself included.

Kong Fun Immersion, for High End Computers

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: January 07, 2006
Author: Amazon User

***NOT FOR BUDGET COMPUTERS***

System Requirements:
128 MB Video Card
1 Gig of RAM
2 GHz Processor
4.1 Sound Card

I have listed the system requirements for this game based on experience, even though they are different from the requirements listed on the retail box. Before I could play, I had to upgrade my video card and RAM so that they exceeded the recommended requirements. I do not recomend this product for people with low budget hardware; it's more in line for advanced "gaming" type computers.

As far as the gameplay, King Kong immerses the player into a world of jungles. Both the look and the sound of the game help to draw the player into the feel of what it would be like to journey through Skull Island. It has a fascinating music score, that changes when dinosaurs and other predators attack. The music change adds to the suspense of the game, keeping the player on edge.

Distracting a Tyranosaurus can be pretty tricky, and you need to be alert for places to hide from Raptors. For those who like battling extinct species, this game is for them.

Not worth your time!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: January 08, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Stay away from this game, unless you enjoy playing error prone poorly programmed video games. I have a high end PC that easily meets the requirements to play both the retail, and the high-res downloadable version. This game is pathetic. If you want King Kong go see the movie.

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