Space Hulk Has Emerged From Warp! (Is this gonna be another bug hunt, sir?)

[ComradeP]

The problem seems to me that it's a buggy port of a boardgame, seemingly not entirely the same rules. A short development cycle and a "no-name developer" is an explanation for the bugs, not an excuse. If I had paid 28 euro's for the game, and I couldn't play it due to bugs, I would not be amused too. Similarly, if it is supposed to be a PC version of a well-known W40k boardgame, but it is not entirely the same whilst not taking advantage of what a PC can do (but instead, making the game slower in the case of the complaint about the slow animations), that would be a reason not to be pleased as well.

I agree with your point about putting things into perspective, but as stated the points you bring up are an explanation for what players experience, not an excuse. If it's a mediocre product and people expected or were led to expect a quality product, it's not surprising that people are disappointed.

[0kult13]

Yeah got this last night, thought it was alright so far, a few glitches. Nailed the first two missions on hard. I still play the 93 one at least once a month and the teardown one about half, also have the SHSP homebrew one somewhere as well all are great fun. I would have prefered 2nd edition rules and dice rolls showing but hey ho. Still better fun than all the cod's after the 2nd to the present combined. Sure patches will come and hopfully the mods, i miss my nurgle termies from days passed. How can burning xeno filth and reciting from the litanys of hatred ever become old. Still prefer the 93 version voice over tho =) bless thy weapons.   

[undercovergeek]

But if something isn't there that's in the board game, please be sure to say so! -- out of all the various complaints, I haven't seen anything mentioned like that yet.

I'll take a stab in the dark here, but...

1. You're playing a PC game against a brain-dead AI that doesn't even laugh in your face when you make a bonehead move.
2. Your forefinger is all that is used to play the game so you have no tactile sensation from it.  I.e., you don't even roll the dice or move the figures.
3. You didn't spend a minute on painting miniatures or making a custom game board to enhance the visual for the game.
4. The PC game does everything for you so you have no interaction with the game itself.
5. It's a POS boardgame port that yet again fails because boardgames don't port well to the PC because they are missing a single ingredient....you sitting at a table moving the game pieces and with another person sitting opposite of you doing the same.  Hell, even having to stop to look up a rule becomes kind of cool sometimes actually.

Again, just a guess.  :)

I like all this, not in particular reference to this game as i havent bought it, but i like the passion about board games - and wish it wasnt true because i havent got the time or the group to play them with  :(

[JasonPratt]

Just finished "Decoy" -- 18 turns, a little over 55 minutes.

63 Genestealers dead. Lost my thunderhammer and shield sergeant right out of the gate or it would have been more. First melee, bam. Assault cannon tries to plug the hole, but fails. My only two losses for the mission, but I was afraid at that point the mission was going to be completely screwed.


As long as we're griping about some things, may I add how much I love the art in this version? :) (Sure I don't get to design the Marines myself, but the randomization of detail on the figures is very very nice.)

[Nefaro]

Teardown finished the overhead map portion of the game, created new lore, kept a lot of the art (with minor copyright evading tweaks) and released it as donateware. If I recall correctly (not having played it) it plays just like the first SH-FPS, except without the FPS part: real-time with a ticking pause clock (which slowly recharges during real time) for plotting squad orders. UPDATE: although now that I look more closely at it, it seems to be turn-based after all (what I thought was a pause clock was a timed end-round button).

It's a quality product and I hear lots of good things about it. If they had been able to include the FPS, which I feel helps the immersion and tension of the original SH-FPS, I'd have bought it from them long ago (i.e. downloaded and donated a full game price). I may still do that. ;)

Also of note is a small indie knock-off named Steam Marines, in alpha/beta right now.

http://www.steammarines.com/

It used to look more like Space Hulk, with what looked a bit like space marines in battle armor, but they look to have changed it a bit at some point, and added more enemy types.  So it's been looking less and less like the old SH over time, as stuff has been added.

The interesting features of note in this one is procedurally-generated levels, and an RPG-ish Item system.

Perhaps more of a Roguelike evolution.

You can download and play the Alpha for free.  Download on their site.


***

I don't know if this has it's own post here at Grogheads yet, but JP's post reminded me of it.

[Huw the Poo]

Steam Marines looks pretty good!

[ross_ntu]

Usually I go here: http://www.dlcompare.com/ to check prices and to get an idea of whether the site in question is decent.  They specify if the key is region locked.  Most are region free, although Russian keys seem to be locked due to being a lot cheaper.

This website seems too good to be true!  You say you've ordered from these places a lot?  Which key resellers do you trust?

I wouldn't say a lot - maybe 3 / 4 games I have bought from these keysellers so far - latest were EU4 for £24 roughly and Civ V Brave New World for £16 ish - the EU4 key was on preorder effectively but it came before the game was released.  Brave New World was delivered the day I bought it too as far as I remember.  Certainly I was happy with the service from G2Play.net who I bought from on that occasion.  I tend to check the reviews before buying, which is bonus of looking at dlcompare - you can see what others are saying about the site before buying from them.  It tends to be most worthwhile with new games, or games that are older but whose price is still relatively high on Steam.  Certainly, since trying these types of site for the first time, I have not had a problem, and as long as you don't simple go for the cheapest and take the time to read the reviews I think it is a good way to get decent discounts with no downsides, apart from the fact you may need to wait and hour or two for the key to arrive.

[Arctic Blast]

Sgt. Gideon is an absurd bad ass. He is wrecking everything near him with the Storm Shield and Thunder Hammer. He single-handedly held down an entire section of the ship during the C.A.T. retrieval mission.

[JasonPratt]

Gideon has done very well for me on other missions, too; which is why I was so surprised he sneezed or something and got pasted immediately during the Decoy mission.

The other sergeant (Lorenzo?) did much better, since he could spak stealers at a distance with his bolter and then parry thrust them up close with his power sword. He was one of the last marines to the teleporter, probably accounted for about 1/4 of the 63 by himself.

Two other Marines with mere bolters held down long corridors for a protracted period of time (easily picking up 1/3 each of the totals I expect). I wish the game allowed me to give them xp and gifts. Heck, even the poor flamer managed to hold a corridor and carefully back down it until the remaining sergeant could take over. No less than three Marines (including the sergeant and the flamer) made heroic backstep fighting retreats, and the fourth guy just planted himself beyond the final junction and WOULD NOT FREAKING MOVE despite jams and the occasional fist smacking. On the last turn, with stealers closing in from all directions I rolled a bunch of command points and he was able to make a successful run for the teleporter.

[Jarhead0331]

I just finished the third mission in the Sin of Damnation campaign and I must say I'm really enjoying the game.  I've started my review and will continue to write it up as I play through more of the game.

[bob48]

I'm really liking it so far. Earlier, I pulled off a no casualty win in 'Clense and Burn' - a mission that I always had trouble with (for some reason) in the board game.

Not sure what other stuff unlocks, but it would be nice to have the 'Deathwing' and 'Genestealer' expansions. I did see somewhere that we can expect a painter so that we can create other chapters as you can in DoW, so that would be nice.

[undercovergeek]

I'm really liking it so far. Earlier, I pulled off a no casualty win in 'Clense and Burn' - a mission that I always had trouble with (for some reason) in the board game.

Not sure what other stuff unlocks, but it would be nice to have the 'Deathwing' and 'Genestealer' expansions. I did see somewhere that we can expect a painter so that we can create other chapters as you can in DoW, so that would be nice.

sir bob - i think theres level editors, painters and gear expansions coming right over the horizon

[bob48]

Aye, so it would seem. I just had a look on the Hulk website and saw that bit of good news :)

[GDS_Starfury]

ok so the game isnt what was expected?

go back to playing AirLand Battle.

[bob48]

I think the game is fine, as far as I've gone with it, and recreates the board game pretty well.